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American Morning
England's Princes at Center of Queen's Golden Jubilee
Aired June 04, 2002 - 09:24 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: Queen Elizabeth II is lunching now, getting ready for the next phase of her Golden Jubilee celebration. And earlier today there was a national service of thanksgiving at St. Paul's Cathedral.
And last night, it was a completely different scene, where she was saluted by rock 'n' roll's royalty.
And CNN correspondent Richard Quest joins us once again from London with an overview, a back view, a preview -- he's got it all for us this morning.
Good morning -- Richard.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Paula, you've got to admit it takes real skill and ability to be able to shift gears. Anybody who says the palace is a bunch of old fuddy-duddies, they gave a pop concert to a thanksgiving service to a parade. And what a parade is now taking place just behind me!
Going to take you down to The Mall and down to the Victoria Monument. What we're looking at is various floats, various acts, various performers from across the so-called Commonwealth, putting it bluntly, what used to be the old British Empire. Now, of course, the queen is head of the Commonwealth.
From the youngest to the oldest -- now the queen is still having lunch at the moment, but once she does finish lunch, she will come here and she will join the young princes: Prince William, Prince Harry, Prince Charles -- he's not a young prince, but you get the point. They are sitting literally just over from me at their vantage point. And the queen will join them and will watch this parade.
There are now said to be over 1 million people lining the streets of London. Paula, it was very different just a couple of hours ago. And that's when we saw the traditional side of monarchy: the queen in the state gold coach; the coach built for George III, who has is own American connections, as you'll no doubt remind me. And it went from Buckingham Palace to St. Paul's Cathedral.
And what we saw then with that coach was really classic British tradition, the sort of thing that the Brits probably do best -- Paula.
ZAHN: These pictures are so beautiful, I want to give you the opportunity to go back to the parade before we let you go. Now we're not going to share the pictures of the rock 'n' roll concert last night, but I understand the queen dissed Ozzy Osbourne. What was that all about?
QUEST: Well, come on. Let's put it majestically: The queen was suitably -- she's the queen, she's allowed to be late, you know, and so she turned up late.
But as for this parade -- and they say there are going to be 20,000 people involved in it -- we're going to have 5,000 gospel singers. You're now looking at a picture of The Mall at the moment, and really it is quite the most extraordinary thing. The whole afternoon will finish off with a fly pass by the Royal Air Force, and of course, Concorde, which will come overhead.
Paula, I've got a very, very lucky -- and interestingly, the man sitting just over there, none other than Rupert Murdoch. So you are seeing what Mr. Murdoch's seeing and also from a better seat.
ZAHN: Hey, Richard, you thought you were looking at Rupert Murdoch, but we were actually looking at Prince Charles with some pretty natty sunglasses on. And also the shot that you missed while you were talking so eloquently was a shot, a very tight closeup, of Princes William and Harry really getting a kick out of these very vivid costumes.
QUEST: And what's the extraordinary thing about this, Paula, Harry, William, and Charles have literally walked the whole length of The Mall, stopping and shaking hands.
Now, you know, if you like, this is William's official coming of age. He's now well and truly in the public domain. He was in the royal carriages heading to St. Paul's. Now he's been here in front of the parade.
ZAHN: We just got a lovely shot of Prince Edward and his wife, Princess Sophie.
Thank you so much, Richard. It looks like fun. Wish we were there. Thanks for letting us drop in on the Golden Jubilee.
QUEST: Indeed.
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