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Queen's Coffin in Edinburgh as Final Journal Begins; Britain's Youngest Subjects Mourn Their Queen; Ukraine: Russian Strikes Knock Out Power in Parts of East; 40+ Settlements in Kharkiv Region Liberated; Antigua to Hold Referendum on Becoming Republic; New York Honors Victims of 9/11 Terror Attacks; Tropical Storm Helps Fight California's Fairview Fire; 'Doomsday Glacier' Hanging on By Its Fingernails. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired September 12, 2022 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us all around the world, live from Studio Seven at the CNN Center in Atlanta. I'm Michael Holmes. Appreciate your company.
[00:00:48]
It is 5 a.m. now in Edinburgh, in Scotland, where Queen Elizabeth II now lives at rest at the royal family's official Scottish residence. Her arrival there, the first leg of an eight-day journey to her final resting place in England.
Crowds of mourners and admirers packing the streets of the Scottish capital Sunday to pay their respects as the queen's coffin arrived following a six-hour journey from Balmoral estate.
The queen died there, aged 96, on Thursday. In the hours ahead, the queen's coffin will be taken in procession from the palace of Holyroodhouse down the Royal Mile to Saint Giles' cathedral.
King Charles III, along with other members of the royal family, will be there for the service of prayer and reflection.
Now, this follows an emotional day on Sunday when crowds gathered from Edinburgh to London to say goodbye to the monarch while welcoming another. CNN's Nic Robertson with the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): At Buckingham Palace, massive crowds greet King Charles ahead of some of his first meetings as the nation's new king. In Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland, celebration as his royal proclamation is read out Sunday.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: God save the king.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): A more muted tone in Balmoral, where his mother passed away on Thursday. The queen's coffin began a six-hour journey to Edinburgh, all part of a ceremony approved by the queen herself.
Crowds line the streets as the queen's casket passed them by. The cortege, accompanied by the queen's daughter, Princess Anne, wound its way through remote cities and villages of Scotland. Edinburgh's Royal Mile packed with more news.
ROBERTSON: The crowd gently clapping. And there goes the queen's coffin, around the corner.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): People of all ages straining at the barriers for a better view. All coming to say good-bye to Britain's longest serving monarch. Some had even saved spots along the road since news of the queen's death first broke.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A lot of people have been here for hours. And the mood's been quite somber. But also quite nice. People talking, fond memories about the queen.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): And this young girl will always live with the queen's legacy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was actually named Georgia Elizabeth after the queen, so we thought it would be nice for her to grow up and be told that she was here today.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): People even bringing their pets out to pay their respects. The memory of the queen's beloved corgis.
Journey's end this day, the palace of Holyroodhouse. The queen to lie in the throne room. A memorial service Monday in nearby St. Giles Cathedral is next. In death, as she lived her life: in service.
KATE WILLIAMS, CNN ROYAL HISTORIAN (voice-over): This is her last royal engagement. This journey has symbolized her duty, her service, and also her life.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Nic Robertson, CNN, Edinburgh, Scotland.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: And CNN's Salma Abdelaziz joins me now from London right outside Buckingham Palace.
Good morning to you, Salma. Another emotional day there as the queen's final journey has many more days and miles ahead, doesn't it?
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. This is -- this is going to be a long journey, and one that for now, of course, is centered on the queen's beloved Scotland.
And we're going to see a continuation of that morning, a continuation of that outpouring of grief and support that we saw over the weekend today. Another packed day, of course, for King Charles and his wife, the Queen Consort. They begin events today here in London at Westminster Hall, where they will be receiving condolences from both houses of Parliament, both the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
The king, of course, King Charles III, will be responding to those official condolences in Westminster Hall today. He will then, later today, make his way to Edinburgh, make his way to the official residence of the monarchy in Edinburgh, to Holyrood Palace.
[00:05:04]
And there, of course, there will be a ceremony, as well. And around 9:30 your time, Michael, that's when we're going to see the queen's coffin move along the Royal Mile to St. Charles Cathedral, where you heard, of course, my colleague, Nic Robertson, talking about the ceremony, the prayers that will take place today.
And this is again going to be another huge event, Michael, that procession along the Royal Mile. This very key part of Edinburgh, this very key corner where you're going to see the coffin move, and of course, King Charles, the queen consort, members of the royal family on foot will follow that possession to Saint Giles Cathedral.
And once the queen is there, once that prayer service is completed, she will lie in weight in that cathedral for another 24 hours to allow people there to give their final condolences, to say their final goodbyes. And it's only tomorrow that the queen's body will make its way to London.
So, another huge day, and, again, you really get a sense of just how important Scotland was to the queen. Of course, her beloved Balmoral Castle, that's where her body left yesterday.
So yet again, you're going to see this outpouring of support and this deep connection to this place for the queen, and that grief that is being given, those condolences being given to her family -- Michael.
HOLMES: All right. Salma, thanks so much. Salma Abdelaziz outside Buckingham Palace there.
Now, in the days since the queen's death, piles of flowers and other mementos have been placed outside Buckingham Palace, paying homage to Britain's longest serving monarch. Among the memorials, homemade messages of love and sorrow, written by British children.
Becky Anderson looks now at how the queen connected with her younger subjects.
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BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With eight grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren, Queen Elizabeth was not only the matriarch of her family, but also the nation. And mourning her death, for many people around the country, is turning out to be a family affair.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The queen made the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) shine. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And do you think Charles can do the same?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
ANDERSON (voice-over): Queen Elizabeth reigned for 70 years, and even the youngest of her loyal subjects are getting a chance to say goodbye by leaving handmade cards and drawings at memorials, laying flowers with their parents.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think that loads of people will want to lay flowers down or wave at the car as she goes past.
ANDERSON (voice-over): The father of ten-year-old Pippa (ph) says his daughter has always had a special connection with the queen, as they share the same birthday.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She used to send the queen a birthday card every year, which I think is a fantastic example of what it means to be British.
ANDERSON (voice-over): The royal protocols, the transfer of titles, the lines of succession, details that even grown-ups may find hard to follow.
But there's a simple wisdom in some of the children's responses about why so many people are waiting for a final glimpse of the late queen's coffin. Sometimes, it's simply about showing up.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To celebrate the queen's funeral. And see the final (ph) -- what do you call it?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Procession?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
ANDERSON (voice-over): Kate, the Princess of Wales, was reportedly overheard telling a group of children that her young son, Louis, tried to comfort her by saying that "Granny is with great-grandpa now."
BEN WHISHAW, VOICE OF PADDINGTON BEAR: Perhaps you would like a marmalade sandwich? I always keep one for emergencies.
QUEEN ELIZABETH II, UNITED KINGDOM: So do I.
ANDERSON (voice-over): For her Platinum Jubilee celebration, the queen famously appeared in a video with Paddington Bear, the character of the classic children's book series and recent films.
Some children were holding the stuffed bears while waiting for the queen's hearse to drive by. The bear, a bridge between young and old, and perhaps one of the ways Queen Elizabeth's youngest generation of followers will remember her.
Becky Anderson, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE) HOLMES: And let's bring in journalist Bidisha Mamata. She joins me now, live from London. Good to see.
So when it comes to this process we're seeing, the casket traveling the kingdom, all of it -- the ascension steps and so on -- how important is the process?
BIDISHA MAMATA, JOURNALIST: It is enormously important. Yes, it's about ceremony, formality, remembrance. I realize that from the outside, it might look extremely "Game of Thrones" to people, but in fact, I think that having a week and a half and structuring it, both privately and publicly, is a very good move on behalf -- on behalf of the royal family, and the state itself. Because it focuses people's attention and grief.
I don't think the nation is united in grief in the sense of let's all wear black and stand in the streets weeping and wailing, and in fact, you haven't seen anyone doing that.
[00:10:10]
What there is, is a very sober sense of reflection and appreciation, and marking the time. Looking back on 70 years and thinking, how far have we come? What do we need to get to?
And the symbolic movement of the queen's body in state and the entire royal family ties in with that. So it follows the movement of our thoughts. We're going to go towards shock, towards remembrance, towards saying a final farewell, and then greeting the reign of the new king.
HOLMES: I saw a statistic that 90 percent of the world's people weren't born when the queen began her reign. She was somebody many saw as the glue that held the Firm together, as it's called.
What is the strength, or perhaps otherwise, of the institution itself now that she's gone, the glue is gone?
MAMATA: I like your characterization. She's the sort of hearty, stalwart cement of the Firm, keeping it there. That fits with the idea of how much she loved Edinburgh, this sort of stony, handsome city.
Your question is an absolutely excellent and pertinent one, because the queen wasn't always so popular. It's only in the last 20 years that people began to do a slight U-turn and think, Hang on, look at this stoicism. Look at this permanence.
Now, this queen has passed, and we have a king who is a lot more quirky. He's a lot more outwardly melancholic. He's going to bring a completely different flavor to things.
I think we're going to see a more human, fragile, recognizable king for human, fragile times. If you look at the newspaper headlines beyond this moment, they're extremely distressing. They're about inequality and division, social division. Social immobility and inequality. And in fact, to have a king like Charles, who's a lot less certain in
his role -- he's a lot more preoccupied-looking, many of the times -- actually fits with the mood of the nation.
HOLMES: And speaking of him, I mean, one thing I've always found interesting, he's always been ahead of the game on a lot of issues, particularly things like climate change, sustainable agriculture, architecture even. I mean, some thought he was a bit out there, but you know, he's been proved right on so many of those things.
Do you think he'll be -- continue to be vocal or at least active on those issues, which still clearly matter to him? Or does he have to sort of, you know, pull his head in a bit on that?
MAMATA: I do think his advisors have probably already sat down with him and said, Look, you can't go completely off-piste (ph) with any of this. You can't start meddling in, if you have a politician who's the environment secretary, and they say one thing, and then Prince [SIC] Charles -- King Charles pops up and says, Well, no, no, no, I quite disagree.
However, a lot of the things that he's passionate about are things which are totally above politics. Whichever way you vote, we all have to live together on this planet.
And I think his concerns are humanitarian ones. Because we all have to share the same society in the end. And he was exactly as you say. He was proven right on pretty much everything. So his -- his pet peeves and his little hobbies actually turned out to be major preoccupations for humanity.
HOLMES: Yes, yes. He was seen as eccentric, but he was right. I want to ask you this, too, as a member of the commonwealth myself. Many countries in the commonwealth have an affection for and affinity with the queen.
Does her passing and Charles's ascension make it more likely that more of those commonwealth nations, particularly those with the crown as head of state, move away from that? Having a foreigner as their nation's leader? There's already a few that have moved away. Others, like Australia look like they will do in the next year or two, perhaps.
MAMATA: I think that's absolutely correct and right and good. You know, even the phrase "commonwealth," that to me has a slightly passe flavor to it. It smacks a little bit of the post-war settlement. So you have a terrible period of colonization, annexation, occupation and settling.
And then, for me, at least, "the commonwealth" is a sort of diplomatic term for, OK, OK, let's move away from that, and we'll call it "the commonwealth," and we'll all get along.
And so slowly, you have these plebiscites, these referenda for absolute independence. It's part of the flavor of the times. It needs to happen. It's part of the entire world looking back and facing world history, four square.
Now, that's no diss against the queen herself as an individual. But it is a recognition that, with the passing of that era, it is absolutely right that the nations of the world look to themselves and say, Well, who are we without that? Who are we without that hang-over?
Colonization lasted for centuries, but the shadow of it need not last for centuries.
[00:15:05]
HOLMES: Fascinating. A great analysis. Bidisha Mamata, thank you so much. Great to see you.
All right. Well, people are giving their thanks, meanwhile, to their liberators in Eastern Ukraine.
Coming up, the latest on Kyiv's stunning counteroffensive and what it could mean for Russian morale.
And later in the program, why the prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda says Charles III's days as head of state there could be numbered.
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HOLMES: We could very well be entering a critical new stage in Russia's war on Ukraine. Moscow's forces are backpedaling, forced to withdraw from large swaths of the Northeast by Ukrainian counter- offensive.
But as the Russians retreat on the ground, they've been lighting up the sky, launching missile attacks on key infrastructure. Revenge, says Ukraine. Firefighters racing to douse the flames in Kharkiv on Sunday after a Russian strike hit a power plant. At least one person killed, and importantly, electricity has been knocked out in big areas of Donetsk and Kharkiv.
But those missiles aren't reversing the stunning Russian losses on the ground. Ukrainian officials say their forces have retaken more than 40 settlements, and as Ukrainian troops roll in, videos show them being welcomed as liberators.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Heartwarming scenes there. People under occupation for months embracing the newly-arrived troops, quite literally, hugging them and thanking them with cries of joy.
We're also getting images of more Ukrainian flags being raised over recaptured towns and villages. News that Ukrainian troops have entered Izium broke over the weekend. The video you see there, troops on top of a burned-out building celebrating by firing shots in the air.
Recent Ukrainian advances could set up a new front in a Donbas campaign, but the fighting around the Northeast is far from over.
CNN's Melissa Bell with more from Kharkiv.
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MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Two missile strikes on Kharkiv City tonight, where there's a total electricity blackout this Sunday night. Another electricity blackout in the Donetsk region, as confirmed by the Ukrainian president, President Zelenskyy, in his nightly address this evening.
It comes even as Ukrainian forces have been able to take control of some villages here in Kharkiv region. We were able to travel with Ukrainian police as they showed us those areas that they believed were now entirely under their control.
First of all, to a village that was liberated these last few days on Wednesday, where even now, they've begun exhuming the bodies of civilians, the first evidence, they say, of some of the war crimes that were committed in the very early days of the invasion.
[00:20:05]
Remember that it was in Bucha and Borodyanka, places that had only a month of Russian occupation, that we saw some of those terrible war crimes emerging just a few months ago.
Now, as a counter-offensive progresses, we're able to see exactly what has gone on on this side of the line over the course of the last few months.
And yet, things not as clear as we imagined, as we headed farther to Kupiansk, where even this Sunday, we saw more fighting going on as Russian forces trying to retake control of a town that is crucial to their supply lines to the front lines in the Donbas.
Melissa Bell, CNN, Kharkiv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: There are conflicting accounts of a meeting in Moscow on Friday involving Russian officials and China's third highest ranking official.
According to a Russian Duma press release, he's quoted as saying China, quote, "understands and supports Russia on issues that represent its vital interests, particularly on the situation in Ukraine," unquote.
However, the Chinese government read-out does not even mention Ukraine. It does mention China's willingness to work with Russia, quote, "on issues concerning each other's core interests and major concerns."
Meanwhile, the pro-Kremlin leader of the Chechen republic has offered some rare public criticism of Russia's defense ministry and its handling of the war.
Ramzan Kadyrov is calling for changes in Russia's military tactics in the days ahead, saying mistakes have been made on the battlefield. His comments posted in an audio message on his Telegram account.
The Chechen leader has supplied thousands of fighters to the Russian campaign.
Now for more, I'd like to bring in Malcolm Davis. He's a senior analyst on defense strategy and capability at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.
It's good to see you, sir. The stunning setbacks for Russia, how might Russia respond? In fact, can Russia effectively respond militarily? Does it have the resources, the capability?
MALCOLM DAVIS, SENIOR ANALYST ON DEFENSE STRATEGY AND CAPABILITY, AUSTRALIAN STRATEGIC POLICY INSTITUTE: Look, I think it's time. It does have the capability. But time is the critical factor here.
The Ukrainian advances is occurring so swiftly, and the Russian forces are routing so completely and so swiftly that it's the Russians could be losing substantial territory that they have captured in Donetsk, and potentially Luhansk, as well, before they even can respond.
Obviously, they can respond with missile strikes, which they've done against electricity grids and so forth, but in terms of trying to push back against the Ukrainian counteroffensive in the Northeast, it would be very difficult for the Russians at this point to do that.
HOLMES: How important is what's known in warfare as operational tempo? And do the Ukrainians have that now? Especially as the winter months approach.
DAVIS: Well, it's good that you mentioned the winter, because that is the critical factor here. Both sides realize that they're heading towards winter, where everything will lock down again.
Because the weather becomes untenable for fighting; the ground becomes boggy. There's snow and so forth.
So I think the Ukrainians are trying to essentially achieve as much advance as possible before winter really hits, so that they control that critical territory in the Northeast. And then that gives them some chance of maybe fighting in the South and advancing towards Kherson, and eventually Dnipro and potentially even Mariupol.
Ultimately, their objective, of course, is to retake Crimea, as well. But that's going to have to wait until 2023.
HOLMES: Yes. And what, then, are Putin's potential battlefield options? I mean, particularly if it comes down to his own political survival. And you know, if it does come down to that, you don't know what he's going to do. What -- do those options worry you?
DAVIS: They certainly do. They range from essentially announcing a general mobilization to create a mass army to reverse the -- the advance of the Ukrainians all the way through to what's known as escalate to de-escalate with the use of tactical nuclear weapons against Ukrainian forces.
Both of those options, I think, are really horrendous to consider in terms of the potential risks of escalation. There's the third option, which is, of course, that Putin is removed from power.
But so far, we're not seeing any evidence of Putin's inner circle turning against him. There have been some rumblings from parliamentary deputies and so forth, but so far, no one at the top has said that really, it's time for Putin to go.
HOLMES: We know -- we know that many Russian foot soldiers just -- you know, they don't want to be there. I mean, it's not their war, in many ways. How damaging would these losses be to those troops on the ground in terms of morale, and how important is the morale factor? The motivation factor?
DAVIS: It's usually devastating for the Russians to be able to see this happening in front of them at the speed that it's happening.
[00:25:08]
And I think that, as you note, that there's already been a huge morale problem with a lot of the Russians don't want to be there. Poor leadership, poor logistics. Many of them are not being paid properly.
So to see this huge rout in the Northeast, I think that would be a tremendous blow to their morale, particularly in the South. And so you could see, as a result of that, Russian withdrawals and collapses in the South, as well.
And in the end, the whole situation becomes untenable. And then, we're back to those two options we talked about. Either full mobilization, which will take time to generate, sufficient forces to take the fight back against Ukraine, or escalate to de-escalate with tactical nuclear weapons.
And that opens up a whole new, essentially, range of possibilities for escalation in a wider war.
HOLMES: Yes, yes, outside Ukraine's borders potentially. You mentioned mobilization. What -- what do you think it would take for a full Russian mobilization? A true national war footing?
Because there are risks of that in terms of Russian public opinion. A lot of this war is being kept from ordinary Russians. You can't hide full mobilization and an economic war footing.
DAVIS: Essentially, Putin would have to sell it as, the West is waging war against us, and so therefore, we need to go to war against the West, which, the first battleground of that war is Ukraine. And it really would be about how much his spin masters could,
essentially, package such a move in terms of public policy and sell it to the Russian people.
And whether the Russian people would believe it. But a full mobilization does fly in the face of Russian propaganda, which says that Russia is winning this war. What a full mobilization says is Russia is losing this war, and so therefore, additional forces are needed.
Even so, even with full mobilization, it's going to take many months before special Russian forces could be brought together and trained to be able to a counter-offensive against the Ukraine.
HOLMES: Yes. Always terrific analysis, Malcolm Davis. Thanks so much. Good to see you.
DAVIS: Thank you very much.
HOLMES: Now, the next leg of Queen Elizabeth's final journey begins in the coming hours. She'll leave the official Scottish residence for the last time. We'll have that story and more when we come back.
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[00:30:02]
HOLMES: And welcome back to our viewers all around the world. I'm Michael Holmes. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
Well, the U.K., of course, giving a long farewell to Queen Elizabeth II, filled with tradition and ceremony.
The queen's oak casket now rests at the palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, the official residence of the British monarch in Scotland.
In the hours ahead, the coffin will be moved in a procession across the Royal Mile to Saint Giles' Cathedral for a service of prayer and reflection. Members of the royal family will attend.
They're not alone in their grief, since people from all walks of life are mourning with them.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If somebody gets to that age, you know it's going to come. But I think when you see the coffin, in the course of it going by, that will just mean it's real. And even to today, when they sang, "God save the king," it's -- it was strange. So emotional.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: God save the king. One, two.
(MUSIC)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I really, really like Charles. He had a lovely documentary, his 70th year. I think he comes across really, really well. I think he's also aged like fine wine. I think he -- I think he comes across really, really nice. He's done a lot of work for charity.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think King Charles will do an unbelievable job, and he'll do just as good as the queen, hopefully.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, I don't think he'll be as good as the queen. I think the queen will always be best.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She used to be considered, like, related to every British family. Even we felt like, when she's gone, that it's like a member of the family is gone. It's really shocking news.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm so grateful to have been alive for 24 years during your reign. And it gives me such a pleasure to be a part of the Royal Academy of Music, where you are our patron. You're sort of a grandmother to us all. And it's not just a loss of a monarch. It's a loss of someone like a family member. And I think the last time we really felt this was with Princess Diana.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's been through quite a lot of the country, and we're probably not going to see another queen again in my lifetime.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Now, since the queen's passing, some people have questioned whether the British monarchy should go on. But recent polling from IPSOS, taken back in May, ahead of the queen's Platinum Jubilee, found a sizeable majority of Britons want the monarchy to stay, as you can see there.
Sixty-eight percent of Brits surveyed supported keeping its royals. Just under a quarter said the country should become a republic. Ten percent were in the "don't know" category.
Eighty-six percent of those surveyed approved of the job the queen was doing at the time. Eighty-one percent felt the same about Prince William. But just 65 percent were happy with how prince -- then-Prince Charles was doing as Prince of Wales. Those numbers may have changed now, with the coronation coming up.
Now, elsewhere in the Commonwealth, some are questioning how much longer they should keep the British monarch as head of state. The prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda says voters there will decide within the next few years whether to become a republic.
ITV's Ian Woods with the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IAN WOODS, REPORTER, ITV (voice-over): Four hundred miles away from London, with less pomp and fewer dignitaries, a ceremony to confirm the status of the new king. Antigua is one of 14 nations which still retain the British monarch as their head of state.
MAURICE MERCHANT, DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS, ANTIGUA: By the death of our late sovereign of happy and glorious memory, become our only lawful and rightful lord, Charles III, by the grace of God, king of Antigua and Barbuda.
WOODS (voice-over): But for how much longer? Minutes afterwards, the country's prime minister told ITV News that he plans to hold a referendum on becoming a republic.
GASTON BROWNE, ANTIGUAN PRIME MINISTER: This is not an act of hostility, or any difference between Antigua and Barbuda and the monarchy, but it is the final step, as I said before, to complete that circle of independence and ensure that we are truly sovereign in our nation.
WOODS: What sort of time frame would you think on a referendum there?
BROWNE: I'd say within the next, probably, three years.
WOODS (voice-over): Antiguans saw their queen every day, though she hadn't been here for 37 years. Her portrait on the local currency, the most tangible connection to a distant monarchy.
[00:35:07]
And yet, despite the remoteness of the head of state, many here seem to have had a genuine affection for the royal family.
ANNA CRICK, ANTIGUAN RESIDENT: A lot of love (ph) for her, and the passion that we have for her. Although we are independent, we still look up to her.
LOUISE SABIN, ANTIGUAN RESIDENT: She's done a great job. So I just hope he can do what -- take up her mantle and do even more, now what she were doing.
WOODS (voice-over): Queen Elizabeth II visited Antigua three times during her reign, including this tour four years after the islands became independent.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am very happy.
WOODS (voice-over): Her son followed in your footsteps five years ago, to see recovery efforts after hurricanes hit the region.
WOODS: Antigua is highly reliant on tourism. The holiday makers spent more time here than the head of state. If the islands are to keep the crown, then the new king may have to demonstrate his relevance, despite his remoteness.
WOODS (voice-over): The prime minister says Antigua would remain a committed member of the Commonwealth, even if the referendum removes the monarchy.
But this may be the beginning of the end of King Charles' reign in this corner of the Caribbean.
Ian Woods, News at Ten, Antigua.
(END VIDEOTAPE) HOLMES: Still to come here on the program, a day of remembrance in the U.S. as Americans commemorate the anniversary of the deadly September 11th terror attacks. We'll have a report after the break.
Also, the so-called Doomsday Glacier in peril. We'll talk to an expert about why this one glacier could pose such a threat to anyone living near the world's oceans.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: When U.S. President Joe Biden attends the funeral of Queen Elizabeth next week, he will not be joined by a formal delegation of U.S. officials. The White House says Buckingham Palace specifically invited only Mr. Biden and the first lady. The president formally accepted the invitation Sunday to pay his final respects to the British monarch, whom he clearly admired.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT TO THE UNITED STATES: I remember a message sent to the American people from Queen Elizabeth. It was on September 11. Her ambassador read a prayer service at the same time as church in New York, where she pointedly reminded us, quote, "Grief is the price we pay for love. Grief is the price we pay for love."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: President Biden there remembering the queen as he marked the 21st anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks. Mr. Biden delivered heartfelt remarks honoring those killed during the attacks and took part in what you see there, a wreath-laying ceremony.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and other political leaders joined families of 9/11 victims in New York as they remembered the tragic event.
[00:40:09]
CNN's Polo Sandoval with that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Here in New York City was a day of solemn remembrance, as 9/11 families came together at the site where the Twin Towers once stood, as they led not only the country but the world as they marked 21 years since that awful day.
We saw dignitaries coming together, including Vice President Kamala Harris; Chuck Schumer, the senator of New York; as well as New York City Mayor Eric Adams as they read out loud each one of the nearly 3,000 names, many of those family members still struggling through the tears, but at times even smiling as they celebrated the legacy of their loved ones.
Also on hand Alejandro Mayorkas, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, an agency that actually was established after the events of that day.
The secretary had a conversation with me, talking to me about how the threats that the agency is monitoring, how those threats have devolved, and not just international ones, but also some that are domestic in nature.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY: The threat landscape has evolved so dramatically. It is extraordinarily dynamic.
And back 28 years ago, when this department was formed, the greatest terrorism-related threat we faced was the foreign terrorists, who tried to come into our country and do us severe harm.
We then began to focus, in the second decade, on the individual already resident here in the country radicalized by a foreign terrorist ideology.
Now, we are seeing increasingly, the threat of domestic violent extremism, individuals, you know, driven to violence because of an ideology of hate. Anti-government sentiment. False narratives.
Twenty years ago, the cybersecurity threat by criminal actors, adverse nations, wasn't top of mind. Now it's something that we're very, very focused on.
SANDOVAL (voice-over): And the tributes will continue into the overnight hours. The iconic tribute in light installation with those powerful beams of light that shine into the sky from Lower Manhattan, those will be shining from --
SANDOVAL: -- dusk till dawn.
Paul Sandoval, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Parts of Chicago are underwater after severe rainfall caused flash flooding on Sunday. You can see there cars stranded in the middle of the street that looks more like a river.
The flooding was worse in other parts of the city, water so deep you can see just there a car stranded underneath a bridge. Other drivers having to look on, not daring to go any further.
The National Weather Service says more rain is expected through the night.
Southern California's Fairview Fire was temporarily held at bay over the weekend, thanks to Tropical Storm Kay. But officials aren't sure how long it will help containment efforts.
CNN's Camila Bernal has more from California.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: CalFire tell me that Sunday was a test day. What that means is that they were trying to figure out whether or not the rain actually helped them, and will continue to help them advance when it comes to this fire, or whether they're back to square one, because it is so dry and so hot.
One of the firefighters I talked to telling me, Look, it may rain, but just an hour or so after the ground is dry again. Now, on Saturday, there was cloud cover, and that helped them in the sense that the fire didn't grow in size, and containment did grow to at least 45 percent.
But it is, again, hot and dry once again. And so, what authorities were able to do is continue their assessment of the homes. So the number of structures destroyed grew significantly on Saturday to at least 30 structures destroyed.
And families come back to an area that looks like what you see here, behind me. It is cars that are melted, aluminum that is melted, and literally, what you're just left with is ashes.
It's also important to point out that two people have been killed as a result of this fire, trying to escape.
And on Saturday, a helicopter crash here in the area. We know that this was a helicopter that essentially told other helicopters what to do, coordinates the drops around the area, and as it was finishing its assignment for the day, it crashed in a residential area. No one in that area was injured, but the three people inside the helicopter were injured. It was one private pilot and two CalFire employers.
We know that one of the CalFire employees was released from the hospital. We are still waiting to hear on the status of the other two that were injured.
But in the meantime, this is just a reminder of how dangerous these fires can be for the residents and for the firefighters.
Camila Bernal, CNN, Hemet, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: The hottest European summer on record is melting snow in the Alps at an alarming rate. A ski resort in western Switzerland says a rocky path has emerged between two glaciers that hasn't been seen in at least 2,000 years.
[00:45:12]
And one expert says it is all happening very quickly.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAURO FISCHER, GLACIOLOGIST, UNIVERSITY OF BERN: Ten years ago, I measured here with the geo radar. I still measured about 15 meters of ice. So more than 15 meters of ice and snow have melted during the past ten years here. And actually, the pass is not an ice pass connecting two glaciers anymore, but now it is separating the two glaciers from each other.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: That's just staggering, isn't it? One report says the alpine glaciers are headed for their biggest loss of ice since record keeping began more than half a century ago.
And scientists say one of the most unstable glaciers in Antarctica, known as the Doomsday Glacier, is holding on by its fingernails. The Thwaites Glacier, about the size of the U.S. state of Florida, or the size of Great Britain, got its ominous nickname because of its high risk of collapse and its potential to drastically raise sea levels as it diminishes.
In a study published in the journal "Nature Geoscience," researchers say the glacier's underwater base has dislodged from the seabed and is eroding because of warmer waters. And in the near future, they believe the Thwaites could recede even further and at a faster pace, which could eventually splinter it.
I'd like to bring in Ted Scambos -- He's a senior research scientist at the University of Colorado -- to talk more about this. He's joining me from Boulder.
Thanks so much for doing so. I know you don't like the term Doomsday Glacier, but just how worrying is what is happening to the Thwaites Glacier in antarctica? What if it disintegrates or substantially retreats in the years ahead?
TED SCAMBOS, SENIOR RESEARCH SCIENTIST, UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO: Yes .We are very concerned about the Thwaites Glacier and its potential for really rapid retreat in the next few decades.
The main thing that Thwaites represents is the possibility of a very rapid increase in the rate of sea level rise. And that, by itself, is going to put a lot of people in a position where they have a lot to do in order to protect their coastlines or protect port cities around the world.
And unfortunately, the work that we've done near Thwaites has verified most of the aspects of the scenario that would lead to faster retreat and faster increases in ice in the not-so-distant future.
HOLMES: And what would be -- how much of a domino effect would its collapse or massive retreat be? What are the dominoes?
SCAMBOS: The main knockout effects, if you will, from Thwaites really beginning to accelerate would be that it would draw in some of the surrounding glaciers, the surrounding ice and add to the amount of ice that gets dumped into the ocean.
Thwaites by itself has about two feet of sea-level rise. That would take centuries to completely empty out the West Antarctica. But part of the problem is that it's going to set in motion a lot of
retreat from the surrounding glaciers, drawing them into the glacier as it expands and deflates over the next several decades to centuries. And that's -- that's mainly the domino effect that -- that it's going to have, encompassing a wider area of Antarctica.
HOLMES: Yes. Which would be catastrophic, obviously.
I saw you say, two or three years ago, I think it was. You said there's nothing like reality to convince people. Even now, with the myriad of catastrophes around the world, do you think people and, perhaps more importantly, governments get it, get how serious the situation is, what's at stake, what's to come?
SCAMBOS: I think there's been a real turnaround just in the last few years. I'm finding it much easier to explain to people and get them to accept the fact that there are huge consequences for continuing to put greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
You know, in the past, it was hard to get people to even accept that there was a problem or that science understood the problem well enough to make forecasts about it. I don't get that impression more.
Yes, there's still a minority of people that are not going to be convinced, no matter what. But in fact, in general, I think people are ready to take steps.
And I'm really pleased with some of the steps that have happened at the city level, at the state level, and now with the federal government in the U.S. taking major action in order to -- to address this. I'm very optimistic about the future now.
[00:50:05]
HOLMES: Making those changes in time?
SCAMBOS: I would say that we are in for a rough ride. The rest of this century is going to be terrible. And in fact, I'm afraid it's going to be quite discouraging.
People are going to say, Why are we doing these things? Why are we investing this way if we're not going to have an instant effect? Because it's going to take decades for things to change.
What's more, is there's going to be a sort of a perception of shouldn't the weather never be bad again? And that, of course, we've always had extreme weather.
But some of what's happened in the last -- particularly in the last decade, I think, has convinced people that there's a serious issue. That's going to be with us for a long time.
What we will be avoiding are things like more rapid sea level rise, even worse disruptions in ecosystems and weather. And we'll be setting ourselves on track for a better 22nd Century than we've had in the 21st Century. HOLMES: It is -- it is worrying. It's nice to hear a note of optimism
there from you. But yes, a lot of work to be done. And it is an urgent situation. Ted Scambos, thank you so much. Really appreciate it.
SCAMBOS: You're very welcome. Thank you.
HOLMES: Well, visitors saw an unusual sight Sunday off the Northwestern coast of France. The tide reaching its highest point around the little island this year.
Tourists have been flocking to the centuries-old iconic abbey and the village around it since it was designated a world heritage site in the 1980s.
Still to come, 19-year-old Carlos Alcaraz makes history at the U.S. Open and making a name for himself in the tennis world rankings, as well. We'll be right back.
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HOLMES: There has been much speculation, even concern since the queen's passing as to what would happen to her beloved dogs. Well, a source tells CNN the corgis will go to live with the Duke and Duchess of York, Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson.
Despite divorcing more than 25 years ago, the two still live at the Royal Lodge on Windsor estate. A source close to the pair say the duchess bonded with the queen over a shared love of dog walking and horse riding.
The queen is also reported to have left behind an older mixed-breed dog called Candy and a cocker spaniel named Lissy. It's unclear who will be looking out for them.
Two minutes of silence honoring Queen Elizabeth ahead of a key course race -- horse race in Doncaster in England on Sunday. Horse racing in Britain had been suspended for two days as a mark of respect to the late monarch.
Queen Elizabeth was a well-known passion for horses and owned a large stable of thoroughbreds.
[00:55:04]
Well, Carlos Alcaraz is the new world No. 1 in men's tennis after winning the U.S. Open Sunday in New York.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARLOS ALCARAZ, US. OPEN MEN'S SINGLES CHAMPION: Something I've dreamt of since I was a kid, you know, being No. 1 in the world, to be champion, to have a Grand Slam. It is something that I worked really, really hard. I mean, it's tough to talk right now. A lot of emotions right now. But yes, it's -- it is something that, yes, I tried to achieve. All the hard work that I did with my team, my family that took -- I'm just 19 years old. So all of the tough decisions are with my parents, my team, as well. So this is something that, yes, is really, really special for me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Just 19 years old. The Spaniard now the youngest man, in fact, ever to top the world tennis rankings.
Alcaraz beat Norway's Casper Ruud in Sunday's final, capturing his first Grand Slam title. The Spaniard played three consecutive five set matches just to reach the final, including the second longest match in U.S. history.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(CHEERING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Yes. Pretty happy there in his hometown in Spain. Following the historic win, thousands turning out to Alcaraz's final match, with parties and big screens showing the event. Even new tennis fans were swept up in the joy of the moment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I am very excited. I never watched a tennis match before, but from the moment we have a player from El Palmar, I don't miss a single one. I'm very proud. We've known him and his family since he was a little child. I am speechless.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Never watched a game before.
Thanks for spending part of your day with me. I'm Michael Holmes. You can follow me on Twitter and Instagram, @HolmesCNN. Stick around. Becky Anderson joins me after a short break for more CNN NEWSROOM.
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