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CNN Live At Daybreak
Queen Mum Turning 101
Aired August 03, 2001 - 07:23 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.
COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN ANCHOR: Britain's Queen Mother is determined to be up and about for her 101st birthday tomorrow. She is out of the hospital after a brief stay for anemia. And as CNN's Walter Rogers tells us, the Queen Mum's strong spirit is often being the glue holding the royal family together.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WALTER ROGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A ripple of applause outside her hospital and that enduring waiting. Britain's 100-year-old Queen Mother bravely navigates three steps down after receiving blood transfusions for anemia, headed home preparing for another birthday party this weekend.
Already, the English have set up camp in the rain outside her home to honor the Queen Mother.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: During the war, I met here when I was only five years old and that was during the Blitz and that said it all. She said -- and her husband, "we will not leave the country."
ROGERS: When the Germans bombed the London, she toured the rubble, visited the wounded, bonded with the English people in a way no monarch since has managed.
CAMILLA CECIL, ROYAL WATCHER: She said to the British public, "you're in danger. I'm not going to leave you here. I'm your queen. I'll be here with you."
ROGERS: It was Britain's finest hour, her husband was king, Churchill was Churchill and the Queen Mother became a saint. She provided the English with a second Queen Elizabeth then as Queen Mother, she became the glue that held the royal family together. One author said she had feathers of flint.
KITTY KELLY, AUTHOR, "THE ROYALS": Underneath all those feathers and those sweet twirly berets, you know, she goes like this. It's a very a strong, determined woman. First of all, she's going to be 101 years old. We, people, do not get to achieve that age in life.
ROGERS: The Queen Mother also has a unique sense of mystique. Born of Scottish aristocracy, she understands the value of avoiding the media's glare. SALLY CARTWRIGHT, "HELLO!" MAGAZINE: I don't think it is true, that it's all done with mirrors. The Queen Mother has an instinct, which says you need to reach out to ordinary people. But there needs to be a distance between you and them in order for you to represent something different.
ROGERS: That aloofness was a lesson lost on Charles and Diana. At first, enchanted with Diana, yet when Charles lost interest in his princess, the Queen Mother froze her out too.
QUEEN ELIZABETH, BRITAIN: God bless you all and thank you.
ROGERS: Now, 100 years old, she still protects her family and their throne and she is venerated because of it.
Walter Rogers, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MCEDWARDS: To London now and Sally Cartwright. She is a royal correspondent for Britain's "Hello" magazine.
Sally, help us figure out how serious this episode was. I mean requiring a blood transfusion at the age of 100, almost 101, it sounds pretty scary.
CARTWRIGHT: Well, all the doctors here are saying actually, it's not that scary. A blood transfusion is not an operation and you should quite definitely feel a lot better after that than you did before. They're saying that there's no real need for her to rest anymore than you ought to rest at 101 and that she can go out and meet the people tomorrow, have her lunch and enjoy her birthday.
MCEDWARDS: So what all does she plan to do to celebrate her birthday?
CARTWRIGHT: Well, what she normally does -- as you've seen everybody camping outside Clarence House already -- she will go out, meet the people, talk to them. There'll be flowers for her, presents, things like that. She may choose to go out in a wheelchair or a golf buggy but historically, she's very much against that and prefers actually to walk...
MCEDWARDS: Is she?
CARTWRIGHT: ... even after two hip replacement operations.
MCEDWARDS: And I can imagine...
CARTWRIGHT: and then, there'll be the usual celebration lunch for the queen and Princess Margaret and all her grandchildren and great- grandchildren.
MCEDWARDS: And I can imagine your magazine is going nuts on this. CARTWRIGHT: We are a great supporter of the Queen Mother. She's a regular cover girl. Last year, for her 100 birthday, we produced two special supplements on her, which everybody absolutely loved because she does have a very special place in the hearts of the British people.
MCEDWARDS: They're lovely, really. Now, you know, that was a great description in the piece that came just before we talked. I don't know if you heard or not. But this sense that she had that she had reach out to people yet stay separate from them, yet stay above them, is there a bit of a contradiction in that or is that sort have been the secret to her endurance?
CARTWRIGHT: Well, it was, of course, my quote. I think it is one of her secrets that she's aware of the need to be in touch with people, to let them know that she feels for them. That was her secret during the Blitz.
MCEDWARDS: And in your mind, does that ...
(CROSSTALK)
MCEDWARDS: ... is that what has helped her stay so fondly in the eyes of the British people and around the world, frankly?
CARTWRIGHT: The British people admire loyalty as I think everybody does. And she has been so strong, so loyal, so supportive to her family but that's a very admirable quality.
MCEDWARDS: Sally Cartwright, we have to leave it there, of "Hello!" magazine, thanks very much.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: What a beautiful woman the queen was. Did you see that cover? It was lovely.
MCEDWARDS: Just a lovely, lovely cover of the Queen Mum.
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