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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

Will and Kate Welcome Baby Boy; Southwest Flight Collapses in LaGuardia Airport; The Royal Name Game

Aired July 22, 2013 - 20:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Erin, thanks.

Good evening, everyone. We begin tonight with a birth announcement of a certain boy. Maybe you've heard, quite a party for the little guy. The first child for Britain's Prince William and Catherine, duchess of Cambridge. First grandchild for Prince Charles, third in line to the throne, celebrations, some of them huge, across the U.K., the commonwealth, and back here, and the former colonies.

The papers already out -- take a look. "The Daily Mail" headlining it, "Oh, boy, one's a grandpa." One being Prince Charles. "The Sun," leading with the pun, renaming itself for the day, "The Son," S-O-N. Get it? Anyway.

As for the boy who launched hundreds of sleet front pages, there's no name yet. But tonight we'll talk about the possibilities and yes, the betting favorites. We'll look at what life is like for a royal baby and heir to the throne. But first the big moment, how the news and the baby arrived.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER (voice-over): The news the world was waiting for came at about 8:30 p.m. London time.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, Brooke.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.

FOSTER: Brooke.

BALDWIN: Yes.

FOSTER: OK, her royal highness, the Duchess of Cambridge was safely delivered of a son at 4:24 p.m. local time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: God save the Queen.

FOSTER: The royal highness and her child are both doing well and will remain in the hospital overnight. So that's the news. A boy, born at 4:24 which is just a few hours ago. Eight pounds. So wonderful news. You can hear the cheers.

COOPER: Kate Middleton was in labor for about 10 hours before the birth. All the while, the crowds were gathering in anticipation of the news.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, it's been a sense of anticipation all day. But the crowds just ran towards Buckingham Palace. You can see them there now. And they are awaiting that gilded easel.

COOPER: The gilded easel, a tradition since the 18th century, awaiting the formal birth announcement.

FOSTER: Ed Perkins coming out right now with the formal notification of the birth. Huge cheers in the crowd who have gathered here. He's got a big smile on his face. It's been a few hours since the birth, there he is, a big moment for him. He's only been in the job for less than a year, and the car goes off.

COOPER: Off to Buckingham Palace for the birth notification is handed to a royal aide who brings it inside to be framed. After that the framed announcement is ceremoniously brought back outside and displayed to the world.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, then we have the queen's press secretary. She has just placed the birth announcement on the gilded easel. This easel has only ever been used for Prince William's birth announcement.

COOPER: Prince William stayed by her wife's side during the birth, issued a statement saying, quote, "We could not be happier."

The baby who weighed a healthy 8 pounds 6 ounces is third in line for the throne. Following his father and his grandfather, Prince Charles, who earlier in the day was accepting presents on behalf of his grandchild.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Prince Charles, we've a president for you.

CHARLES, PRINCE OF WALES: Thank you very much.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's for the baby.

PRINCE CHARLES: Right. Well, I'll see what I can do. It hasn't quite appeared yet.

COOPER: Prime Minister David Cameron called the birth a celebration for the country. And it was smiles all around for the medical team as the two royal obstetricians left the hospital.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wonderful baby, beautiful baby. Lovely day. Terrific. Very happy for them all.

COOPER: The royal baby's title will be "His Royal Highness Prince of Cambridge," and until he's named he'll simply be known as Baby Cambridge.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Baby Cambridge. Sounds like a rapper, sort of. Max Foster who broke the news is joining us from outside the hospital, Christiane Amanpour outside Buckingham Palace, and CNN royal commentators Katie Nicholl and Victoria Arbiter are joining me as well.

So, Max, there was a four-hour gap between the baby's birth and the public announcement. What happened during that time?

FOSTER: Well, I was told by a royal aide, they just wanted to spend time together with the baby, the couple. They went through this all on their own. William was there throughout the labor, he's staying in the hospital overnight.

As you can see, Anderson, the weather is back to normal here in the U.K., the sun was never going to last long. But tomorrow morning, when they came out on the doorstep there will be hope for some sunshine because we're expecting actually William to come out and say a few words tomorrow morning. And after that he will come out with his wife and baby.

I mean, some people suggested it could be later, all the indications are, because the labor went so well, everyone's on good form. We'll see them tomorrow morning.

COOPER: And are there -- I mean, are there sort of official celebrations at all planned?

FOSTER: There -- tomorrow morning our time, a whole list of military engagements will be announced. I've got some details of that but it's not being announced until tomorrow morning. So you are going to see some pretty spectacular displays. Gun salutes, for example. Sandhurst will be involved where Prince William went to college. And there is other military moments over the day.

So it will be a day of ceremony tomorrow. And we'll be able to give you more details about that in the morning.

COOPER: And, Christiane, I mean, this is the first time the British monarchy has had three generations of living heirs to the throne. I think it's more than like 100 years.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes indeed, since the time of Queen Victoria, and it is incredible because everybody, you know, sees this new baby, not yet seen, but we know he's coming out to meet the public at some point. And thinks well, maybe, you know, he's going to be king in my lifetime. But you know, he might not be for another 70 years or so.

Let's not forget, this is a family with very good genes, with longevity, and there's no, you know, hint that he's going to be king any time soon.

But as for the weather that Max is talking about, you know, it's been the most unbelievable heat wave here, and this rain is extremely good luck in some parts of the world. In Asia, for instance, this rain brings good luck so it's a good omen. COOPER: And, Christine, William and Kate, I mean, they've been sort of seen as modernizing forces for this institution that as a time has been criticized for being too stuck in tradition. Do you expect they will bring that perspective to raising their child? Because certainly the way William and Harry were raised with the influence of Diana was very different than previous generations.

AMANPOUR: That's exactly right. She really did try to give them as normal an upbringing as possible. And of course that's impossible in the royal family where all eyes are on you. But I was talking to the Queen's cousin last week, who explained that one of the things that a family of parents can give their kids, even a royal prince, even an heir to the throne, is a normal childhood behind closed doors.

And I think certainly from all that we've heard about William and Kate, that is what they hope to be able to do for their child. Incredible that they managed to keep the news to themselves for the first four hours and had that little time to bond out of the public eye.

COOPER: And, Katie, you know, what this child is going to face, which previous generations have not faced, is this world of the Internet and Twitter. Meaning, I mean, privacy was, you know, certainly a huge issue for Diana. Certainly it was an issue at times for William and for Harry. But for this child, it's going to be probably even worse.

KATIE NICHOLL, CNN ROYAL COMMENTATOR: I think it will be the greatest obstacle certainly that the couple faces of protecting their little boy now. We're going to have a first photo that Buckingham Palace will have pictures from the Christening, but where do we go from there? Will we see this little boy's picture on his first day to Wetherby School which is where William went, as possibly where this boy will go, too?

That is all to be decided but you're quite right, this is an age where everything is captured on digital cameras, on iPhones. They're really not safe at all. And yet this is a couple who were once be able to push that crowd around Kensington Park. So I think we're going to see new parameters established, and very much William and Kate trying to find their feet and really come to an agreement with the press. We'll give you access, but in return for that access, we want privacy and we want our downtime.

COOPER: Victoria, how do you think the upbringing of the duchess will sort of impact this child? Because, I mean, she -- I don't know if the word commoner is used any more, but certainly in the previous generations that's what she would have been referred to.

VICTORIA ARBITER, CNN ROYAL COMMENTATOR: Well, she -- yes, she is from a commoner background. So is Diana, so is the Queen Mother. But of course they were slightly more aristocratic so it's hard for the regular person to identify. But really, I think Kate's childhood is going to have a huge impact.

She grew up in a house where her mother was waiting for her when she came home from school. They were very close knit, they did everything together. We've already seen the Middletons playing a huge role in William and Kate's life now. The fact that they went to the Middletons for Christmas last December was huge. Royals don't do that.

COOPER: Really?

ARBITER: They don't go to their in-laws for Christmas. No. Christmas is the Queen's occasion. And I think already William has been very clear that he wants the Middletons to be involved, he's close to them. He wants Kate to feel supported. And that's what Diana didn't have, she didn't have a close knit family, which was one of the reasons she felt so let down and so alone.

COOPER: How much of a role does the royal family, the sort of royal household, have in determining the future of this child in terms of the schooling, the care for this child? Is it -- I mean, these days, is it simply -- is it the parents who make up all the decisions?

ARBITER: It is. Yes. And people are often surprised to hear that. They think that the Queen rules with an iron rod. But she really doesn't. She's happy for her family to do what they deemed best. If something happens that she doesn't quite agree with, she'll come out and say it.

But yes, it will be very much William and Kate's decisions, where the child will go to school, what type of school it will be, what kind of things they do as a family.

But as Katie mentioned, it's going to be very difficult because we live in this multimedia age. Diana was able to do things with the boys, relatively privately. There occasionally was a paparazzi photographer, but how do you begin to regulate the general public, everybody has a camera phone.

And they'll take a picture, pop it up on Twitter, thinking it's quite innocent. And then next you know it's around the world. International media has picked up and William is then very upset.

COOPER: And Katie, I mean, certainly the role that Diana played in her son's life, I mean, that's clearly going to have a big impact on the way William raises his child.

NICHOLL: It will. And we were saying, I was saying with Christiane earlier, you know, she broke the mold, Diana. She did things differently. She didn't have her babies in palaces. She didn't have those boys raised by governesses. She sent them to regular schools. She got them out there. She took them to theme parks and shopping on Kensington High Street.

And I think when you look at what she's put in place for William and Kate, and the background that Kate comes from, a very normal tight knit family. That is going to be the foundation for how they raise this little boy. But with that, we'll have to be royal protocol, tradition, and all things embedded in this child. So it's going to be a balancing act. COOPER: It's interesting, Christiane, because for all the decisions that they make, there are certain things this child will be expected to do. I mean, the kind of -- the future for this child is sort of set, isn't it?

AMANPOUR: You know, absolutely, Anderson. This is a royal family and this is their profession. They are professionally in service to this country, that is their duty, no matter what they do. Now some do it better than others. People who have been watching the royal family for generations are -- you know, have seen that they're subject to all sorts of criticism on the one hand, praise on the other --

COOPER: We're having some technical problems. We lost Christiane. We're going to take a quick break. We've going to have a lot more to talk about including the baby's name, what the baby might be named. Let us know what you think. You can follow me on Twitter @andersoncooper.

Coming up next, there will also some breaking news. The picture from New York's LaGuardia Airport. You can see it there. Southwest Flight 345 nose down on the tarmac after the nose gear collapsed on landing. Late details and growing toll of injuries when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Breaking news tonight. You're looking there at a new photo of the evacuation earlier this evening of Southwest Airlines Flight 345. The emergency slides deployed. People fleeing the Boeing 737 after the nose gear collapsed on landing. It happened at New York's LaGuardia Airport. There have been injuries.

Mary Snow is monitoring late developments, she joins us now.

So what's the latest, Mary?

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, Flight 345 was coming in from Nashville, and with that collapsed nose gear, Port Authority spokesman telling us that there are 11 people who were injured, six passengers, five crew members. We are told these injuries are nonlife threatening. Six people were taken to the hospital.

Now Southwest says there were 150 people on board the Boeing 737. That they've all been evacuated and taken to the terminal. The airport was shut down for a period of time, the Port Authority is now telling us that the airport is reopened, but to expect delays and of course because this is such a busy airport could create a ripple effect of delays across the country.

COOPER: Do -- at this point, do we know what caused the crash?

SNOW: You know, it's really unclear. What the FAA is saying is that Southwest reported possible front landing gear issues before landing. And the FAA is saying that the nose gear collapsed as the plane landed. But a spokesperson for the Port Authority said that they believe that a wheel popped off the aircraft while it was taxiing after landing.

There is a news conference that is scheduled shortly. We expect to have more information.

COOPER: And is it clear at this point where -- I mean, were all the people who were injured in the same area? Do we know? Or the nature of those injuries?

SNOW: We don't know. All we know is that six people were passengers and that five were crew members on that Southwest plane.

COOPER: So five of the injured are crew members. That's interesting. And you said that they were aware of something before the plane landed?

SNOW: That's according to the FAA. The FAA said that Southwest did report possible front landing gear issues before this plane landed and that the nose gear actually collapsed as it landed.

COOPER: All right. Mary Snow, thanks. We'll continue to follow.

More now on the young prince. Baby, mom and dad staying in the hospital overnight. And like most parents, bringing the baby home will be a global media event. You heard the price is expected -- Prince William is expected to come out and speak first, and then introduce the baby to the world.

His home is an apartment, as 360's Randi Kaye tells us, it will be an apartment in a palace. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's good to be the royal baby. He is officially welcomed into the world with tolling bells and a royal gun salute. Not bad, eh? But wait, it gets better. When he leaves the hospital, he'll go home to a palace.

ARBITER: Primarily the baby will live with William and Kate, obviously, at Kensington Palace, in Apartment 1-A which is the former home of Princes Margaret.

KAYE: But that's not all. The royal baby also will have access to at least three other palaces -- his grandmother's home, Buckingham Palace and its 775 rooms, Balmoral, a sprawling Scottish castle where the royals like to summer, and Sandringham House, the estate where the royal family spends Christmas.

(On camera): How many nannies do you anticipate this royal baby will have?

ARBITER: At this time there's no nanny. Let's remember, Kate grew up in a home where her mother was waiting for her when she came home from school. It was very family oriented. Her parents were at everything. They're a very close family. But I think in the beginning if they -- if they have a date night, I think Grandma Middleton will be roped into baby-sit.

KAYE (voice-over): The Duchess of Cambridge wants to be a full- time mom and raise her son with as small an entourage as possible. And when the royal couple's son is old enough to attend school?

ARBITER: Schooling will be probably quite similar to the way William and Harry was schooled, even Kate. William was the very first heir to the throne to go to a nursery school, a primary school. Charles didn't go to proper school until he was 8 years old. Boarding school will definitely be in the future.

KAYE (on camera): Is it fair to say this royal baby will grow up fairly spoiled?

ARBITER: I think yes, obviously, this baby will be showered but if you remember Diana, she really took pains to make sure that William and Harry appreciated their position and how privileged they were. Yes, she took them to theme parks, yes, they got to do all these fancy things, but they also went to homeless shelters, they went to AIDS hospitals without the photographers there.

KAYE (voice-over): What will the royal baby wear?

ARBITER: Kate is practical with her own clothing so she's going to be well aware of the fact that babies grow very quickly. Oftentimes between diapers and being sick, they can go through clothes quite quickly. So I think she's -- you're not going to see the baby sort of all dressed up in Baby Dior.

KAYE: And when he's out and about, keep an eye out for his trendy stroller that retails for about $1,000. The Duchess of Cambridge has reportedly purchased a Bugaboo.

(On camera): Being a royal baby isn't all fun and games. It's work. There are obligations. Royal children usually join the Queen on the palace balcony for her birthday and attend other historic royal occasions. And then there are the trips overseas. As a baby, William went to Australia and New Zealand with his parents.

(Voice-over): As with any member of the royal family, security for the newest royal will be key. Princess Diana was able to take William and his brother Harry to theme parks and fast food restaurants, even movie theaters. Paparazzi were there, but in this day and age, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge also have to worry about camera phones and regulating the general public.

Judging from the looks of it today, that will be no easy task.

Randi Kaye, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, my next guest has a good a picture as any of what kind of parents the new prince will be. Christopher Andersen is the author of "William and Kate, A Royal Love Story." He joins us by phone. Back with us also, CNN royal commentator Victoria Arbiter, CNN royal commentator Katie Nicholl, Christiane Amanpour, and outside the hospital in London, Max Foster.

Christopher, let me start with you. You heard Victoria say in the piece that there's no nanny as of now. Do you really think that's going to last? I mean, is it possible for them not to have some sort of a nanny, given the sort of public schedule these two have?

CHRISTOPHER ANDERSEN, AUTHOR, "WILLIAM AND KATE, A ROYAL LOVE STORY": No, they've got to have a nanny. It's interesting how closely people grow to their nannies. Charles was very fond -- regarded Mabel Anderson, his nanny, as the kind of a mother surrogate. William and Kate of course were very close to their nannies, Barbara Barnes and Olga Powell. And extremely close to Tiggy Legge-Bourke after Diana died. So I think a royal nanny is inevitable. At least one.

COOPER: It is actually a very kind of difficult relationship with a nanny because it really does become like a mother figure.

ARBITER: It really does, yes, I mean, there's got to be somebody there that provides continuity because the royal schedule, it's not 9:00 to 5:00. They could be working nights. They could be gone in the morning. They could be away on tour.

Diana was really keen to try and make sure that her schedule allowed for her to drop the boys off at school. But I don't know that we're going to see a live-in nanny with William and Kate. I think that there is going to be a nanny, it is inevitable when Kate goes back to full-time work. But she's going to be keen to be running that nursery herself.

COOPER: But it's interesting the generational shift because, you know, the way Charles was raised, no doubt the way his parents were raised, I mean, children were sort of, you know, seen but not heard. I mean, they were probably ushered in for a short amount of time to see their parents and then usher away, and then sent away to boarding school at a very young age.

ARBITER: You hit the nail on the head, though, Anderson, by saying generational. Times change, expectations change. There was a time when parents would go out for dinner and wouldn't take their children. That's just regular family. These days children are welcome at anything and everything. They go to weddings. They join in all sorts of functions.

And so I think also looking back at Charles at this time, when the Queen went away on her tour of the Commonwealth, it took six months to go around the world. It doesn't any more with jet travel as it is. It's much easier to travel, take the baby with you, you can travel for shorter amounts of time. And so I think really expectations change, we live in a modern world, and so Kate and William are going to have a lot more freedom.

COOPER: And Christiane and Katie, so they're going to live at Kensington Palace, Apartment 1-A, do we have any idea what that is like? I mean, have a lot of people seen that?

NICHOLL: Now it's four stories, it's immense, but it's not ready yet. It's not going to be ready until probably the beginning of the autumn. This is the problem. So what we're going to be looking at, really, from tomorrow when they leave the hospital is where are they going to. It will be quite tight for them to move back to Nottingham cottage. It's two bedrooms. That's a little cottage that they live in next to Apartment 1-A. It's a big house that they'll move into but they do go back there. I don't think it will be for too long. There are reports that they might head to Bucklebury, but at the moment they don't have a family home that's ready for them to move into.

COOPER: Christiane, when I heard 1-A, I thought it was like a basement apartment somewhere. I thought, wow, they're on, like, the ground floor.

(LAUGHTER)

AMANPOUR: No, but, you know, Kensington Palace, you know, Katie knows a lot more about it in terms of it four stories and this and that. But, you know, I know it as the big palace in the park that's quite near where I live. And it's a real tourist hub as well. It's not like it's isolated, people come in, people come out, they go right up to the doors. It's just been changed, the entrance has been moved from one side to the other. Looks out on this beautiful statue of Queen Victoria.

And remember, of course, Kensington Palace, I think, is probably sort of fixed in people's minds as the place where there were literally mountains of flowers --

COOPER: Of course, yes. Out there. Yes.

AMANPOUR: -- when Princess Diana was killed. Remember, I mean, it was just as far as the eye can see. And people waiting almost five deep into these flowers, and it also does have that memory to it.

COOPER: We've got take a break. When we come back, we're going to talk more about the royal name game, and also what kind of a life this child would have. There's so much fantasy around sort of the royal family, but the reality of life for this child, we'll talk about that coming up. And also, how Princess Diana's influence will be felt. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TONY APPLETON, ROYAL CRIER: On this day, the 22nd of July, in the year 2013, we welcome, with humble duty, a future king --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: The royal crier delivering the royal news. Interestingly enough Wolf Blitzer had the exact same outfit at home. The new baby boy is just hours. Third in line to the British throne. We may not know his name, though, for quite a while. It took a week before William's name was announced after his birth. British bookmakers have been taking bets. They're giving the shortest odds to James and George.

Whatever name William and Kate choose for their newborn son, his title will be "His Royal Highness Prince of Cambridge."

So what exactly goes into naming a royal baby? Does protocol dictate and in 2013, is it possible that William and Kate will toss out the rule book all together?

Kate Nicholl and Victoria Arbiter join me again, also I want to bring in Arianne Chernock, associate professor of history at Boston University. Her research focuses on modern British and European history.

So, Victoria, we know it's a boy. What does sort of go into the naming of the baby?

ARBITER: Well, really, the royals tend to stick to dynastic names, names with a sense of history, continuity, and actually with a thousand year history, over a thousand year history, there are a plethora of names to choose from. We've had eight Henrys, eight Edwards, six Georges. So there is continuity in that respect.

But I think William and Kate may step outside the box a little bit, as much as they can. They are a very traditional couple by nature, so I think the long shots, we've got Arthur and Albert, George is a popular favorite. It's obviously the Queen's father's name, and her beloved grandfather.

I think we'll see Phillip as a tribute to Prince Phillip in the middle name. But really, I think, William is going to want to choose something that perhaps the bookies haven't thought of.

COOPER: Most royals have three to four first names in honor of previous monarchs or relatives, right?

CHERNOCK: That's correct. They have the option of signaling with a lot of the choices, honoring different members of the family.

COOPER: It's interesting to me, you know, we all focus on sort of the glamour of all this, there's this idea of wow, what a life this child is going to have. I look at it in a different way, it's going to be extremely difficult, not only to be in this fishbowl, but if you have some sort of thing you want to do with your life, you can't really do that. You're sort of -- you are set at birth with what your life is going to be.

NICHOLL: It's really hard. I remember being told that when Prince William was 18 and he was in Chile. He was discovered around the camp fire with some of the kids he made. I envy all of you because you all have normal lives. He had no choice really apart from going into the military. There wasn't much choice for what he was going to do. His life will be one of duty.

I mean, Diana produced the heir and the spare. A lot of people say, well, Prince Harry has it easy because he's not going to have to follow in William's footsteps. For Harry, it's hard too, for any royal child. There is a sense of duty. With all that privilege, it comes an enormous sense of responsibility. It's a gilded cage in a lot of ways and lots of your privacy, which William struggled with for many years and stills struggles with, I think probably makes most of us quite sympathetic.

COOPER: It's not the toughest paper on the planet, but there is that limitation, you were saying during the break, Harry, who's -- Harry is viewed with a jaundiced eye.

ARBITER: That's right. I mean, Harry has done incredibly well with his Apache training. He has risen through the ranks. He's been voted the top flyer, and yet still, the cynics will say, it's only because he's Prince Harry. No, the government's not going to let you get into a multimillion dollar machine because you're Prince Harry. These are not toys.

So he is very qualified, but it sort of just viewed quite flippantly. I think really it's a struggle because it's duty, duty, duty. These are not set hours, you are expected to show up in everything. You may not be interested in everything so yes, of course, there are enormous amount of privilege, but it comes at quite a price.

COOPER: Does the royal family matter? You look at the history of all of this. It's import for Britain is what, now?

CHERNOCK: I think it's hugely important for Britain. This is a nation that's really searching for a identity right now. The royal family is really something the family can rally around.

COOPER: Kate, you agree with that?

NICHOLL: Completely. I think at the moment, the monarchy are enjoying such a resurgence of popularity. You go back to Diana's death, I don't think the royal family would have dared contemplate they would be in the situation they're in the states. I think you saw it most recently as the celebration of the queen's coronation, previous to that, the diamond jubilee celebrations, there's a sense of good will. At the center of it, is this glamorous hardworking couple William and Kate.

COOPER: And that really has come a long way. I remember covering the funeral and being there for the funeral of Diana. As Katie said, that was the nature in terms of a lot of perception.

ARBITER: The '90s were devastating for the royal family. There were divorces, toe sucking incidents. It was just back to the -- you couldn't write a movie and someone think, this is -- it's a soap opera. It was a soap opera. I think what's really exciting right now, when I look at the queen, who has sense of duty and dedication. Now she can look at this baby, her first great grandson. She can see the future of the monarchy. This baby is the first sovereign of the 22nd Century. She can see it stretching out before her childhood.

COOPER: Is there any possibility of the queen stepping down before? In Belgium, just stepped down and gave it over to his child.

ARBITER: No. It's never going to happen. I mean, when the queen took her oath, it is before God, she is profoundly religious. To her when she took this oath, she meant it sincerely and said it before God. She's all about duty. She's so criticized for not coming down to London and being with the people surrounding Diana's death. It's the only time in her reign that she's chosen family over duty. She felt her responsibility then was to be with her grandsons, I think it will be interesting to see now as we move forward, she is 87, but she's very robust. She's healthy, going to have no plans to step down I don't see how she would.

COOPER: We have a lot more to talk about. Arianne Chernock, thanks. Katie Nicholl and Victoria Arbiter, stay with us. We're going also going to talk a little bit more about Princess Diana. She made it clear from the start that her sons would be raised differently than previous generations, royals. William and Kate have signaled they intend to follow in her footsteps. We'll take a look at what that maybe.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: William and Kate's son was born in the same wing of the Central London Hospital where William arrived in 1982. Princess Diana broke the tradition by giving birth in a hospital. Until then, it was customary for royals to give birth at home. Diana broke it with other royal traditions. Obviously as you know, when it came to parenting, she was hands on approach by following her own mind. Here's how Prince William described her in 2007.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRINCE WILLIAM: She did everything because she felt it was right and it was what she wanted to do. She didn't go by what she thought was the best thing to do or be told to do something. She did it from the heart and she carried. She carried massively. We were the most important thing in her life, after that, it was everyone else, charity, everyone else. To me, that's a really good philosophy that she just loved caring for people and helping.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Many will be watching no doubt to see how Diana's example shaped the kind of parents that William and Kate will be. They said they intend to be hands on parents. William was in the delivery room. He's taking paternity leave.

Katie Nicholl, Victoria Arbiter, join me again. I also want to bring in royal biographer, Mark Saunders. Victoria, you have no doubt that the influence of Diana is still very much felt in the lives of both of her children. It's Prince William who gave Kate his mother's engagement ring? ARBITER: Yes, he did give Kate his mother's engagement ring. I think that was his way of keeping her close, keeping her involved in everything. But he likes to honor her privately, but there's no question her parenting style is definitely going to come into play for William and Kate. He has the job now moving forward of teaching his child the importance of his position and his role.

But that he has the opportunity to do good for other people. When Diana was taking the boys to AIDS hospitals and homeless shelters, she wasn't doing it to shock them, she was doing it to learn empathy and sympathy, and be able to talk to people that are suffering as well as they can talk to the queen and to the pope. So I think William's going to want to emulate that, so that his child understands the difference he can make in other people's lives.

COOPER: And Katie, will William continue to serve as he has? What is it? I'm not sure the branch of the military he's in.

NICHOLL: He's with the search and rescue team. That's a very good question, and I'm told through sources at the palace, that we're to expect an announcement in a few weeks' time, possibly at the end of the summer, a lot of speculation that he is going to stand down. A lot is happening to that direction. That's not making William redundant, but it's changing his team and his fleet, this is seen as an opportune moment now to step out.

You also need to look at the Duke of Edinburg and his ailing health. The queen is 87 and in robust health, but certainly scaling back. Is it time for William to stand down? Is he a Prince or a pilot? I think a lot of people would say he's a Prince, and now is the time to get on with princely duty.

COOPER: Mark, a lot of people compared Kate to Diana, obviously, but Kate has become very much her own woman.

MARK SAUNDERS, ROYAL BIOGRAPHER: Well, I said from the start that it was very unfair to do that because Princess Diana was such a unique person, that it would be virtually impossible to follow in her footsteps, but Katherine has done a remarkable job making herself popular. It wasn't taken for granted that the British public would warm to her as quickly as they did. I do notice many similarities between Diana and Katherine. She gets along with people very well. The first job they did together after they got engaged. I remember using the word chivalrous the way William protected Katherine at all times. She has grown because of that support.

COOPER: Victoria, the learning curve for someone who doesn't -- hasn't grown up in a royal family, even the learning curve for this child. It takes a while to kind of figure out the role?

ARBITER: It does, I think that's why William and Kate waited so long to get married. They were the first world couple to live together before getting married. She was the first royal bride to have a university degree. She was a good 10 years older than Diana when she married William. So I think there were lots of steps they took to make sure that Kate really knew what she was getting into. It's a thankless job, everything you do is analyzed, pulled apart, picked apart. She had a very good education, she comes from a tight close knit family and she has William there to guide her. The only person she's learning from is William and he takes very good care of her.

COOPER: Victoria, do they have more privacy than Diana had? I mean, obviously, the world now moves even faster than it did back then. You have Titter and all these social media, but maybe I just don't pay enough attention to it, but it seems like they're given a little more space.

ARBITER: There's definitely been a major shift in terms of the way the press approaches the royals after Diana's death, it was largely believed that the photographers were responsible, and I think it really made everybody take a step back and reassess how they were hounding -- that's been amazing that it's held on this long. It remains to be seen what happens. Baby's sell newspapers and the international press is not following the same guidelines as the British press. Really, I hope this holds off, because William, he just starts to close off more and more and more, the minute he feels like he's losing control. They're going to have to find a balance.

COOPER: That's fascinating. Victoria Arbiter, thank you very much. Katie Nicholl, Mark Saunders, thanks.

Coming up, the latest on the breaking news tonight, a scary landing for passengers aboard a Southwest Airlines flight, the plane's nose collapsed as it landed at LaGuardia Airport. We'll hear from one of the passengers next.

Later, George Zimmerman in the headlines again this time for helping at a traffic accident.

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COOPER: More on the breaking news we're following from New York's LaGuardia Airport. This video shows the evacuation earlier this evening of Southwest Airlines Flight 345. The emergency slides deployed, people fleeing the Boeing 737 after the nose gear collapsed on landing. There were injuries, nonlife threatening we're told. As many as 10 people were treated at the scene.

Mary Snow joins us with new information on the accident. Mary, there was a press conference at LaGuardia airport. What did you learn?

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, as for the latest information, we're getting this. You mentioned that 10 injuries, none life threatening. Six people were taken to the hospital and the Port Authority saying that the flight crew was also taken for observation. One change, though, the FAA had earlier reported that the flight had reported possible front landing gear before handing.

The FAA is saying that that is no longer the case. They have retracted that statement. Exactly what led to the nose wheel collapsing is unclear, but take a listen, this is the general manager of LaGuardia Airport and describing what happened when the Southwest flight from Nashville to LaGuardia came in to land around 5:40 this evening.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From what we know, the aircraft landed on runway four. The landing gear collapsed. The nose wheel specifically collapsed, the aircraft skidded down the runway on its nose and then veered off and came to rest in a grass area between the runway and taxi way, about halfway down the runway.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SNOW: This was a Boeing 737. The airport, Anderson, had been closed for a little bit more than an hour. It has been reopened, but the plane is still there, and the NTSB is now on the same.

COOPER: All right, Mary Snow, I appreciate it. Joining us on the phone from LaGuardia Airport is Kathy Boles, a passenger on board. Kathy, thanks for talking to us. What can you tell us about the landing? At what point did you realize something wasn't right?

KATHY BOLES, PASSENGER ON SOUTHWEST PLANE CRASH (via telephone): It honestly wasn't until it hit the ground. It was like any other landing, we just skid -- it was a bang and a bounce, and then just a slam on the brakes, skidding feeling as we were trying -- you could tell they were trying to stop the plane. The pilots were doing their best to stop the plane. It was very clear as soon as we went down that something was really wrong, and we did not land on wheels.

COOPER: You didn't land on wheels at all or the nose of the aircraft?

BOLES: On the front. I was sitting close to the front and so it was just a hard impact from the plane and then just a desperate try to stop the plane as quickly as possible.

COOPER: What does that feel like with the nose of the plane, I guess, just scraping along the runway? Does it bounce? Did you get jerked out of your seat?

BOLES: It was definitely a hard impact. You could feel a jolt to your body, the scariest part was the smell of the smoke, and I don't know whether the smell of the -- burning smell, maybe the asphalt and the plane. I'm not sure what that was.

COOPER: You smelled something.

BOLES: Probably the most frightening part of it all.

COOPER: Did the chutes automatically deploy and everyone -- or did the pilot say anything for the people to evacuate or how did that work?

BOLES: It was a little bit -- not being in the situation ever before, fortunately, I'm not sure exactly how it normally goes, but it was a bit of a delay. The -- we weren't really sure what to do, they actually, I think kept the doors closed purposely, I would guess to make sure the bottom of the plane. Like I said, there was that smell of burning and immediately you could hear water hitting the bottom of the plane.

I don't know if that was to ensure there was no fire. I'm not sure why that was. The plane hit the field for a good bit and then there was smoke inside the plane. I think that was frightening for the passengers. It was just everybody's reaction to get up and want to get out of here, and you couldn't.

COOPER: You're doing OK?

BOLES: I'm sorry?

COOPER: Are you doing OK?

BOLES: Yes. I mean, I feel extremely blessed to have come off that, I mean, it just felt like the plane really could have broken in half, and I mean, it was just such a hard impact. But I do, I mean, it was -- coming down the slide and seeing everybody rush. It was really more frightening turning around and looking at it, with all the emergency crew and all the people just -- it was an unbelievable feeling.

COOPER: I'm so glad you're doing OK and I'm glad the other injuries weren't life threatening. Thank you so much, Kathy Boles.

A lot more happening tonight, Isha Sesay is here with a 360 Bulletin.

ISHA SESAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, Brazilian authorities said today they destroyed a small explosive device found over the weekend near a sanctuary the pope planned to visit later this week. When the pope arrived in Rio De Janeiro today on his first papal visit to another country, his car was mobbed by cheering crowds. As you can see, he chose to ride in a sedan rather than the pope mobile.

Florida authorities have confirmed that George Zimmerman helped rescue a family from an overturned SUV four days after he was acquitted of murder. The wreck happened in the same neighborhood where Zimmerman fatally shot Trayvon Martin.

An Ohio man was charged today with aggravated murder and kidnapping after three bodies were found in East Cleveland. A judge set bond for Michael Madison at $6 million. The bodies were discovered over the weekend. Officials said Madison may have been inspired by a local serial killer.

A medical examiner has ruled a woman who plunged to her death on a Texas roller coaster died from multiple traumatic injuries. Six Flags over Texas has closed the ride and is investigating. Some witnesses said the victim raised concerns about how secure her lap bar was before the ride began.

And Anderson, off the coast of California, a couple divers had a close encounter to humpback whales. The whales are making a meal of some fish. You can see how close those divers came to becoming dessert.

COOPER: You see all the fish and the whale pops up -- that's unbelievable, amazing. They were lucky. Isha, thanks. We'll be right back.

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COOPER: That's it for us. Join us one hour from now for the CNN's special "Will And Kate Plus One." We'll be back at 11:00 another edition of AC 360. "PIERS MORGAN LIVE" starts now.