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New Day Saturday
Charles III Formally Proclaimed King By Accession Council. Aired 6-7a ET
Aired September 10, 2022 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: But after that, we'll take you forward to the gun salute at Cardiff Castle.
(MUSIC)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whereas it has pleased almighty God to call to his mercy our late Sovereign lady Queen Elizabeth II of blessed and glorious memory, by whose decease the Crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is solely and rightfully come to the Prince Charles Philip Arthur George.
We, therefore, the lords spiritual and temporal of this realm, and members of the House of Commons, together with other members of Her late Majesty's Privy Council, and representatives of the realms and territories, aldermen, and citizens of London and others, do now hereby, with one voice and consent of tongue and heart, publish and proclaim that the Prince Charles Philip Arthur George, is now, by the death of our late Sovereign of happy memory, become our only lawful and rightful liege lord, Charles III, by the grace of God, of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, and of his other realms and territories, King, head of the Commonwealth, defender of the faith, to whom we do acknowledge all faith and obedience with humble affection, beseeching God, by whom kings and queens do reign, to bless His Majesty with long and happy years to reign over us.
Given at St. James' Palace, this 10th day of September in the year of our Lord 2022.
(MUSIC)
(CHEERING & APPLAUSE)
(GUN SALUTES)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible) Majesty the King.
[06:05:00]
LEMON: There you go it is official, official now that he is King.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN ANCHOR & CORRESPONDENT: Change in tempo, the change mood in a sentence. In olden times, that was it. The old monarchs gone, the new one is been proclaimed, allegiances have been sworn, and now you get on with everyday life. And that's sort of, that's how it was done. We have a new king move on. LEMON: Yeah, you had gun salutes at Edinburgh Castle, Cardiff Castle still going on as a matter of fact, Hillsborough Castle, Tower of London, and also Hyde Park.
MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: There'll be a procession going into the city of London, which will be quite a ground affair to read the same proclamation out in the City of London to assure the full community of London which is two separate authorities.
LEMON: As we would say in the United States, this is a lot. This is a lot. There's a lot of pomp, a lot of circumstance, a lot of pageantry.
QUEST: There is. I don't know whether it's a great deal more than -- I mean, maybe a bit more than elsewhere. But if try and draw analogies --
LEMON: It would be the inauguration.
QUEST: For the inauguration, this is --
FOSTER: (Inaudible) the coronation shortly as the inauguration.
QUEST: It's true because, of course, he becomes king a moment he become the, you know, the inauguration gives the authority. So, the coronation to that extent.
FOSTER: I guess this is the --
QUEST: No, I think maybe just the inauguration because this is the moment.
FOSTER: You don't have coronation.
LEMON: You have coronation, but the inauguration is when government power's transfer -- this is where power is transferred.
FOSTER: Yeah.
LEMON: The coordination is really just about -- sorry, say again.
FOSTER: The power transferred upon death. This is not the public proclamation that this happened. And then the coronation is really a spiritual moment.
QUEST: This is equivalent -- I'm trying to draw as close analogies as I can. This is the equivalent in the U.S. have you have the election, you then have the Electoral College, you then have the reading of the Electoral College votes, which we know all about in Congress. Again, you don't really have to have all of that. You don't have to have the pro-team and the whole business of what we saw. And then you have the inauguration several years.
LEMON: Of course, you have to have all of that. Now, I'm being Richard Quest.
QUEST: I mean, how many times have you argued the debate of whether the Electoral College, we need all of that.
FOSTER: So, the flags were to half-staff and the Queen died or the announcement of the Queen's death, they are now at full-staff. We're going to see this over the course of the next few days where we reflect on the previous monarchy and look ahead to the next monarchy. It's a careful balancing act.
And that's, you know, it's a challenge because that's how monarchy's transition. But at the same time, the weight of feeling really is very much towards the late Queen. And people are so intertwined and emotional about that right now. They're struggling to look ahead, but this is part of the process over the next few days to get us ready for the future.
LEMON: Yeah. And as we were speaking, this was happening, we glanced over our shoulders and notice here at Buckingham Palace at the flag is now at full-staff and flags all over now full-staff.
FOSTER: Yeah, right in front. Yeah, I think one of the histories that I think you know, going back to the television cameras being in there, we've never seen any of that play out before. It feels completely normal that we would see it now that there's a lot of debate in recent years about whether to allow cameras in.
And it was, I think it was King Charles obviously, as Prince Charles at the time who felt that that was important thing to do. In the same way that the Queen opened up the, you know, the moments in the coronation we've never seen before.
LEMON: So, from now, the new King will take an audience with different members of the clergy and with also the Prime Minister --
FOSTER: The cabinet, yes.
QUEST: And then he starts the business of meeting all the various representatives, the high commissioners and the ambassadors, particularly the High Commissioners from the rail means as we start to get ready for who's going to be in London for the funeral in just over a week's time. That's going to be -- all I can tell you is that there's Heathrow Airport has a private wing where you can pay to use it of your land, it's very expensive. The Windsor suite, all I can tell you is that the Windsor suite has told everybody, don't bother trying to book anything for the next two weeks.
[06:10:26]
LEMON: Because?
QUEST: There will be so many heads of state arriving in the U.K.
FOSTER: Logistical.
LEMON: Yeah.
FOSTER: We've just seen the Prince of Wales as well, haven't we, for the first time. So, he's obviously stepped back to allow the King to have his primary moment in front of the public. I do expect this afternoon to start seeing the Prince of Wales, perhaps out and about making statements because he's also been elevated through this transition.
LEMON: Why is it important for him to be up later making statements?
FOSTER: Because he's part of the monarchy, and I think particularly this monarchy, everyone accepts that King Charles isn't as popular as the Queen. So, I think, you know, this isn't a formality. But we've seen how they've brought William and Kate, in with Charles and Camilla. And they are very much a job lot -- if I can -- it's not a nice way of saying it. But, you know, and Harry, and that sort of separation of the Sussexes has also really brought them together.
They have, you know, the Queen had a large set of family and cousins to share her responsibilities with, the pressure now and Charles and William in particular is very keen on slimming down the monarchy, making it more efficient. So, the burden on them is much higher, but it's effectively just going to be the King and Queen, the Prince and Princess of Wales and their three children. That's who we're going to see, it's part of the monarchy sharing the King's duties.
But he's a hard worker. He is able to do a lot more than the Queen was able to do. And we're also -- what's going to be interesting is how William transitions, will he leave Kensington Palace and go to Clarence House, under good authority to understand he's not going to have the massive staff that Prince Charles had, he wants to slim down Prince of Wales role as well.
QUEST: But there's a reality, you need a certain heft of staff just to do the job. However much you may wish to. What -- Max, what did you make of Charles' referenced in his speech yesterday to Harry and Meghan, which sort of felt like it just came out of nowhere, but felt like either good luck in America?
LEMON: As an American, I think he's a father. And he has to mention, and that's he has two children. And, obviously, one is now Prince of Wales. And the other as we know, does no longer lives here. And I think it's important he had to mention, because if he failed to mention, I think it would have been more of a controversy and more of a talking point.
FOSTER: That's the thing that we exclude him.
LEMON: Right, yeah.
FOSTER: I mean, that would have not gone down well. Also, he is I mean, he's still -- Prince Harry is fifth in line to the throne. He's a counselor of state if something happens to King Charles. Well, that's actually an interesting point.
(CROSSTALK)
FOSTER: OK. So, you've got the King and you've got counselors of the states who the King can delegate powers to, if he is unable to carry them out. So, if he's traveling, and he's unable to carry out his duties, he will ask the counselors of the state to do it. Those counselors of state now are Camilla, William, Kate, and Harry. Harry is still a Council of States. If something happens to the others, Harry could effectively act on behalf of the head of state still.
QUEST: Viewers of the Crown will be familiar Of course, of when Margaret was asked to stand in for the Queen when the Queen was on one of her trips, her sister, Princess Margaret. I think one thing I would say, is what this reinforces, it's very easy to see the monarchy and all of this as being a soap opera drama, Meghan and Harry, who was in, who's not. But what it also shows is, this is our constitutional law, this is Britain at work, this is not a gain.
LEMON: But it can be both, I mean, you cannot deny the drama, but today is not about the drama, it is about, as you said, Britain being --
FOSTER: It's a bit of a branding exercise.
LEMON: Right, right.
FOSTER: So, it is I mean, the love of this is about brands, who are the monarchy, what do they represent, you know, how do we feel about them?
QUEST: Right, but you just got -- you put that in modern parlance of a branding exercise, I would put it in terms of this is tradition, because you always had to get the consent of the governed if you're going to be a Monarch. And so, he has to do this, he has to convince.
LEMON: Can we go back to William and Kate because it didn't -- they just -- not to change the subject but to change. Didn't they just move to a place so that they can have much more privacy or privacy as you say, William and Kate.
FOSTER: Now, that was about -- they are hands on parents and if you see them and you saw that, actually --
LEMON: But my question is what happens now?
FOSTER: They will stay in Windsor and what is, I mean it's not a humble cottage by anyone's standards for them it is. There's no room for staff, they want to be near the school. They deliberately chosen the school where all three kids can go.
[06:15:10]
And they want to be -- and it's a very sporty school and it really well, and they want to be very hands on parents. So, the last school in London, they were completely involved in coffee mornings and kid's parties. And now they're very sporty family, they want to be there at the matches and they want to be involved. They still have Kensington Palace as their principal residence and they still have a house up in Norfolk as well. But that isn't about privacy. That's about putting the kids first.
LEMON: Parenting. Yeah. QUEST: And of course, those decisions will have been taken in the full knowledge of what was likely to transpire sooner rather than later with the death of the Queen.
FOSTER: Yeah.
QUEST: So, everything was put in place knowing that this is how it will be foreseeable future.
LEMON: You said he is a worker. I mean --
FOSTER: Charles.
LEMON: Charles, I thought you were talking about --
FOSTER: William is -- I mean, there was workshop Prince was his nickname for a long time. I think that's unfair. Prince William was in no rush to be on the throne. He wanted to have -- give his childhood the best -- children the best childhood they could. So, he wasn't going to work full time. And he was going to build up. I think when he's Prince of Wales, we're going to see a massive ramping up. So, I think work.
LEMON: That was my question, yeah.
FOSTER: We're also going to see -- you know, what's going to happen with the royal residences. This is Buckingham Palace I think it's true to say no particularly enjoys living there. Will Prince -- will King Charles take residents there? I don't know. His favorite home is Highgrove. He got Clarence House here. Will William move to Clarence House? There's an opportunity here to perhaps slim down some of the residences as well, with less people involved.
LEMON: I would imagine --
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Something is happening in the crowd.
QUEST: We'll see King Charles come back. We're going to see King Charles come back to Buckingham Palace if he's returning to here.
FOSTER: It just happen in Buckingham Palace to assert his authority. He shouldn't go to them. He should. But well, he should be here. And the cabinet should go to him for an audience and the ambassador should go to him for an audience. He shouldn't go to them. So, I think that he will come back here to hold those audiences.
LEMON: Listen, this is the -- I think the largest crowd that -- since I had been here, at least what I have seen and this is just the beginning, really.
QUEST: Having done a few of these sorts of major deaths and marriages. What's going to happen now is there is going to be a week where it will feel like the pressure cooker is building up. There will be an atmosphere in London, as we get closer and closer and closer to the funeral. And you will viscerally feel the City Chamber.
FOSTER: The roads being closed on various areas.
QUEST: People coming into town, there's even fears, Don, that London will "fill up" and there won't be room for any more.
FOSTER: Hotels, almost fully booked up.
QUEST: Yeah, the flight so -- by the way, the flights across to London are just the default. You can't get a seat.
LEMON: Yeah, tell me about it. I mean just copy that into hotels.
QUEST: Yes. But you will notice this leading up to next week -- next Wednesday, where there will be this frenzied feeling of mourning and waiting and what's going to happen leading up to the funeral.
FOSTER: And I'm expecting an announcement on the date of the funeral this afternoon.
LEMON: Yeah. I wanted to ask you that and but the coronation is that even --
QUEST: That's next year.
LEMON: We're waiting on that one, yeah.
FOSTER: It doesn't talk about well for now.
QUEST: Yeah, the logistics of getting out of organizing would take six seven months.
FOSTER: Imagine the crown jewel, these are priceless crown jewels. You know there's only three people allowed to touch the crown and that is the crown jewel of the Queen and the Archbishop of Canterbury because he has to pick up the crown. It's put on the sort of the King rather than the kings.
LEMON: Standby gentlemen, I want to bring in now Royal Commentator Hilary Fordwich. Hilary, you know, they're -- with lots of moving parts happening. So, our discussion may get cut off if especially if we see the new King come back to Buckingham Palace. Welcome to the program. How do you think King Charles is going to balance this new era of the monarchy?
HILARY FORDWICH, ROYAL COMMENTATOR: Well, we already know many ways is going to balance this new era. Lots of things he's already talked about. But one thing I will say is when he has said that he wants to slim down the monarchy, he is only wanting the actually official Royals are those senior Royals who are holding positions to execute duties.
However, two things here one, that means that there will be less opportunities for the Royals to touch the public. And as former Queen said, you know, I need to be I need to be seen to be believed. So, there is a little bit of a conundrum there but also, actually I'll take a line from Downton Abbey for this. Remember when Lord Grantham says to Matthew, but everyone plays their part.
And so, these are all jobs. When people will complain about oh the huge staff that people have, well, they these are all jobs of people and people take pride in their jobs. So, there's a dual sort of edge to this.
[06:20:09]
What we do know is that he loves his home but all up at Balmoral, he loves his home Highgrove Gloucestershire. And he also lost some St. James' Palace where we've just seen. So, he is not going to spend as much time at Buckingham Palace nor Balmoral and the great news for everybody is that they will be more open to the public, they already are open in terms of charitable events and will be more open now.
LEMON: Hilary, you spoke about how Queen Elizabeth, his love -- her love for tradition, and how she embraced progress. How does it -- how does he carry out that sentiment into his reign, because as you said, they're trying to slim down monarchy, but that's less access, touching, less touching of the people, so to speak. And we saw how he really ate up that moment yesterday when he went to the crowd, and he was so embraced and even, you know, kissed on the face by one subject who was so happy to see him.
FORDWICH: Yeah, so I think (inaudible) not just opening up the palaces I just mentioned, but that walk about remember, when did the walk about start? It was when the Queen went outside of Buckingham Palace to be with her people, literally, by the gates in front of Buckingham Palace, she could have stayed on the balcony, she did not. At the passing of the coffin of the late Princess Diana.
And I think Charles did learn a lot. King Charles did learn a lot from that era. So, the walk about became more, let's say way more personable. And he's taken that to heart because you saw him remember when he came down from Balmoral after Princess Diana's passing, he was at Kensington Palace, outside with his boys, looking at the flowers there and engaged with the public. That's what you're going to see.
He's going to be far more personable. And all of those that know him, all of us that have met him, he's very warm in person, and he wants that to come through and be projected. That's what you're going to see. I think even more heart demonstrated from our current Monarch.
LEMON: So, listen, throughout the day, Hilary, there are going to be we make glimpses of the King, what do you see in the days to come here because there are -- this is very highly planned. But we're also -- they're also planning a funeral as well as they are -- we'll get ready to coronate a new King. I mean, this is very strategically handled. What do you see happening over the next couple of days?
FORDWICH: Oh, yes that's going to happened. Actually, this entire process, this has been planned, actually, for years. A few things to remember very importantly, the name of this is operation London Bridge. Why London Bridge? While each of the Royals, all of them, even Prince William, there are massive plans in place. Why? Because there's so much as you just mentioned, that has to take place. They're referred to as bridges, because they're bridges to the next life.
Now, what's going to take place? Well, each day is named a D-Day, the first day was D-Day. The D-Day 1, D-Day 2, D-Day 3. So currently, our former Queen she's lying-in state she's up right now at St. Charles cathedral up in Edinburgh. She will then be brought down to London. She will then rest in state and we will see the public being given access also.
We actually saw this -- we saw this at Winston Churchill's funeral. She will be in London, and then she will be eventually of course, she'll be interned at Windsor Castle in St. George's Chapel. And now she will join her beloved former husband, Prince Philip.
And what we're going to see and I think one thing that's very special is this peaceful transition of power, just like we saw this very week. We saw on Tuesday, there our Queen, shaking hands with Liz Truss, actually the first time in history, interestingly, that a monarch and our Prime Minister have had the same first name. But we then saw that on Tuesday peaceful transition of Parliament, the leader of Parliament, the Prime Minister, now we're seeing this peaceful transition.
So, in a nutshell, what we're seeing day after day is this peaceful transition. That is to glorify our God Save the King. Also don't forget, we're going to be seeing wages in the face our currency -- on the currency, on the notes, on the stamps, all of the postboxes everywhere need to go from ER, Elizabeth Regina to GR, George Regina and actually one of the sorts of funny things I thought of is the late Queen's father King George VI. There are places in the United Kingdom where you can see the old postboxes at least those procrastinators that never updated them over seven years to ER, they can just leave them the same way.
LEMON: Thank you, Hilary, I appreciate that. We're looking at what's happening at Buckingham Palace behind us and this is the key side the royal horse artillery.
QUEST: Yes, this is the King's Street.
LEMON: King's Street.
QUEST: The royal horse artillery who that with -- this is the personal in a sense military that was set up by King George specifically for the monarch to do the ceremonial occasions and they were the ones who were firing the guns over in Hyde Park.
[06:25:13]
LEMON: If I might ask, are we waiting for a balcony moment here?
FOSTER: I thought that -- I saw someone coming out with the fabric that they draped over but no.
LEMON: So, we're going to continue to watch this happen in -- our live coverage is going to continue after a very short break. Don't go anywhere, you're not going to miss anything. We'll be right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: We're back now with CNN Special Coverage from London. I'm Don Lemon. And just moments ago, King Charles III was formally proclaimed sovereign of the British monarchy at a ceremony. 500-year-old St. James Palace in London.
[06:29:57]
And this marks a new era for the royal family, and it's the first time in history that this event has been televised for the world to see. Charles is ascending to the throne following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, that's his mother, the longest-reigning monarch in British history and hundreds of dignitaries of royal advisors are in attendance to watch the king take a series of oaths and swear allegiance to the Church of Scotland.
I want to bring in now CNN's Max Foster and also Richard Quest to discuss what's going on. We've been seeing a lot of pageantry today, a lot of pomp and circumstance we just saw -- folks, oh, is that mine? I had no idea. I had no idea that was mine, it's time to wake up. But we've seen a lot of pageantry today and we expect a lot more to happen. What are we watching now? What are we looking --
FOSTER: This is Mansion House, right?
QUEST: Yes, it is. This is in the city of London. This is another reading of the proclamation that has to take place because the city of London is different. There's a different system of government. So having done the proclamation at St. James' Palace traditionally, and here we have, of course, the Grenadier Guards marching.
FOSTER: It's tying up -- loose sense in anyway. This is a bit like the Church of Scotland thing we were saying. They've got a -- you know, the disconnects and the constitution and the monarchy. How do we tie them all up? The city of London is in the financial districts, it's got its -- as Richard said, it's got its own authority.
They also effectively need to pledge allegiance to the king, and that's what's happening here. You have a new king, do you agree to it? If there's no major protest, then, you know, king of the city of London as rest - as well as the rest of London.
QUEST: And don't forget in the old days, if I can bring my business background to fall, you needed the city of London to pay for the wars that you might be prosecuting if you were king. So, you needed to have the financiers and the bankers --
FOSTER: Yes --
QUEST: On your side to pay for everything --
FOSTER: So it's respect to the financiers, isn't it?
QUEST: Yes, to foot the bills --
FOSTER: As well, so they get their proclamation.
LEMON: Yes, and also, this was a proclamation to make certain things that are going to happen, bank holidays, the queen's funeral will be a bank holiday. And so, they need to put that into writing because --
QUEST: It's the plumbing. There's no legal authority for doing anything. It's exactly the same in the United States, for example, if the budget runs out of if a proclamation or a presidential executive order runs out, unless you renew it, unless you actually, physically put it back into law, it can't happen, and that's what's happening today.
LEMON: Listen, this day, this moment is about King Charles III. But you -- both of you say, this is also about the new Prince of Wales as well, William.
FOSTER: Well, I think it will be because he's got to -- he's got -- he needs to have stepped back to allow the Prince of Wales to get the attention, particularly, when Prince William, the Prince of Wales, is, you know, more popular than the King. But he also needs to step up, he's now first in line to the throne. And now, a lot of the next monarchy will be about preparing William for the throne.
So, he will be acting in a much more kingly way now. So, we do expect him to come out -- and what will be interesting about that will be how he frames himself because he's no longer second in line. He's first in line. So -- and we've seen him over the years becoming more formal.
We've got the BT Tower which is in west London, and a real sort of signature part of the London landscape, and you know, a big announcement there, of course, about her queen -- the queen, but stays really about the king. This is why we see the flags at full staff today rather than half-staff.
LEMON: Do you -- do both -- either of you think that this is really going to be that different? Is there -- there won't be a sort of virtually into a different direction under this particular regime?
QUEST: Charles has been very much front and center in modernizing the monarchy. He led several groups after Diana's death, and all this. And so, he's been at the heart -- he's had a seat at that table. But yes, it will be different, absolutely. There will be a change in tone, a change in style.
FOSTER: Yes, I think it's going to feel different. But the essence of monarchy is continuity, so you know, it will be irresponsible to make a hard great turn.
LEMON: Why will it feel different?
FOSTER: Because he's more emotional. You saw him nearly crying last night in his speech, which the queen would never do. You saw him, you know, being kissed on the cheek yesterday in a walk-about, no one would do that to the queen. He is emotional, I mean, people think he's quite stiff. I've never really felt that. I think he's very emotional, cares deeply about his subjects. QUEST: It's quite legitimate in many ways, unofficially legitimate to
call him Charlie. You know, in a crowd, you'll hear people shout, hey, Charlie boy, hey, Charlie. He's obviously the king, King Charles, but because he's been in -- behind and seen women coming up kissing him and models, super models when he was younger, coming out of the surf in broad-day beach and kissing him, he had that --
LEMON: That's because those are usually older folks, right? Who remember him as a young man, and so they have a more --
FOSTER: He was a playboy prince, wasn't he for a while?
QUEST: He was --
FOSTER: Don't forget --
QUEST: He was --
[06:35:00]
If you read Tina Brown's "The Palace Papers", he goes into a lot of those early days of Charles. And he's very -- he still has a bitterness there over the way he was being treated by the press and the public.
LEMON: He's a bit of what?
QUEST: There's a bitterness over his treatment --
LEMON: A bitterness?
QUEST: Though --
FOSTER: Yes, and how they took Diana's side.
LEMON: There's really an issue, you know, about the treatment of the royals and the press. So, the relationship for the royals and the press here, and maybe that's a bit of an understatement, right? An issue, but -- which In some ways when you think about the paparazzi which led to Diana's death.
FOSTER: Well, William and Harry frankly blamed the paparazzi and the news editors, the picture editors on the news desk, but considering taking the pictures of Diana dead in a car crash, and they blame the media. And there's a very tense relationship. Harry has taken it to a different level by, you know, officially no longer dealing with mainstream media, although, you know, we do have some -- you know, he's not completely cut off.
Prince William is taking a different approach, that he needs the media. And I think he's learned this from his grandmother. He needs the media to get his message across. So William's view is very much as aligned, but you cannot cross with the media. So when you deal with him, he's very familiar.
You know, he's very easy to get along with, but you're never going to be friends with William in the way some journalists were friends with Diana.
LEMON: Yes --
FOSTER: He will never allow that to happen. For Charles -- so, I think Richard is right, there's a frustration --
LEMON: The media --
FOSTER: The media has always favored other members of the royal family, primarily Diana, but also William. You know, he gets more attention sometimes, and that's frustrating for someone who's meant to be, you know, next in line as it was, but is now king.
But I think that's going to be -- there's -- you know, they're working incredibly well together now. I have to say, William and Charles, they often operate separately, now they are in lockstep, and their teams are in lockstep as well.
LEMON: That's why I think this will be different. What are we watching now? Because I did notice, somebody talked about this other thing, it was on air, Richard, is that they're in traditional mourning suits.
QUEST: Yes, because the tradition requires for these events, either mourning suits or long(ph) suits, so you don't have to wear it. One thing important to remember with all these traditional things, you don't have to do it anymore than you have to bow to the king. It's customary, but if you choose not to, that's up to you.
Here we are in the city of London where you're going to have the reading of the proclamation and you'll hear the trumpeters and all the essential things again that we saw at St. James', but this is a repetition of the recitation, and it will happen again in Scotland, it will happen in Wales, and it will happen in Northern Ireland.
LEMON: I think quite --
FOSTER: Sorry, I think we were expecting that moment to start in let's see -- so, about eight minutes time, you'll hear the state trumpeters starting, it's a repeat, basically of what we saw before but in the city.
LEMON: Yes, the question is -- as you were mentioning, you know, don't even bother trying to get into -- what did you say, the royal lounge, it were -- if you wanted -- if you want to get into --
QUEST: No --
LEMON: Pay a lot of money to get into.
QUEST: It's a --
LEMON: To use the Windsor suite --
QUEST: Well, the Windsor suite -- no, it's too expensive.
(LAUGHTER) It's too expensive --
LEMON: Yes --
QUEST: How did you use it? I mean, you've traveled on it --
FOSTER: Yes --
QUEST: This is a private sort of --
LEMON: OK, gentlemen. The idea that I was going to is that there are going to be a lot of people here --
FOSTER: Richard, it's the foremost aviation correspondent on the planet. It's reassuring to know that he doesn't use the Windsor suite.
LEMON: A lot of dignitaries will be -- will be heading into --
QUEST: Oh, we found -- I mean, first of all, we -- I don't forgive me, I -- maybe should know. I don't know whether the U.S. has announced who will be leading --
LEMON: That's where I'm going to. So I want to bring in now our White House reporter Jasmine Wright. Jasmine is live this morning with President Biden in Wilmington, Delaware. Jasmine, good morning to you. What do we know about the plans for President Biden to come to the U.K. to pay his respects?
JASMINE WRIGHT, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, Don, well, the president said a resounding yes when asked if he would be heading to the funeral. Now, it is no surprise here that he would announce that he's going to the funeral before any official word that invitations have gone out.
Over the last few days, we have seen him really heap praise on the late queen saying that she was a great lady who defined an era. But for invitations themselves, that gets a little tricky. Now, we know that former presidents are not expecting individual invitations. Instead, the expectations -- also say is that, there will be one invitation sent to the White House and invitations will be doled out there one by one, which really sets up the president to make the choice into who really gets that invitation.
Now, we know after the president said, yes, he will be attending the funeral, though, he didn't quite know what the details would be just then. We know the White House aides have really began those initial preparations for him to get to London for that funeral. But it kind of sets up a diplomacy test for the president, Don, when it comes to, who he will and will not invite.
We know that the queen herself has had a lot of connection with most recent presidents including President Biden, President Trump, President Obama, the list goes on and on, for 13 presidents via, through and there.
[06:40:00] So, it kind of sets a diplomacy test, meaning who the president will invite, and specifically, will he invite his predecessor, former President Donald Trump? Don?
LEMON: All right, Jasmine Wright, thank you very much, appreciate that. She's with the President of the United States, Joe Biden, traveling with the president in Wilmington. I'm back now with Max Foster and Richard Quest as well. So, we're watching these ceremonies happen all over London really and even here at Buckingham Palace.
FOSTER: Certainly, in about 10 minutes, we're going to hear from the state trumpeters we're seeing there to repeat what we've just seen at St. James'.
QUEST: One relief. I think what's also interesting to watch is on the funeral, world leaders are coming, but they would also take the opportunity of having various bilateral meetings between themselves.
Suddenly, this funeral not only becomes the -- saying good-bye to Queen Elizabeth, but becomes a major diplomatic event. We know for example, President Putin isn't coming here for obvious reasons, but it will be fascinating to see who meets with who. And of course, we've had a problem with Putin, who he'll sit next to --
LEMON: This will be a worldwide event.
QUEST: Like none you've ever seen before.
LEMON: Go on.
QUEST: Well, you know, every head of state, certainly you've got all the commonwealth and the realms, they will all come, one would assume. You're going to have all the European individuals, you'll have crown heads of Europe coming maybe, because the queen was very well liked by the royal family in Belgium and Norway, Sweden, great personal friends. They will be coming and you'll have the political leaders who will want to come and pay their respects.
FOSTER: And the charities.
QUEST: Hundreds of them.
LEMON: This will be an opportunity for what? And will they deem it appropriate to do business at this time?
QUEST: Completely and absolutely. You'll have ministers meeting with leaders. You'll have leaders talking to each other, particularly at such a time of heightened tensions. You'll have sidebar discussions, all those sort of things will be expected.
FOSTER: I think -- I think Putin and Xi would come. They were fully committed to their state visits.
LEMON: Why do you think it's so important for Putin and Xi to come, and even former president of the United States as we heard Jasmine say, even considering -- FOSTER: Because it's above politics, and the queen was the longest-
serving, most revered head of state, and she wasn't involved in politics, and she separated what happened in politics. So when, you know, those leaders came here -- and there have been some real -- there have been dictators visiting United Kingdom.
She'll separate her personal views about it and give them the best possible visit -- possible, and Xi was hugely complimentary when he came here, really enjoyed the visit. They're going to separate the government from this. I think they'll all be here. I know it, Richard --
QUEST: Putin's note of condolence was extremely gracious and warm, bearing in mind that, you know, the country's almost at cold war with the U.K.
LEMON: But how might someone like Putin be --
QUEST: He will --
LEMON: Would he be welcomed?
QUEST: He may not be allowed to because of sanctions --
LEMON: Yes --
QUEST: And things like that --
LEMON: Exactly --
QUEST: So, there's various legal issues, as a man versus the president of Russia, he was never going to come. Xi, I can't see make -- I don't know, I can't see him making the trip, but that does --
FOSTER: His biggest concern would be COVID as well, wouldn't it?
QUEST: Oh, absolutely, yet, he'd to go --
FOSTER: We've got two gatherings here, one at Mansion House and one at the Royal Exchange.
QUEST: That's Mansion House --
FOSTER: And the trumpeters will effectively talk to each other, respond to each other.
LEMON: A sort of call and repeat? A sort of what happens?
FOSTER: And it happens towards the top -- up until the top of the hour. The precise timing is what we're waiting for. They've obviously got their cue. But it's another proclamation here in two separate sides across the city --
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Yes, a bit -- as you say it happens on cue, usually at the 30 and 45 or at the 00s, meaning at the top --
FOSTER: So, in -- exception at Royal Exchange, 11:55, which is, you know, just over 10 minutes away --
LEMON: Doing the math --
FOSTER: They're going to take their positions, and that just before the top of the hour, the state trumpeters will sound a fanfare and the state trumpeters at Mansion House will reply. And the common crier and the sergeant of arms will demand silence. So, let's just talk about town criers.
You know, when you see these town criers declaring the birth of a royal baby, they're complete charlatans and they don't exist, but they come with their bells and we're also -- they're filming them. There is a town crier. He is the common crier of the city of London, so he is what they're all -- you know, imitating.
LEMON: This is where we were talking about dignitaries and doing -- it's only in politics, right? Can we talk about the relationship between Liz Truss and King Charles III, and the possible relationship? As you mentioned, she was not so much of a fan of the monarchy -- a threat.
[06:45:00]
FOSTER: So, she was a liberal Democrat and at the age of 19, she spoke at liberal democrat conference, very vociferously to campaign against the monarchy in a joint -- you know, she wanted the queen fired basically. But we've seen during this process how she's utterly committed to the monarchy. She isn't very consistent in any of her views, so she switched from liberal democrat to conservative.
She's anti-monarchy, pro-monarchy, she's anti-Brexit. Now she's literally the pin-up for the Brexit for going in parliament. And she changes political time, but as many people have also seen that as her strengths, she reflects -- she's quite good at reading a room, reflecting what the nation wants, and maybe more flexible leader.
It's hard to know what she believes in. King Charles firmly believes and always has believed and has got great record of believing in key issues like climate change, like the state of the oceans, like religious tolerance, like youth unemployment. And he spent decades working on those issues. I think that's a slight disconnect, although, he may see the prime minister as a bit more malleable.
(CROSSTALK)
QUEST: But at the end of the day --
LEMON: That will -- that is going to -- you don't think there will be some tension in the relationship because of that?
QUEST: It wouldn't be the first time there's tension between the prime minister and the monarch. For the most famous, of course, being Margaret Thatcher and Queen Elizabeth. But Liz Truss doesn't come to this with a very strong hand in the sense of -- she's been prime minister for five minutes. He might have been king for five minutes. But he was prince of Wales for 60 -- you know, 50 years.
LEMON: Yes --
QUEST: So he knows his way around this. His pledge yesterday in his speech, that he recognizes his constitutional and parliamentary democracy, that was significant because he was telling us, I'm not going to interfere, I'm not meddling, I'm not communicating with ministers.
FOSTER: Just to explain what we're seeing here, we're waiting for the second proclamation that Charles III is king. And this is in the city of London. Self-governing, how would you describe it?
QUEST: It sort of has its own rules --
FOSTER: It's got a separate council --
QUEST: Laws, moraz(ph) --
FOSTER: Yes, and it's a financial district. And as Richard's pointing -- pointed out traditionally, you know, a great deal of reverence, the people working there because there's finance walls.
QUEST: And you continue to talk at times day and night.
LEMON: CNN's coverage of really the death of a queen and then the proclamation of a new king will continue in just moments.
FOSTER: It's at the top of the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:50:00]
QUEST: You take that for yourself.
LEMON: And welcome back, everyone, to CNN's live coverage. We are standing by to hear from the trumpeters and the second proclamation of King Charles III which will be read at the Royal Exchange in London. Joined again by Max Foster and Richard Quest. Richard, we were speaking earlier, and you said that this was all a build-up, right? Building up, building up, and the crescendo is the funeral.
QUEST: The different moments of the death, the proclamation of the new king which is a celebration of a new reign. So it's much more uplifting. Here we go to trumpeters.
(TRUMPETING)
LEMON: So, this is a -- this is just the trumpeters here. Will there be -- there won't be another reading, will there?
FOSTER: Yes --
LEMON: There will be.
FOSTER: At the top of the hour there will be. It's going to be procession now at the Mansion House and then, you know, five minutes before the top of the hour, the -- one of the kings of arms will become the law(ph) man, take place at the Royal Exchange, and then there will be -- the herald's will take up their position just before the top of the hour.
The state trumpeters will sound the fanfare, that will be replied between the two locations. And then at the top of the hour, the clarenceux king of arms will read the proclamation. So, a different person who read it before. But these are all the -- you know, the grenadier of the city of London, which represents Britain's financial --
LEMON: Sector --
FOSTER: Sector, and obviously, members of the church and members of the judiciary, all are pillars of the British constitution are represented here. And this is them committing to the new king, effectively giving oath to the king.
LEMON: This may be me reading something -- reading more into this than it is, but obviously, they're proclaiming a new king here. It seems fairly solemn to me, that nothing for the death -- am I reading into that, if it had not been for the death of the queen, would there be a different feel and more celebratory feel?
[06:55:00]
QUEST: Well, no, because without the death of the queen, we wouldn't be having this event.
LEMON: Well, I mean, but she could step down and say, doesn't want to be queen anymore.
QUEST: In the case of the queen, yes. But with this, it's solemn and somber because of the death --
LEMON: I should say serious, austere.
QUEST: Absolutely. You're looking at the transfer of power of what was an empire, what was realms. You're looking at the transfer of power between one person to the next, and this is the mechanics, the oil and lubrication if you will, that's going to make it happen. There are people here, by the way, you know, who we're looking at?
You're looking at heralders, you're looking at very senior people who do all sorts of roles within the city of London. The lord mayor for example. There's the lord mayor of London. The current Lord Mayor is Vincent Thomas Keaveny. Keaveny is a commercial lawyer, but he never thought he'd be doing this.
FOSTER: So one minute before the top of the hour we're going to -- I'm saying -- I'm saying definitely, if you accept things absolutely like clock-work today, it's unbelievable. The state trumpeters will sound a fanfare and the state trumpeters at Mansion House will reply.
And the common crier, what we call a town crier and the sergeant of arms will demand silence, and then a minute later at the top of the hour, the king of arms will read that proclamation. And then are you ready for this tight?
LEMON: Yes.
FOSTER: The officer commanding the pipe men and musketeers will order the proclamation guard to advance to their pikes which are three beats of a drum, then charge their pikes, which is --
LEMON: What?
FOSTER: Five beats of a drum. How did he not know that? Really?
LEMON: As I said earlier, this is a lot.
(LAUGHTER)
QUEST: Yes, we couldn't -- have to send out some of it without --
LEMON: Oh, around --
QUEST: Doing -- without doing careless damage, but they didn't. What is amazing -- well, you can see, the proclamation. You can see they're getting ready. The lord mayor, but it will be to the second.
FOSTER: Go to the symbolism here. You know, a senior member of the church, a senior member of the judiciary and the courts, senior members of the corporations of London, that these are the power breakers of the United Kingdom all lining up to commit to the king.
QUEST: I sort of feel obliged just to remind viewers, particularly perhaps in the United States, that it is a constitutional monarchy. You know, the country is a democracy that's ruled by elected representatives. And the -- what you're watching is that unspoken -- today's reaffirmed acceptance from Magna Carter and Runnymede onwards, that the elected officials are supreme, but the king is at the top of the tree.
LEMON: The elected officials are supreme, but the king is at the top of the tree.
QUEST: That's the contradiction --
LEMON: Who holds most or the power?
QUEST: The elected officials.
LEMON: The elected officials.
QUEST: Because they are the ones who can get rid of the king if they wish. But there's this -- well, spoken, it is an understanding that he governs at the consent of the people.
LEMON: But the elected officials don't have this much pageantry surrounding their elections.
QUEST: Well, they do with the state opening of parliament, but that again has the king involved --
LEMON: Not like this. Not like this. And I do have to point out that the outfits and the hats, I mean, it's a lot.
FOSTER: We're waiting for the trumpeters --
LEMON: It's wonderful to watch -- yes.
FOSTER: And now a minute silence --
LEMON: The crowd is roaring behind us here.
FOSTER: So these are -- you know, anyone who looks vaguely VIP-ish gets a cheer --
LEMON: I think that honestly, I think the folks who are moving the barricades and the people who are collecting the trash, I think that they're getting just applause from people as kind of a fun thing as --
FOSTER: I sometimes wonder if they should give more clarity to the people because nothing is particularly going to be happening here at Buckingham Palace. You will see --
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Persuading --
FOSTER: The king going in, but you know, it's not the focal point necessarily today
QUEST: I can't imagine what it's going to be like next Tuesday, Wednesday when the funeral takes place.
LEMON: Yes --
QUEST: The size and scope of the people coming in to London from all over the country, all over the world.
FOSTER: And there are processions deliberately of the casket so people can have their moment, I think a really powerful moment. And I'm -- you know, I don't like to predict things as a journalist, but when the casket is lying in state in Westminster Hall, there are plans for, you know, miles and miles of queues for the public to pay their respects.
LEMON: Usually we have things -- you know, we see these things and they happen about around this time. This is to the second almost that they get these done. Very punctual.
FOSTER: Yes.
LEMON: The things that will happen at the funeral and the way Max was saying, it will be enormous in its size and scale and somber, and will have gun carriages and the whole -- the whole -- FOSTER: Here we go. State trumpeters.
QUEST: State trumpeters.
LEMON: Oh, here we go now.
(TRUMPETING)
