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American Morning

Britain's Queen Mother in Hospital

Aired August 01, 2001 - 09:30   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.
DONNA KELLEY, CNN ANCHOR: Checking our top stories making headlines today, Britain's Queen Mum has been hospitalized three days before her 101st birthday. She was taken to King Edward VII Hospital in London today and she walked in on her own. And a spokesman for the royal family says that she's suffering from anemia and there is no cause for alarm.

We want to get more now on the hospitalization of Great Britain's popular Queen Mother. Ingrid Seward keeps up with the royal family as editor of "Majesty" magazine. She's also the author of "The Queen and I," as in Diana. And she joins us now on the phone from London with reaction to the Queen Mother's hospitalization.

Ingrid, can you tell us, has the hospital released any statements on her condition?

INGRID SEWARD, EDITOR, "MAJESTY": No, they haven't yet. But she went into the hospital this morning about 11:00 A.M. English time. We thought she was suffering from heat stroke. That was the news yesterday. But it turns out to be anemia, which apparently is very common in old people, and she is 101 on Saturday. And it's caused by, it can be a vitamin deficiency, a loss of blood and apparently it's no cause for concern. But obviously everyone gets very concerned because of the Queen Mother's great age.

KELLEY: And they think maybe that she'll be out in a couple of days, from some of the reports that I saw, that she will be 101 on Saturday and she was hoping to get out for her birthday celebration.

SEWARD: Yes, well, the Queen Mother said herself that she keeps going by targeting herself with the little things and then the thing she wants to do is to be there on her birthday. She always is traditionally on the balcony of Clarence House waving to the crowds. And I'm sure that she will do her very best to be there.

KELLEY: You know, looking at her, for a woman who's about to be 101 on Saturday, she looks in fabulous shape. How is her health generally?

SEWARD: Her health is generally very good. I mean she's been incredibly busy over the last month. I think she obviously has overdone it. I mean, she was at the races on Saturday, at the very big horse race here at Askeaton. She was there but she didn't come out of the royal box. But for a woman of 101, she's had at least 10 engagements in the last four weeks. So it's a lot. I mean when you think even getting out of bed at that age must be quite an effort.

KELLEY: Well, and she wears heels all the time, I noticed, too. I mean I don't wear heels very much anymore, either, you know? I mean she's just so healthy and seems so energetic.

SEWARD: Well, she's not going to change now. Even when she went into hospital this morning she was wearing a hat and a matching coat and looked sort of as if she was off to a party.

KELLEY: Tell us how important she is to the British people.

SEWARD: Well, I think to the British people she really represents everything that's great about Great Britain. She represents a certain amount of political incorrectness which no one dares say anymore. She represents everything that's good about the past and everything that's good about the present. She's our last great queen empress.

KELLEY: Any word from the hospital on when they will release a condition report or something like that to update us?

SEWARD: Not at the moment, but she might well, she might be released this evening. They're doing tests to discover exactly what is the problem and I can assure you she won't want to stay there a minute longer than she has to.

KELLEY: All right, Ingrid Seward, who is the author of "The Queen and I" and editor of "Majesty" magazine, thanks very much for the update with us. Appreciate it.

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