Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Saturday Morning News

Queen Elizabeth II Celebrates Golden Jubilee

Aired June 08, 2002 - 07:40   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: This week's Golden Jubilee celebrations in England were filled with food, fun, singing, and a whole lot more. Richard Quest takes a look at the queen, and why this Jubilee is being dubbed a success.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC)

RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): London comes alive. A Jubilee of royal proportions, as Great Britain celebrates 50 years of rule by Queen Elizabeth II.

It's been a turbulent tenure, to be sure. From royal weddings to royal romps, the Windsors have experienced scandals, divorce, fire and death. And questions of whether the monarchy is outdated, a romantic relic of imperial times long past.

But now, amid regal festivities, the tide of royal fans and subjects sends an unmistakable message.

CHARLES ANSON, FORMER PRESS SECRETARY TO THE QUEEN: I think what has become clear from the huge crowds on the street for the queen is that they do appreciate the sense of continuity, of steadiness that the queen gives by having been in that role for a very long time.

QUEST: It's a sense of continuity shouldered by a family with a rich and storied heritage. A family whose private lives play out in a very public way.

ANNE-MARIE O'NEILL, SENIOR EDITOR, PEOPLE MAGAZINE: I think the appeal of the Windsors is that they are basically a live (UNINTELLIGIBLE) to the rest of the world. We expect such dignity from them, and sometimes it always doesn't work out that way.

QUEST: But with the fanfare and adulation it is clear: There is love for the royal family, love for the tradition, the pomp and the ceremony.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People are still fascinated by the queen, but partly because they don't know her, really, very much, and she doesn't live her life -- her private life -- in a public way.

(END VIDEOTAPE) PHILLIPS: For more on the royal family, check out today's "PEOPLE IN THE NEWS," later this morning. That's at 11:00, and Sunday night.

Well, Britain's royal family has been quite busy this week. First, celebrating their recovery from Queen Elizabeth's -- or, recovering from the Queen Elizabeth Jubilee.

But -- are these are the best times for the royal family, or just the calm before the next crisis? That's the question. In London, CNN's royal commentator, Robert Jobson joins me now to talk about the state of the monarchy.

Hi, Robert.

ROBERT JOBSON, CNN ROYAL COMMENTATOR: How are you doing.

PHILLIPS: Well, this has definitely not been easy times for the royal family. A lot of things have happened. Divorces, scandals, fires. Now you have William and Harry. They're really the royal future.

How do you think things are going to change? Do you think they'll be a little less conservative, maybe a little more progressive now?

JOBSON: Well, there is no question, really, that over the last few days really, that the royal family has come into its own. The queen and the royal family were quite surprised, I think, by the extent of the support they got on the streets of London, and so this whole new, if you like, royal renaissance has been taking place with pop concerts inside the palace and -- and, also the traditions we've had, of course, the same traditions -- the appearance on the balcony. But they are trying to be more modern.

PHILLIPS: Let's talk about Camilla Parker-Bowles for a minute, I guess -- get into a little bit of the juicy stuff. She was at the celebration. Not sitting right next to Prince Charles, but let's just talk about that relationship for a moment.

Do you think, in the future, because of all of that with her and Princess Di, that these two young men, William and Harry -- will get to decide who they want to marry, and for the reasons that they want to pursue?

And -- because that has been a very difficult time for the royals, and their reputation. Will England ever accept Camilla Bowles?

JOBSON: Well, I think it's clear -- to me, anyway -- that things are moving very fast with the relationship between Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles. Yes, obviously -- they are very much a couple, but they're now in public -- they're being seen -- and more accepted, certainly, by the royal family. And, to a degree, by the public.

I'm not so sure that we'd see the same reaction that we saw toward the queen if it was Camilla Parker-Bowles on the throne. So I think there is a serious number of questions to be answered over the next few years.

As we go on to William and Harry, I know that the late Princess Diana always wanted them to have as ordinary a background or upbringing as they could possibly have, and that included their relationships with the opposite sex. So, I think there's going to be -- going to have to be a softening towards the way that the young royals are allowed to sort of get married to people they want to.

I think what they've learned, more than anything else, over the last few years with Fergie and Diana is that really, if the two people aren't really in love or aren't suited, then they shouldn't really get together.

PHILLIPS: Well said. So, what do you think the royal family will face with regard to challenges? What do you think -- do you foresee anything that we'll be covering in the next few years?

JOBSON: Well, of course the first thing that we're going to be seeing is the fifth anniversary of the death of the late Princess Diana. I'm very intrigued to see how that is remembered by the royal family.

I thought it was quite -- particularly strange -- that when we had that pageant -- the procession through the streets of London, that they noted the '60s with the death of Kennedy, but the '90s, there was no mention of the death of Diana, which was obviously compared -- certainly in America -- with the death of Kennedy. So, I am surprised.

I think they just want to rewrite history and get Diana out of the picture all together. Over the next few years, I think the challenges will be, most pertinently, anyway, the relationship between Charles and Camilla -- whether people on the streets of London or anywhere around Britain -- will accept Camilla as Charles' consort and wife. Because I'm sure that that's what we're moving toward. I personally don't think they're ready for that.

PHILLIPS: CNN royal commentator Robert Jobson. Robert, thanks.

JOBSON: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com