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CNN Saturday Morning News

Thousands Gather to Pay Respects to Queen Elizabeth

Aired April 06, 2002 - 07:22   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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: We move to London now, where the queen mother is lying in state until Tuesday's funeral. After the procession of her casket to Westminster Hall, Prime Minister Tony Blair left for the U.S. and meetings with President Bush.

CNN's Robin Oakley is doing double duty for us this morning. She's covering both topics.

Hello, Robin.

ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Kyra.

It's been a remarkable scene, really, here this morning, 400,000 people lined the route yesterday when Queen Elizabeth, the queen mother's, coffin was taken from the Chapel Royal at St. James's Palace to Westminster Hall just behind me here near the British House of Commons. And today, there's a queue about a mile and a half long of people snaking both sides of the river Thames, waiting to pay their respects and file past the coffin.

On the coffin there is a single wreath from Queen Elizabeth, the queen mother's daughter, saying, "In loving memory, Lilibet," which was, of course, the pet name her mother gave her. And there is also on the casket the crown worn by the queen mother at the coronation of her husband, King George VI, as king more than 50 years ago.

And there is tremendous interest still here, which has belied the suggestion, I think, from many people that the British were losing their taste for the royal family and for royal events. Many people are queuing to pay their last respects to the queen mother and to see, as they're putting it to their children, a little bit of history -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: And Robin, of course the meeting to take place between President Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair, what are the hopes, the outcome from this meeting?

OAKLEY: Well, obviously the big hope is that the outcome of this meeting will lead to some kind of cease-fire in the Middle East. That has now become the main focus of the meeting, certainly as far as the British participants are concerned.

I think Tony Blair will be relieved, in a sense, if there is not much focus now on the question of what is done about Saddam Hussein and Iraq, because there's been growing distaste in opinion polls in Britain for any idea of military action. Tony Blair is almost alone among European Union leaders in backing some kind of action against Saddam Hussein and lining up behind the United States on that.

So I think Tony Blair will be only too pleased to see the focus very firmly on the Middle East, though of course they'll have to talk about issues like the steel import quotas which -- in the U.S., which have annoyed many of the European allies too -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Robin Oakley, thank you so much. We'll see you later in the hour.

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