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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to Tie Their Knot; Trump Still Hopeful of the Summit with Kim Jong-un; Mueller Marks One Year Investigating Russia Collusion; Ebola Spreads To City In Democratic Republic Of Congo; New Video, The Moment Kilauea Erupted; U.K. Prepares For Prince Harry And Meghan's Nuptials; Prince Harry To Marry Meghan Markle Saturday; Global Support For Condemned Sudanese Teen; Harry And Meghan Skip Tradition For Wedding Cake. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired May 18, 2018 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NATALIE ALLEN, HOST, CNN: Hello and welcome to our viewers from around the world. What is going to be a big weekend for one couple and all of us watching. I'm Natalie Allen.
GEORGE HOWELL, HOST, CNN: And I'm George Howell. As Natalie alluded to, a lot to cover today of course, including preps for the royal wedding where CNN is live.
ISHA SESAY, HOST, CNN: I'm Isha Sesay. In Windsor, England just one day to go and the world will be watching as Prince Harry weds his American fiance Meghan Markle.
HOWELL: Also this hour, President Trump's new message to Kim Jong-un. We'll tell you about it.
ALLEN: And the new eruption in Hawaii that sent ash nine kilometers into the air.
CNN Newsroom starts right now.
SESYA: Well, struck when you're fascinated and chill your champagne. It's almost time for a royal wedding. Just a day from now, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will exchange vows and greet their excited fans in a procession around town.
On Thursday, the British armed forces put on a show rehearsing parade routes but all the anticipation is tempered by some of the sad news for Meghan Markle. She released a statement saying her father will not be attending the wedding due to health occurrence.
No word yet on who will walk the bride down the chapel aisle in Windsor Castle, but regardless she is looking forward to the big day. The couple also are asking guest and well wishers to donate to one of their favorite charities instead of buying presents. The U.S. president and his wife will be among those making a contribution.
Well, in just a few hour, Meghan Markle's mother is set to mean -- meet, rather Queen Elizabeth in Windsor Castle.
CN's Anna Stewart now there with the very latest. Anna, what do we know about this meeting, what details are emerging?
ANNA STEWART, PRODUCER, CNN: Well, Doria Ragland, Meghan's mother will be coming here to Windsor Castle and she'll be meeting Her majesty the Queen in her private apartment. Obviously she'll be joined by her daughter, Meghan and Prince Harry and this meeting comes after she already net some of the in laws yesterday in London.
Prince Charles and his wife, the Duchess of Cornwell, plus Prince William and Kate and the two -- well, two of the three kids, Prince George and Princess Charlotte all met Doria Ragland yesterday over tea, hopefully a high tea with scones and clotted cream. But yesterday it will be Windsor Castle. We're not quite sure what time but we will be keeping our eyes peeled for a car arriving yesterday.
Of course, yesterday, Harry and Meghan made a slight surprise appearance, they rolled up to Windsor Castle just after the military procession rehearsal had ended. We weren't really expecting they may show pass. So we will be keeping our eyes peeled this time for sighting of Harry, Meghan and Meghan's mother.
SESAY: Yes, we'll not get past to you, Anna Stewart. In terms of meetings with Meghan's mother, obviously this is the first meeting with the queen, but how much interaction has there between Doria Ragland and Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla and Prince and Catherine? What do we know?
STEWART: Well, as far as we're aware that was actually the first meeting yesterday. Of course, Prince Harry himself has met Doria before. He hasn't met Meghan's father, Thomas Markle. And it's quite extraordinary when you think about that he won't meet the father of his bride until after he's actually married now since Thomas Markle has to stay in the U.S. following his surgery.
SESAY: And around town, around Windsor, I know you have been out and about. Give me a sense of the mood, give me a sense of how things are shaping up. I know there was a rehearsal on Thursday.
STEWART: Yes. You see I'm not on the Windsor Castle grounds having a lovely regal time away from the crowds, but the last few days I have been out in town and it has been insane. I have seen dogs with union jacks. I just saw a guy actually as I was going my morning coffee, a guy who was clearing the rubbish with a crown on.
You see the whole town is gone crazy, the fans have been camping here already for three nights and it's pretty chilly as you probably discovered over there. But not everybody is happy. There are a few locals who like to have a moan, but it wouldn't be Britain without them. Take a listen to what they had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where are they going to the toilet?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is costing the nation I should say an awful lot of money, isn't it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When it was the queen's birthday a few years ago, they had some guy in the dress with a beard who tried to get into the party.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You will get the extremists.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[00:04:58] STEWART: Worries about toilets, worries about the money, worries about strange people in town. But most of Windsor is excited, Isha.
SESAY: Good to know. Good to know. Again, it wouldn't be Britain without a little bit of complaining and that's why we love it. Anna Stewart joining us there form the grounds of Windsor Castle, still trying to figure out how you got in there, but we're pleased you were there. We'll check in later.
All right. Well, for months Prince Harry and Megham Markle's romance has fascinated the world. Much of it has to do with the bride's identity as a biracial American actress. And that sparked a conversation about race relations here in the United Kingdom.
Jason Carroll reports.
JASON CARROLL, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Brixton it's a district of south London where you'll find black, Asian, and white cultures all in one neighborhood. It's a place Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have visited before. Markle is celebrated here like in much of Great Britain and because she is biracial her marriage to Prince Harry has also inspired discussion about race relations.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL: Raise your hand, does everyone about who Meghan Markle is?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
CARROLL: These elementary school girls in Brixton are well aware this is the first for the royals.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's frightening because she is one of the first black people to go, to join the royal family.
CARROLL: Did you, did any of you ever think that you could grow up and perhaps marry into a royal family. Was that something that any of you even actually thought of?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
CARROLL: Why not?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And not many like mixed race black people can join the royal family.
CARROLL: Do you think it's a good thing?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
CARROLL: Why is that?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because it just shows you that anyone can marry into the royal family.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL: A recent study found a little more than half of those polled in the U.K. say race shouldn't matter in the royal marriage. Seventy five percent say they would feel comfortable if their children married someone of a different race.
But a government study also found a 27 percent increase in hate crimes in the past two years.
Steadman Scott has lived in Brixton for some 50 years.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There was a problem into this country and that is color for me. There was a problem of we are fortress.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: There have been a number of negative public comments and headlines made about the Markle family and their background. Take this one in the daily Mail. It reads, "Harry's girl is almost straight out of Compton." And then there was the comment made by the sister of the U.K.'s foreign secretary. It reads, "Ms. Markle's mother is a dreadlocked African-American lady from the wrong side of the tracks."
At one point, Prince Harry stepped in to defend Markle and her family. In a statement his communication secretary cited, "The racial undertones of comment pieces and the outright sexism and racism of social media trolls and web article comments."
Sunder Katwala conducted that recent study on race in the U.K.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: What did you make of some of the horrific things that the British press were writing about Meghan Markle?
SUNDER KATWALA, DIRECTOR, BRITISH FUTURE: Racism is still there in British society but it was seen quite a lot especially across the generations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: And though these girls never expected to see a mixed race bride in the royal family, they see their marriage as a sign of hope.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it will make a difference lightly because like some people like being racist of the people because of their color and because Meghan Markle is joining the royal family I think it might make them change their mind.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: Jason Carroll, Brixton, London.
SESAY: Well, I'm joined now by Richard Fitzwilliams, he is a public relations consultant and mostly importantly today an expert in all things royal. Richard, good to have you with us again.
Coming out of this report by our own Jason Carroll looking at race relations and Meghan Markle's impact on them, I mean, how do you see the road ahead for her? I mean, one of the things I've been thinking about is where the issue of race or will it be class that it's a bigger challenge for her as she navigates this new -- this new road as a royal?
RICHARD FITZWILLIAMS, ROYAL COMMENTATOR: Well, you're right of course, in fact, she is biracial and proud of it is tremendously significant. It also shows of members or senior members of the British royal family of long last can marry for love of your soul as (Inaudible) in 2011.
Do you remember Charles and Diana were in the nightmarish marriage before, so they learned. But I think Meghan will be a role model for persons of color because the royal family can seem someone too remote and there's no question this is very important. It's British seismic, actually.
Also if we look at the fact that Meghan and Harry have so many charitable intentions and they will be so high profile.
[03:10:01] In fact, they will be in the news pretty well nonstop. There's call abroad that both common wealth youth ambassadors with Prince Charles, it wasn't at all dramatic becoming the next head of the commonwealth succeeding the queen.
This will mean that British monarch as head of the commonwealth still has this very, very significant cache and it will also mean that Harry and Meghan have a very important role to play there. And the racial issue, in fact, persons of color in the commonwealth have someone that they can identify with will be very considerably important.
SESAY: Interesting. Moving to what's happening today, we know that Doria Ragland, Meghan's mother is meeting with the queen for the very first time. Talk to me about your expectation for that meeting and how it will be conducted the level of formality attach to it.
FITZWILLIAMS: There is always a level of formality when you meet the queen, but equally the queen is wonderful at putting everybody at their ease. It's one of the characteristics of being a member of the royal family. That meetings that they can be shot always remember, there's something people remember all their lives. But this is a truly historic encounter and I would love to be a fly on the wall while it's taking place.
SESAY: I'm interested in terms of the relationship that they'll be looking to build here. I mean, is it one of just, I don't know, monarch and mother of my grandson's wife or is this about building a real bond here?
FITZWILLIAMS: Well, what we have is our first American princess. Everybody knows that the relations between Britain and America are so significant, but also how significant will the relationship between Doria Raglans and the royal be in the future?
We have seen how the Middletons have been part and parcel of William and Kate's life. Their previous parents of royal brides, the Fergusons, Rhys-Jones in the past were not. So we will have to see how this develops. And I think that the queen is absolutely delighted that Prince Harry having admitted in fact, in several articles which were pretty unique how troubled some of the last 20 years have been for him.
SESAY: Yes.
FITZWILLIAMS: The fact that he's found a soul mate, I think can say if I may as it were use Shakespeare that Meghan and Harry are contemporary star--
SESAY: We love it when you quote Shakespeare here, Richard. We really do. To talk about the big day itself, 600 guests, I believe at St. George's Chapel which is just behind us here. We can just make it out. Talk to me about the guest list. Any surprises? Who will you be looking out for? Talk to me about everything, I know you spent a lot of time thinking about.
FITZWILLIAMS: Well, yes. Because it is exciting because these are guests who have personal links to Harry and to Meghan knot. The state occasion it was in 1981 or the semi-state occasion it was in 2011.
So I would expect to see that tennis star of all-stars, Serena Williams she'll be there, Jessica Mulroney, of course the designer of Meghan and a very close friend. I mean, three of Mulroney children are bride's maids and page boys and also of course, Violet von Westenholz (Inaudible) have introduce them and that has been confirmed, and Markus Anderson from Soho House another.
But we all recognize those. Elton John, David Furnish have rumored that they will in fact perform and don't forget the Spice Girls.
SESAY: You are very excited about the Spice Girls.
FITZWILLIAMS: Well, I am. I went to a Spice Girls concert five years ago and I'm very fond of them.
SESAY: Richard Fitzwilliams on that beautiful note, he brought so many images. We are going to leave it there and wish she'll go to get you to do the performance a rendition of one of their songs later on. Richard Fitzwilliams--
(CROSSTALK)
FITZWILLIAMS: I can. You are tempting.
SEAY: Yes. Not now. Richard, we appreciate it. Thank you.
OK. Well, here's one more royal obsession that we are all thinking about excited on. The wedding cake Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are breaking with tradition by skipping, skipping the fruitcake, instead the cake will incorporate seasonal flavors. An American pastry chef living here in London is baking it. So what's in it? The chef explains.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLAIRE PTAK, ROYAL CAKE DESIGNER: It tastes delicious, I hope. I think. We have a lemon sponge lemon curd filling and then elder flower Swiss cream butter cream which is a butter cream that's very light and fluffy. Kind of satiny and super delicious. So the texture is really lovely and the flavor is quintessential spring and British.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[03:15:04] SESAY: It sounds yummy. And there is a bit of a mystery surrounding the creation final design. The chef has only said it will not, it will look like a traditional wedding cake.
Well, CNN invite to be part of our special coverage of Harry and Meghan's big day. From the I do's to the dress we have it all covered for you. That's all on Saturday right here on CNN. And that's it from Windsor for now. George and Natalie, back to you. I know you will be getting your outfits ready for the big day.
ALLEN: We are. He's wearing a fascinator, but I'm not. But George (Inaudible).
HOWELL: Isha, Richard Fitzwilliams and the Spice Girls?
ALLEN: He's stealing the show from Meghan.
SESAY: Yes.
ALLEN: OK.
SESAY: Yes, you get it all here on the show. You get it all here.
ALLEN: All right. We'll see you in a little bit. Thank you, Isha. All right, we're going to have to bring it down and get back to the news.
HOWELL: It's confusing. Anyway.
ALLEN: Coming up, the summit between the U.S. and the Nor Korea has hit a bump, sort of. We'll tell you how the U.S. president hopes to reassure Pyongyang of the United States role in the meeting. Coming up.
HOWELL: Also ahead this hour. The special counsel Robert Mueller has been on the job now for exactly one year with apparently no end in sight to that investigation. We'll review what his team has uncovered so far. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOWELL: Welcome back to CNN Newsroom.
The United States is still preparing for a summit with North Korea, but the meeting may not happen after all. This, according to the U.S. president, Donald Trump. He spoke out on Thursday about North Korea's threat to cancel the June 12 meeting.
ALLEN: The president tried to reassure Pyongyang, but he also appeared to give a veiled threat about what might happen if it doesn't scrap its nuclear program.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, the Libyan model isn't the model that we have at all while we're thinking of North Korea. In Libya, we decimated that country. That country was decimated. There was no deal to keep Gaddafi. The Libyan model that was mentioned was a much different deal. This would be with Kim Jong- un, something where he would be there, he'd be in his country, he'd be running his country.
We never said to Gaddafi we are going to give you protection. We are going to give you military strength. We are going to give all of these things. We went in and decimated him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[03:19:58] ALLEN: Tough words from the U.S. president there. Let's get the latest now live from Seoul, South Korea.
HOWELL: CNN's Paula Hancocks following the story. Paula, it seems that after a great deal of enthusiasm, we're seeing the back and forth, in fact, some cold water being thrown on this possible meeting from both sides of the equation. Is there a sense that there could be more to come on this?
PAULA HANCOCKS, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Absolutely, George and Natalie. There seems as though there is a bit more realism being injected into the summit now before it happens. The U.S. officials are still planning for it as though it's going ahead. We heard from John Bolton as well saying that he thinks the odds that it will go ahead.
But certainly the fact that there has been this threat from North Korea this week that if the U.S. is expecting to push them into a corner, it's expecting to force them into unilateral nuclear abandonment, then it's probably not worth having these talks. That really does show the way that North Korea is going to be acting out this summit. It's effectively what Washington is expecting this unilateral denuclearization. And it was a clash and a difference in understanding of the word denuclearization that was expected to happen during the summit.
It happened a little bit before so at least now the Trump administration and the U.S. president will be going into this meeting knowing a little more about what Kim Jong-un is going to be saying. We're also hearing as well that North Korea is still not happy about those joint military drills Max Thunder that is still ongoing between the air forces of South Korea and the United States.
Another KCNA article from state-run media, saying that unless South Korea realizes that this isn't the way to go forward. It may never be easy to sit face-to-face again with the present regime of South Korea. So, a threat from North Korea there, saying that if these military drills do continue it would be difficult for the two Koreas to be talking in the future.
ALLEN: Really unfortunate how things have turned, but not a huge surprise perhaps. What about the other players in the region like China, for example, and what South Korea just trying to communicate with Pyongyang in the lead up to this meeting?
HANCOCKS: Well, South Korea certainly is still trying to get back together with the North Koreans. There were supposed to be that high level talk between the two Koreas on Wednesday which was canceled at the last minute by North Korea because they said extensively because of these military drills.
When it comes to China, China is urging both sides to remain in this negotiation. The U.S. and North Korea, but also pointing out that it's very important to meet in the middle rather than turning the other direction when something doesn't go the way it is wanted to go.
So, certainly pushing the United States there to go ahead with the summit. And as far as we know at this point, the U.S. officials are still continuing to plan for June 12 in Singapore, assuming that this summit will go ahead, but it really has shown a little more about what North Korea will expect from this summit or at least what North Korea will not agree to at this summit.
HOWELL: And the days leading up may be interesting for sure, but the summit is still on. We'll have to continue to watch this back and forth. Paula, thank you for the reporting.
ALLEN: Thursday was an important milestone in the investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Can you believe it? It's been a year. It marked one year since Robert Mueller took over as special counsel of the investigation.
HOWELL: That's right. President Trump still treats it as a witch hunt and said so again on Thursday. But the Mueller team has rocked up a significant list of alleged wrongdoing over the past year.
Our John King has this story for us. JOHN KING, CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Disgusting, illegal,
unwarranted that's how President Trump today describing the special counsel investigation. He also calls a witch hunt, all that in Twitter of course. Part of a deliberate effort by the president and his allies to paint Robert Mueller as rogue prosecutor, bending the rules in the norms, they say, to target the president.
The facts though, tell us something actually quite different. Let's take a look at where we are. By the numbers we know that Robert Mueller has interviewed at least 42 people. That's what we know, there's probably much higher. Twenty two people and companies have been charged in the Mueller investigation.
He has 17 lawyers at least working for him, this is what we know from public documents, and has secured five guilty pleas in that one year on the job.
Let' take a little bit more that some facts we now know that we didn't know a year ago. We know about that June 2016 infamous Trump tower meeting with Russian who promised Donald Trump, Jr. dirt on Hillary Clinton. We didn't know that a year ago. We didn't know that George Papadopoulos, a Trump campaign adviser knew during the campaign that the Russians had dirt on Hillary Clinton.
And we now know Michael Cohen was talking to the Kremlin about Trump organization projects during the campaign. We didn't know that a year ago. We also know a lot more about Russia's meddling on social media, what they were doing and how they were doing it. We know there was a FISA, meaning an intelligence warrant on Trump campaign aide Carter Page. We didn't know a year ago.
[03:25:00] And we now know Donald Trump, Jr. was texting privately working on Twitter with WikiLeaks during the campaign. We didn't know that a year ago.
Now one year is a long time a lot of Republicans are saying. Well, let's go back in history. The Clinton Whitewater investigation and its several incarnations ran seven years. The Iran Contra investigation had a special counsel, it ran seven years. The Valerie Plame leak independent counsel, four years.
So Robert Mueller has been at it for one year. Some of these prior investigations went a whole lot longer. So the question now is will he wrap it up? A lot of Trump allies are saying yes, there is nothing there. Wrap it up.
Listen to this answer from Kellyanne Conway, the president's counsel, she doesn't say there is nothing there, she just says it wasn't on my watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KELLYANNE CONWAY, WHITE HOUSE SENIOR ADVISOR: I don't know Carter Page or George Papadopoulos.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. CONWAY: And if somebody finds some picture where I was in a room with George Papadopoulos, great. Let me explain for the cameras again. I was a campaign manager for the winning part of the campaign. I saw Carter Page on a different network he told the anchor I've never met Kellyanne Conway.
I don't know these two people. If this happened it happened earlier on if you're talking about Page and Papadopoulos.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: If this happened, it happened earlier on is a hell of a lot different than witch hunt, illegal, unwarranted.
HOWELL: Very interesting. Our John King reporting there. Now to another major development involving the Central Intelligence Agency for the first time in U.S. history, a woman will lead the CIA.
ALLEN: Gina Haspel received Senate confirmation on Thursday on a vote of 54 to 45. The narrow approval shows she was not an easy choice to lead the agency. Many senators were not happy about her role running a secret interrogation site for terror suspects in 2002.
HOWELL: Weddings are generally pricey affairs and now add royalty to the mix.
ALLEN: We will break down the expected cost for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's lavish nuptials when we come back here. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOWELL: Welcome back to our viewers around the world. You're watching CNN Newsroom. I'm George Howell.
ALLEN: I'm Natalie Allen. Here are our top stories this hour.
President Trump says his administration is still making plans for that June 12th summit with Kim Jong-un even though North Korea has threatened now to pull out. U.S. officials say they believe Kim is posturing and the meeting is not in jeopardy.
HOWELL: A deadly Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It has entered a new phase increasing fears that it could become harder to contain. The outbreak has spread from rural areas to a city of more than a million people. One case has been confirmed.
[03:30:05] The officials are racing to rule out 4,000 doses of an experimental vaccine.
ALLEN: Dramatic new time lapse video from the Gemini North Telescope in Hawaii shows the Kilauea volcano, there it goes, erupting explosively during a lightning storm on Thursday morning. It shot an enormous plume of ash and smoke about nine kilometers into the sky. For those in the U.S. why you are up to that 5 miles, nearby residents are being asked to stay put and warned that more explosive eruptions are possible. ISHA SESAY, NEWSROOM HOST, CNN: Hi, I'm Isha Sesay, wedding central
historic Windsor, England. Which is one day away from the world nuptials of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. In the coming hours, the bride's mother is set to meet (inaudible) at Windsor Castle. She met other members of the royal family earlier this week. And it is still unclear who if anyone will walk the bride down the aisle. Meghan Markle confirm, it will not be her father who will not be at the wedding as he recovers from heart surgery. So, we will be keeping an eye on that as it all plays out on Saturday. Royal pomp and ceremony can be expensive. So, who is picking up the tab for the wedding itself while keeping everyone safe and all the other expenses? CNN Samuel Burke works out the numbers.
SAMUEL BURKE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Everyone knows weddings are pricey. Meghan Markle's upcoming wedding to Prince Harry in the U.K. will take things to the next level. First the dress. It's still a royal secret, but a leading contender is Ralph and Russo, a high end British brand behind the dress Markle wore in her official engagement photos at a reported $75,000 price tag.
Estimates put a wedding dress for this designer at around $340,000. And there is a good chance she may wear a second dress to the evening reception. Food and drinks don't come cheap when you hosting 600 guests for lunch and another 200 for dinner. It estimated the Queen who is hosting the afternoon reception will spend $135 per person for her 600 guest, for a total $81,500.
The evening reception, hosted by Prince Charles can cost around $340 per head, for 200 guest, adding another $68,000 of cost. London Pastry Chef, Claire Ptak, has been chosen to supply a lemon elder flower cake for the big day. While the bakery decline the comment on their price. It is not unusual for a labyrinth wedding cake of this type to cost thousands of dollars.
Flowers are often a budget busting expense. London florist Philippa Craddock is decorating the chapel for the ceremony. Her team plans to use white garden roses and peonies. Many of the plans will be source from royally owned garden, according to Kensington palace. One estimate predicts floral work for an event this scale could cost at the very least nearly $70,000.
The great part about being a royal is you already have great venue and the family which means there shouldn't be any rental fees. The ceremony and the first reception will be on the ground of Windsor castle. The evening party will be held at the estate's vast country home, Frogmore House.
Even so, staff and logistics considerations for the three different events could add significant cost. Add it all together and see the wedding planners estimate the wedding could have a grand total of around $1.5 million. Who will foot the bill? Kensington Palace says, the royal family will pay for the wedding, except for the most expensive part. Security cost reportedly about $8 million for officer's overtime that will fall on the British taxpayer. Samuel Burke, CNN, London. SESAY: Well, let's discuss all of this and all the other detail of
this much anticipated royal wedding with Emily Nash, she is a royal correspondent for Hello Magazine, who will be inside Windsor Castle to watch the ceremony along with her staff. Emily, welcome.
EMILY NASH, ROYAL CORRESPONDENT, HELLO MAGAZINE: Hello, thank you very much for having me.
SESAY: You are so welcome. And I just want to pick up on Samuel's report there about the price tag. I know that for Hello Magazine, you know celebrities and royals that is your bread and butter, that is your staple and you have been wall to wall with this wedding. As you have been involved in the coverage and of course interacting with your viewers, how bothered are they by such a large price tag?
NASH: I think it is not something we are focusing on too much in our coverage. People here want to see the glamour. They want the excitement. And most of all they want to see Prince Harry happy.
03:35:00] You know, we follow his life story and we have seen his hiccups along the way and people are just really happy to see things coming full circle for him and that happy ending in sight now.
SESAY: The coverage that you guys have been involved in, it has been wall to wall Meghan. Talk to me about what people want to know about her. Tell me about how you shaped your coverage of her.
NASH: People are fascinated by her. She is just a very strong independent woman. She has been out there and have a career of her own. She thinks has done humanitarian work offering back before even becoming a member of the royal family and I think people find that very interesting and refreshing. She is quite different than other royal brides before her. And the fact that we know so much about her, Instagram and social media presence, prior to her getting together with Prince Harry means that she is quite accessible and people know about her like a dislikes and get on board with them.
SESAY: Good day. You will be inside Windsor Castle. First of all. How did you pull that off? What are your expectations and what are you looking forward to?
NASH: I'm one of a few very lucky people who had been invited in to the dance couple and we are going to be taking little tour in the morning of the castle. Getting a sense of the flowers and the decorations. I think when we get inside and smell the peonies and garden rose we will feel like the day as it will be. And I think it will be lovely to get to chat to some of the people who have been invited in all across the U.K. and people who work with Harry and Meghan's charities and you know, it's really important to them that they have been the vocal point to this as well. They bring issues out into public eye. And it's going to feel like a community.
SESAY: You covered the royals for such a long time with Hello Magazine. How is it different, how is it changing in real-time with the inclusion of Meghan? NASH: Meghan's arrival is groundbreaking for the royal family.
Having a biracial woman in the royal family, really reflects diverse in Britain in a way that hasn't been before in the royal family. But I am also having an American princess, who is very exciting for us. She is bringing along glamour, she is bringing an American approach to things. You know, we see how warm she is, how open she is with people and tactile. We really like to see that, I think from a young girls, it makes so much relatable. And Harry himself is famous for hugging people.
SESAY: Yes.
NASH: They are obviously completely on the same wave length.
SESAY: And it's generational or tell me, is it? I mean, obviously a lot of the younger brits are very comfortable with this open warmer and more diverse face of the royal family. What's the view of the older sections -- sector of the society?
NASH: You are always going to get some people who want things to stay the way they were 50 years ago, you know, and have a stiff upper lip, that kind of thing, but I think people are warming to it. And I think, particularly Harry, you know has charmed people over the years. People have real soft spot for him. Let's not forget, all the members of the royal family honoring to be pretty warm as well. We've seen Prince Charles hugging people quite a lot, it doesn't get much coverage as younger members of the family. So, it's not entirely new. We are seeing a lot more of it.
SESAY: Yes. I mean, bear in mind this fascination with Meghan and you know, she is a beauty, she is warm, and she is articulate. You know, obviously there's you know, the obvious parallel coalition with Harry's mother, Princes Diana. Do we foresee that replaying itself? Obviously it's a different time and you know, things have happened, but will that hunger for images will be the same? Will it be as manic with Meghan going forward after the big day?
NASH: There is a huge fascination with Meghan and I think in many ways it will be replicate. I think she and Harry are going to become this global power couple and we will see them everywhere. You know, Meghan I'm certain after we have seen her in that dress is going to be more of a fashion icon, I sure she already is. If you remember when Princess Diana was in that role, she was the future Queen. So she has slightly more attention on her from that point of view, but also this was pre-social media and pre-the Kardashian and pre-the celebrity circus that we are used to now. So she was sort of a one of if you like. There are plenty of celebrities to go around now, so hopefully it won't be quite as (inaudible).
SESAY: You did mention and we are almost out of time, but the fact that Princess Diana was in line to be Queen, Meghan isn't because obviously Prince William and Kathryn are ahead of him. What about that dynamic, I am fascinated and how does Hello covered it, the Meghan-Kate dynamic. And ow does that play on going forward?
[03:40:00] NASH: I think, they are going to make a fantastic team. We see them work together already. A royal foundation event. They seem to have a good connection. Meghan has talks about how supportive the Duchess has been to her. Obviously coming in as an out (inaudible). I think, they will be good friends and you know, Kate is open to share a lot of expertise with her now, having done the job for seven years and you know, perhaps she will learn something from Meghan too in a way that she conducts himself. Meghan is very experienced in front of the cameras and I think they will learn a lot from each other.
SESAY: It will be really exciting. This is a really exciting chapter for the royal family. And we are wishing you a really great day tomorrow.
NASH: Thank you very much.
SESAY: It's a wonderful time.
NASH: Thank you very much for having me.
SESAY: Thank you.
All right. well, CNN invites you to be part of our special coverage of Harry and Meghan's big day form the I do's and the dress, we have it all covered. Plus all this fascinate. It is right here on CNN. And that is it from Windsor for now. Back to you George and Natalie.
NATALIE ALLEN, CNN NEWSROOM SHOW HOST: All right. Thank you Isha. We see a lot of the British flags there, hopefully greeting from American flags in about 24 hours.
GEORGE HOWELL, CNN NEWSROOM SHOW HOST: Very exciting. Isha thank you so much
ALLEN: And just ahead here on Newsroom, the Kilauea volcano not to be outdone by a royal wedding, put on a show in an early morning display with a powerful blast.
HOWELL: Wow. Derek Van Dam will be here to tell us more about this latest eruption. Plus global support is growing for a Sudanese teenager sentenced to death. The latest on efforts to save Noura Hussein.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOWELL: Welcome back to "CNN Newsroom." The world is watching and pressure surely growing around the case of a teenage wife facing execution in Sudan.
ALLEN: Amnesty International has sent her country Sudan, 150,000 letters demanding the government release Noura Hussein from her death sentenced. CNN's Melissa Bell tells us about what is behind one woman campaign for Noura.
(BEGIN VIDEO)
MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is all the world has seen of her, but the story of Noura Hussein, sentenced to death in Sudan for killing the husband, who raped her, has already inspired a global campaign partly thanks to this girl.
Zayoub Azinnih, is just 16 years old and still in school near her home (inaudible) in northwestern France.
[03:45:00] From the ground floor flat she shows with her Nigerian mother, two sisters and brother, she decided to fight for Noura's life.
ZAYNAB AZINNIH, FIGHTING FOR NOURA HUSSEIN: I don't know her. I never spoke to her. I don't know who she is. But she is my sister, she is not my sister like my sister from my mother, but she is my sister in humanity. I can't let her die for defending herself against the man who raped her. This always happens and we can't just close our eyes and be like, well, it happens so we cannot do nothing about. No, we are part of the problem. Because we're letting this happen every time. And it's awful, because we know it, but we don't act.
BELL: Zaynab did act, creating a petition online, a petition that has already collected more than 700,000 signatures. Zaynab said she hopes to reach a million, because she believes that Noura's story has touched a nerve.
AZINNIH: the truth about made people angry is that she is going to get killed for using self-defense. That she didn't murder him. If he hadn't come to her to rape her again, would she have killed him?
BELL: It's a good point. I mean in a sense, Noura's story is the story of so many women around the world every day, Zaynab. The difference is she killed him.
AZINNIH: Yes. There is no difference in the reports from doing this. They are going to punish her for defending herself. So expected her to be quiet and to be like being rape every day.
BELL: Zaynab's campaign has been run from her bedroom and she believes that Noura can be saved.
AZINNIH: I would like to meet her. She is say hero. And yes, she defended herself. She is not scared.
BELL: You admire her and you have given her a voice that she didn't have. Was that the point?
AZINNIH: Yes and she is representing all the women who had been opposed in their life repressed. There is all the other Noura's.
BELL: Melissa Bell, CNN.
(END VIDEO)
ALLEN: It's a patriarchal country, but everyone hoping that the justice system will have mercy on this young woman.
HOWELL: A lot of pressure on this case. ALLEN: There are fears, a deadly Ebola outbreak in the Democratic
Republic of Congo, can soon become an even bigger threat the outbreak has now spread from rural areas to a city of more than one million.
HOWELL: The world health organization has raised the national public health risk of this outbreak to very high, but the global risk remains low. CNN's David McKenzie has details.
(BEGIN VIDEO)
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Officials are calling it a new phase of the deadly Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Now the most worrying thing is this confirmed case of Ebola in an urban center in Mbandaka, a city of more than one million people which is close to the Congo River. The main (inaudible), as well as two neighboring countries that could further complicate the efforts of the World Health Organization and others to stamp out this outbreak which has seen suspected deaths already. It was announced in early May.
Now, the next step is getting this experimental vaccine out to the field operations of the health teams. More than 4,000 doses, are in the capital, they are setting up a cold bridge. An air bridge of cold storage all the way to the epicenter where they will, administrator the doses to the contacts of those suspected cases and the contacts of those contacts.
A fast roll out of that is the key in stopping this outbreak, of course the World Health Organization wants to avoid the catastrophic scenes we saw (inaudible) in 2014 in West Africa, where more an 11,000 people were killed by Ebola. David McKenzie, CNN Johannesburg.
(END VIDEO)
HOWELL: All right David, thank you. Yet another fissure, the 21st fissure has opened up around Hawaii's Kilauea's volcano. On Thursday a big eruption shot a smoke and ash nine kilometers that is some five miles into the air. The area has been inundated by lava and toxic gas for a couple of weeks.
ALLEN: The rain kept the ash from going very far on Thursday but authorities are not taking chance. They have given people thousands of masks so they don't inhale particles as you can see that raining down.
HOWELL: The power of nature. Our meteorologist Derek Van Dam has been following this. Derek?
ALLEN: Hi, Derek. It would be a while.
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It has. It has, you know, the masks that they handed out protect from inhaling the particles, but they don't protect from inhaling the sulfur dioxide which is a noxious and poisonous gas. Well, that is one of the danger here as well. Lots to talk about with this latest eruption. It was captured by the Hawaiian volcano observation unit and what an incredible sight, this volcanic ash shooting 30,000 feet roughly nine kilometers into the sky.
[03:50:02] A very big hazard for the aviation industry. We will talk about that in just one moment, but this eruption was so large that it was actually captured by one of the local weather radars. You can see that little blurb on the screen, that shading of red is actually the volcanic ash plume sending into the sky. Now, what volcanologists are starting to notice are seeing similarities to a 1924 eruption, a very dangerous and large eruption with the same volcano, the Kilauea volcano, but look at the size of the boulder that was hurled into the sky? In fact, one mile into the sky. This was an eight-ton boulder.
Now, volcanologists are seeing similarities between this events, because we are noticing that the lava is starting to recede into the magma chamber. Lava is just magma but above ground. And the issues that volcanologist are seeing is that when this lava recedes into the magma chamber, rocks also fall into that magma chamber and it creates a kind of a blocking mechanism and you can imagine the amounts of pressure that are starting to build up within this particular magma chamber and it starts to erupt very, very quickly and eventually could blow its top.
But the big question is, is this the big event that occurred on Thursday? Well, it may not be, so, volcanologists are warning once again that this could be a concern for an even larger eruption going forward. Now we know that this plume shot 30,000 feet into the sky, but look at what it can do in the aviation industry. It's very, very, very dangerous, because 30,000 feet or nine kilometers as roughly of a height of a jet airliner. And when it starts to take some of that volcanic ash, which is vapor, basically vaporize and pulverized rock and sand particles, it can actually melt it in the turbine and eventually cooling it and hardened it on the turbine and preventing airflow from coming through the actual engine causing failure of that engine.
And that is going to obviously cause for concern as people try to take to the skies in and around that region. The forecast going forward calls for dry weather through the weekend which is good news, but there is some rain at the end of the weekend. So, lots to talk about here. Natalie, George, I will send it back to you in the meantime.
ALLEN: All right. Scary, but fascinating for the most part as you think.
HOWELL: I agree.
ALLEN: Thank you, Derek.
HOWELL: Thanks, Derek.
ALLEN: All right. We are about, let us see, less than 24 hours from that -- what was it?
HOWELL: A big wedding.
ALLEN: Yes. The cake and things like that. All right. So, coming up is here, yes, the cake. How Meghan and Harry are putting their own stamp on the culinary side of their wedding. Coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SESAY: Hello, everyone. Some of the finer details of the royal wedding are still under wraps, but we have learned a few things about the wedding cake. It is one way Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are expressing their personality and reshaping royal traditions. CNN's Lynda Kinkade has the taste.
(BEGIN VIDEO)
LYNDA KINKADE, NEWSROOM, CNN: If you are one of the millions of people who did not get an invite to the royal wedding, we have a taste of what you can expect. I have with me Kristin Maxwell from the knot. This is a traditional wedding cake. Kate and William had it. Will this be on the menu?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is actually a traditional fruitcake. This is for goodness cakes in Atlanta Georgia (ph). This actually one of the traditions that Prince Harry and Meghan has decided to skip. But like you said, Prince Charles and Princess Diana had one and it is often all white, very grand in appearance. This is eight tiers with a lot of delicacy as you can see here.
[03:55:16] KINKADE: It is beautiful. We do know that Meghan had a good say in the Pastry Chef, she chose an American in London. What does she want created? ,
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She wants a lemon elder flower cake. And you are right, she did choose a pastry chef based in London, Claire Ptak, she is an American and she also wants butter cream and she want to top with fresh flowers.
KINKADE: We have a little slice here, so we do get a taste of what the wedding guest will be served. It's very good. You shouldn't skip it. And I understand Prince Harry is going to go with tradition. Most men like chocolate.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He is allergic to chocolate cake.
KINKADE: Yes, for his grooms cakes, so we see that grooms cake are a big tradition in the U.S., but they are just making their way to the royal wedding right now.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, Prince William had one week. Harry to have one, we know his favorite dessert is actually a banana caramel chocolate cake and so we expect he will choose those flavors for his groom cake.
KINKADE: And of course, wedding is a wedding without some sparkles and some wine. And we know, Meghan is partial to a pinot, particularly one from the Sonoma valley in California. Will there be a mixture of British and American wine?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So I think we can definitely expect that some of the wines may be flown in so we have mix of American and British drinks for the occasion. And then when it comes with the sparkling wine, we can expect them to be from chapel down. Thy provided a Rose brut for Prince William and Kate and they also provided sparkling wine for the Queen's diamond jubilee.
KINKADE: Here is to Meghan and Harry.
Cheers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Cheers.
(END VIDEO)
ALLEN: Cheers. I love that. That does look yummy.
HOWELL: That is amazing.
SESAY: Yes it does.
KINKADE: You know we are sitting and wondering, do we have any kind of celebrities from the United States or her friends who might be showing up with their fascinators?
SESAY: There will be fascinators in their morning suits. We know that a lot of the cast members of suit have been invite and I believe they are already here in the U.K. Serena Williams, Bianca (inaudible) -- a whole bunch of people. I mean it really -- James Corden and the late night host, you know, from the U.K., but working in the U.S. lots and lots of people. Lots of celebrities to spot. It will be a fun time. George and Natalie?
HOWELL: A lot of fun indeed. A lot of people around the world are excited for this moment. Isha, thank you so much.
ALLEN: Americans trying to look natural in their hat. It will be fun to watch. Isha, thanks so much for watching. More news next with Hannah Vaughan Jones from Windsor.
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