Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Saturday

Britain Mourns Loss of Queen Mum

Aired March 30, 2002 - 22:28   ET

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

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: As we've been reporting all evening, Britain is mourning the loss of one of the most beloved members of the royal family, the Queen Mum. The 100-year-old Queen Mum died in her sleep today, at her home in Windsor.

CNN's Diana Muriel joins us live from Windsor Castle with more on this royal loss.

Diana, we were talking with Richard Quest earlier, who had been reporting from Buckingham Palace, telling us about all the people who were coming out with bouquets of flowers and mementos in memory of the Queen Mum. What have you seen there at Windsor?

DIANA MURIEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right. Yes, there have a stream of people coming here to the King George VIII - sorry, I beg your pardon, the King Henry the VIII date at the Windsor Castle. It's very early in the morning. So there's no one -- just right giving flowers, although there are some people sleeping outside the castle, awaiting to be in the crowd when her body is taken from this place.

She died here at the royal lodge at Windsor Castle at 3:15 on Good Friday afternoon. She'll be taken -- her body will be taken to lie in state at the Royal Chapel of All Souls, Windsor Great Park tomorrow. And the family are going to pay their respects to her there after that point.

But here, they've been -- there's been a stream of people, both local people from Windsor. And of course this is a very important tourist destination. It's the Easter weekend. So many tourists, of course, here at Windsor.

The flowers that were left outside the castle, they were taken in by the police overnight, laid out on the lawn, just inside the castle walls. We read some of the little -- the notices that people have paid to the flower bouquets. It's a very moving tribute. From a 98- year-old, "To a very special lady who will be greatly missed." And another one line, which I found particularly moving, which was "rest in peace dear, H.R.H." H.R.H. standing for, of course, her royal highness.

Many people here brought their children to the gates of the castle and explaining to them why there as such a crowd out here, why this was such a momentous day. People stayed for sometimes quarter of an hour, a few minutes, very quiet, very somber, very reflective mood before moving on. And we're expecting the same to be happening here this Easter Sunday.

We know that the Queen, who is in the castle, who was at her mother's bedside when she died, will not be attending the royal Easter service at the King George Chapel here at Windsor. Instead, she's decided to go to a private service with members of her immediate family. Here at the castle tonight is also Princess Anne, the Princess royal with her two children, Peter and Zara (ph) Phillips, at well as Vicar Lilley and his sister, Lady Chatter with her children. And also the Earl of Wessex and the Countess. That's Prince Edward and his wife, Sophie. They're here.

Tomorrow also, we're expecting the arrival of Prince Charles, who will be returning back from Switzerland with his two sons, Prince William and Prince Harry. And of course, Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, the Queen's second son. He will be returning from a holiday where he is currently in Barbados with his former wife and his two children.

So family members arriving at Windsor, comforting the Queen in her loss. She of course here with Prince Phillip, her husband. And they will be going, we expect at some stage, maybe on Sunday, maybe on Monday to pay their respects to the Queen Mother at the Royal Chapel of All Souls at Windsor Great Park.

LIN: Diana, you know, when we were looking at the video of the people arriving to drop flowers, I was really struck by how many young people came out to honor the Queen Mum. I really had a sense from people in Great Britain that the royal family was not as it once was in public opinion. People just didn't really take them so much to heart?

MURIEL: That's right, there was a very, very wide range of ages that presented here yesterday. I spoke to one woman who'd come from London with her daughter. And she said, you know, everybody knocks the royal family, but they're English and so are we. We had to come. We pay our respects. And she was standing with her 14-year-old daughter, who was very visibly moved by this. And she said that she'd grown up with the Queen Mother, that the Queen Mother had been part, as far as she was concerned of national life. And she felt very strongly.

She had asked her mother if they could come and lay some flowers, and just spend a moment outside the gates of the castle. So there's a very -- as you say, a very wide range of people here, who were very, very moved in a very quiet and dignified way. And the Queen Mother (UNINTELLIGIBLE) standing outside paying their respects.

LIN: Certainly. All right, thank you very much, Diana Muriel, reporting live out of Windsor Castle.

In Britain, the Union Jack is flying at half-staff, as the nation pays respects to a royal favorite.

CNN's Matthew Chance reports from London on reaction to the death of the Queen Mother.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A solemn tribute to a beloved member of the British royals. A piper from the Scot's Guards plays a lone memorial. Word that the Queen Mother's death was posted on the gates of Buckingham Palace. She died peacefully in her sleep, it says, at the Royal Lodge in Windsor.

TONY BLAIR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: For us, for the British people, she was our Queen Mother. She was someone we were immensely proud of. She was a dominant, unifying figure in our country's history for the best part of a century, never more so than in the Blitz, when she insisted on staying in London. And she represented not just her own spirit, but the spirit of the British people in those dark times.

CHANCE: In the hours after crowds of sympathizers gathered to pay their respects, and to recall her finest hour.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The trials and tribulations that the royal family's been going through in recent years I think will unquestionably have noticed that the Queen Mother has stayed quite aloof, and obviously been behind the scenes, and binding and gathering people together.

CHANCE: Can you tell me why you took the trouble to come back to Buckingham Palace tonight?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think it's any trouble at all. I mean, we're only from around here anyway. We just made -- took a bus ride, came in, came in with all these other people that, you know, paid their respects. It's...

CHANCE: It's quite unusual, isn't it, to see young people out here. A lot of people I spoke to are older generation?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's nothing to do with how old you are. It's how we feel about the royals as well, you know? We just love -- well, we're not really particularly royal lovers, but you know, it's part of the whole British thing.

CHANCE: Floral tributes are already being laid outside the palace gates, some with emotional messages to the Queen and her family. More public displays of respect are likely in the days ahead.

(on camera): So at 101, it wasn't an entirely unexpected death. She had a long life. But throughout it, the Queen Mother occupied a very special place in the hearts of many Britons. And her loss here is being keenly felt.

Matthew Chance, CNN, outside the gates of Buckingham Palace in London.

(END VIDEOTAPE) LIN: That sets the tone for our next guest. Barbara Kantrowitz has cover the royals on and off for 20 years. She is a senior editor of "Newsweek" magazine. And she joins us from New York with her insights on the Queen Mother's life legacy. Good evening, Barbara.

BARBARA KANTROWITZ, NEWSWEEK MAGAZINE: Good evening.

LIN: I'm wondering. You know, we see the Queen Mother on videotape usually at very special ceremonies, but you have covered the royals for so long. I'm wondering what is it that we don't see? I mean, how does she strike you when you actually see her in person? Is it different than what we see?

KANTROWITZ: Well, I think what's been remarkable, especially in the last few years, is her vitality. It's really incredible to me to imagine that, for example, at her 100th birthday, that she stood and watched people parading by in her honor. I hope I'm around in my 100th birthday, even if no one's parading, just to be able to stand up at all.

LIN: This is a woman who had hip surgery when she was 95, right?

KANTROWITZ: In fact, she had both her hips replaced. I recall I think she was the oldest woman in Britain to ever have both hips replaced.

LIN: And she insisted on walking out of the hospital. We're looking at video. She didn't have to do that. She could've come out in a wheelchair. And I'm sure so many people would've understood. What is it that she keeps trying to prove, time and again, her strength and her, you know, just fortitude?

KANTROWITZ: Well, there are a couple of things. I think, first of all by all accounts, she's a woman who had a great zest for life. And she would always walk if she could. Beyond that, I think she had an innate sense of the fact that her presence and her life helped to symbolize what she hoped would be the strength of the monarchy and of Britain.

LIN: Mm-hmm. Her daughter was at her bedside when she died. What do you know about the relationship between the two women?

KANTROWITZ: They were very close. They spoke everyday on the phone. They -- it was -- they would call at 11:00. Also, the Queen Mum also spoke everyday to her daughter, Princess Margaret, who died in February. And many people think it was the death of Margaret that was really the most devastating blow to her.

LIN: Yes. What do you think the Queen Mother thought of how the successive royals grew up and their behavior in public and where the royal family now stands in public opinion?

KANTROWITZ: Well, she did have a strong sense of decorum. I'm sure she would've have preferred if everybody behaved perfectly and caused no scandal. However, she was very careful not to let the public in on what her real thoughts were. I'm sure she reserved them for her family members, which they were.

I think she set a good example of how to behave as a royal for the 50 years of her life -- I mean, when she was no longer the Queen.

LIN: Was she ever kind of a wild girl herself? Did she ever cut loose?

KANTROWITZ: She was known as a very outgoing girl. I don't think she was wild by today's standards, but she was one of the most popular debutantes of her day. And when her future husband, who was then the second son of the king, courted her, she was initially a little reluctant to marry him. He was kind of shy and rather nervous, and perhaps not the best catch.

LIN: Hmm. And at the time when they got married, she didn't ever expect to be Queen, did she?

KANTROWITZ: No, she didn't because the next in line was his older brother, who became Edward VIII, and then abdicated, as we all know, for the woman he loved, Wallace Simpson.

LIN: And so, the day that she finds this out, and it dawns on her that she is going to be the Queen of England, how do you think, knowing what you know about her, how do you think she took that information in? And what did she think?

KANTROWITZ: She -- people say she was not happy about it. She had a nice life, even though she initially was reluctant to marry her husband. They were very happy together and people say very much in love. And becoming the royal family meant that they had to leave their private life. They had to move into Buckingham Palace. They had a lot of responsibilities. He wasn't in the best of health. And she felt, when he died at the -- 1952, she felt really that the stress of being king during the war was what killed him. And she blamed Wallace Simpson.

LIN: Hmm, boy, you know, so many of us will remember her for her bravery and her fortitude during World War II during the Blitz in not leaving the palace. What do you think she would think her greatest accomplishment was in her life?

KANTROWITZ: I think that would probably be it. She really understood the importance, the symbolic importance of the presence of the royal family in Buckingham Palace, even when it was bombed. She felt that was where she should be, by her husband, and where everyone in her country could see her. She regularly, during the blitz, would go out to the bombed parts of London, dressed in her best clothes and talk to people. And she said she wore her best clothes because people always put on their best clothes when they came to see her. So she was paying her respects to them.

LIN: So Barbara, who amongst the remaining royals, will carry on this sort of legacy?

KANTROWITZ: Well, frankly, I think she was unique. There are members of the royal family who I think are admiral. I think Prince William has a lot of potential, but she was a really unique figure. And I don't think anybody will ever be like her.

LIN: Yes, and certainly lived in such a unique time. Imagine witnessing two centuries.

KANTROWITZ: It is really remarkable.

LIN: Thank you very much, Barbara Kantrowitz of "Newsweek" magazine.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com