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American Morning

Royal Commentator Discusses Death of Queen Mum

Aired April 01, 2002 - 08:22   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: The people of Great Britain are beginning a period of mourning for the matriarch they affectionately knew as Queen Mum. Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, died over the weekend, only seven weeks after her younger daughter, Princess Margaret, passed away.

And CNN's Matthew Chance joins us now from Windsor Castle with more on the remarkable woman who outlived a tumultuous century -- good morning, Matthew.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.

And that's right. Joining me here at Windsor Castle, still very much the focal point for the royal family and, of course, for the many other thousands of people that have been congregating here over the past few days to pay their respects, to mark the passing away of the Queen Mother.

I have to say that many of the people here -- you can see a lot of them lining up to go into Windsor Castle -- many are just tourists who would have perhaps been to Windsor anyway on this Easter Monday which is, of course, a holiday here in Britain. But a lot have also made the special journey to come down here and sign a book of condolences which has been opened inside the palace, leaving small messages like, you know, rest in peace and you were the best mum and things like that.

And so a lot of very genuine sadness and grievance being felt by many people here in Britain.

Elsewhere across the country, there have been military honors paid to the Queen Mother by various military platoons up and down the country. Let's take a listen in now to some of those very solemn ceremonies that we've been hearing up and down the country.

Well, those military salutes really very much part of a series of events that will climate in just over a week, just next Tuesday, with the funeral ceremony for the Queen Mother, which will be held at Westminster Abbey.

Interestingly, as a footnote to all this, it's been said many times that her death at 101 was not at all that unexpected. And we're told by palace sources that, in fact, the Queen Mother had quite an integral part in planning the arrangements for her own funeral. She first sat down and planned out what she wanted for her funeral back in 1979 and that plan, we're told, has been updated several times since then -- Paula.

ZAHN: Tell us a little bit more about the outpouring of support for the Queen Mum. Next to Princess Diana, she was one of the most popular royals, wasn't she?

CHANCE: A very popular royal, indeed. But it's interesting the difference in the mood compared to the mood of grief and sadness that came out when Diana died. We're not really seeing that much at all, Not many people sort of crying. It hasn't really affected people in the same way that the death of Diana at such a young age affected the British public at large.

Having said that, though, as you mentioned, the Queen Mother was a very highly respected member of the royal family and her passing away has caused a lot of people to come out just to simply mark the occasion out of respect, Paula.

ZAHN: All right, Matthew Chance, thank you very much for bringing us that report this morning.

And joining us now from London with more on the Queen Mum's life and legacy is royal commentator Robert Jobson.

Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. Thank you very much for being with us.

ROBERT JOBSON, ROYAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning.

ZAHN: So Robert, what was it about the Queen Mum that so captivated the British public?

JOBSON: I think that if you, you could say that anybody who's working at the age of 101 and who's dedicated their life to service and duty as she did, I think most people respect that. But remember, she was the lady that actually helped reinvent the royal family after the abdication crisis and she helped lead Britain through WW II alongside her husband, King George VI, and Winston Churchill.

So she was seen as somebody that was a rallying point, really, for the British people, and that was never forgotten.

ZAHN: Tell us a little bit more about the circumstances. We know about the abdication of her brother-in-law, Edward VIII, and then she stepped in and fulfilled what role?

JOBSON: Well, she really was seen as the matriarch of the royal family and has been ever since that moment. I think really the royal family is about strong women and she really was a very strong woman, indeed, who helped not only guide her husband, King George VI, to lead his, in a role that he didn't expect ever to have to do, but also to lead Queen Elizabeth II, to do exactly the same thing with her.

She was really a unifying person that had great respect for everybody from all walks of life and it showed during the war when she went to the east end of London and they, and got warm welcome there.

ZAHN: You just talked about some of her strength and her character. In the end, what do you think her legacy will be?

JOBSON: I think her legacy will be effectively the unifying of the royal family. She was the woman who brought everyone together and I think that will be her legacy. She was also a marvelous P.R. operator and she knew exactly when to smile for the cameras and I think that the royal family today would do well to follow that example and to take it into the next millennium.

ZAHN: Tell us a little bit about her relationship with her daughter, the current queen, Queen Elizabeth.

JOBSON: Well, the queen and Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, were on the telephone regularly. They would speak all the time. The queen would often pop into Clarence House or to royal lodge if she was staying at Windsor, just to see her. They had a great relationship and a great rapport, as did her relationship with the Prince of Wales, who is, I understand, totally devastated by what's happened, and, in fact, he will be behind the coffin when it leaves the church at Windsor tomorrow to make its journey here to London.

ZAHN: I know Queen Elizabeth has always called the Queen Mum her rock. Once again, share with us some of the circumstances she had to get involved with the family. I mean one in particular that people talk about now is when the allegations surfaced that Harry might have been using some drugs. She played a key role, didn't she?

JOBSON: Well, she was there to support and she was always there to support the queen and the Prince of Wales and to offer wise words. I think also, if you look back over the years, the crisis that happened during the '80s and '90s, particularly the '90s with Princess Diana and the Duchess of York, she was there as a steadying rock, a steadying influence over the queen when perhaps the queen may have thought well, what is this all about?

She was the woman who said you must do your duty and to carry out those engagements and carry on doing what we do best, just carry on doing the royal jobs.

ZAHN: And everybody felt very sad when Princess Margaret died. Was she as close to Margaret as she was to Elizabeth?

JOBSON: She was, indeed, very, very close. All three, these three ladies, these three women are at the heart of the royal family, regularly in touch, always on the telephone, always talking to each other. I think that from the courtiers I've spoken to at Buckingham Palace, the death of Princess Margaret really did take its toll on Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, and she simply never recovered from that moment.

ZAHN: All right, Robert Jobson, thank you very much for joining us this morning to talk about the life and the legacy of the Queen Mum. Appreciate your time.

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