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CNN Live Event/Special
Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee
Aired June 03, 2012 - 10:40 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PIERS MORGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to London where you are all watching live images of Queen Elizabeth II's diamond jubilee celebrations. They've just got underway. I am Piers Morgan.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Brooke Baldwin. It is so nice to be with you here live in London. We are perched just by Tower Bridge live along the River Thames as we are really watching history unfolding. This is the largest flotilla of its kind since the 17th century, and we will bring it all to you live all 1,000 boats along the river.
MORGAN: It's also, I can tell you from my experience of covering many of these royal events, this is the biggest I've ever seen. It's an extraordinary explosion of patriotic glee here in Britain. There are, I would say, several million people lining these streets all to watch what is the greatest River Thames extravaganza we've ever had in this country, and to go through every one of those boats we have Richard Quest who has claimed to be a boats expert. Richard, welcome.
BALDWIN: Good to see you.
MORGAN: Off you go.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good to be with you. The boats you're looking at now, the narrow boats and the Dutch barges that have caused further back-up the river.
MORGAN: And we have video pictures a little earlier of the queen as she arrived. Obviously it's all about her today.
BALDWIN: Here's my question to Richard Quest.
MORGAN: And she is.
BALDWIN: Here she is looking lovely in white. And my question was I know a lot of people were anticipating what color would she be wearing? Would she be wearing pink or yellow? Something very bright to stand out? No, is it white because it signifies 60 years? Was she wearing white during her coronation?
QUEST: No, my understanding as to why she is wearing white is so she stands out clearly. Notice the hat off (ph) her face.
MORGAN: What you'll see here in live pictures, and this is on the Spirit of Chartwell -- the great royal barge that they have today, and you see the Duchess of Cambridge looking magnificent in an Alexander McQueen red dress. Obviously she wore McQueen on her wedding day. Prince William in his RAF military uniform. Prince Harry is there in uniform. Prince Charles. And interesting to point out, right away -- Richard and I were talking about this earlier -- it's incredibly unusual to see the queen, Prince Charles, her heir, and Prince William, his heir, all on the same vessel. I can't remember ...
BALDWIN: All in one location.
MORGAN: Yeah, because of the security reasons.
BALDWIN: Security reasons -- why would they ...
MORGAN: And they never normally travel together. This is a unique spectacle we're seeing here of all of them together on one vessel.
BALDWIN: So is this purely an exception because of this historic day?
QUEST: Absolutely. No question about it. They have thrown away the rule book. The only ones not on board the Spirit of Chartwell, you have got the Yorks and the Wessexes (ph), (inaudible) and you have got along with some of the Gloucesters (ph), and the Kents are on other boats.
MORGAN: And we're going to Becky Anderson. She's in Piccadilly where there is the mother of all street parties going on. Becky, you are having fun down there?
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. We're at the biggest street party of them all. Piccadilly. You guys will know this street. It's normally full of traffic. It's the first time in its history it is closed for all the right reasons. Simply saying, over the past couple of hours, 2.5 million people across the country are celebrating. Thousands of them, let me tell you, are here on Piccadilly for the big lunch street party. I'm joined by-- (inaudible). I know you're named Pierre (ph). What are you excited about most today, Pierre?
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: The queen!
ANDERSON: Really, that sort of sums up the atmosphere that we've had down here today. It's been absolutely marvelous. You can see now al of the umbrellas are up. Come down here. I'm here to show you, underneath this bevy of umbrellas, if that's what you call it, a bunch of umbrellas, we have got another group of people. Where are you from, guys?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're from Greenwich.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah, Greenwich.
ANDERSON: Greenwich, England, of course, that's what you mean, isn't it? Are you enjoying the day? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Fantastic. It's a really good time. Despite the rain.
ANDERSON: Despite the rain, and the rain is not going to dampen spirits, is it?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
ANDERSON: It's a Dunkirk like spirit here today, isn't it? I don't think you know what Dunkirk means, but anyway, it is getting a little windier and a little more iffy as far as the weather is concerned, but it's great down here. Piers, you've got (inaudible) down, you've got the Ritz out here. You have got carousels. We have got accordion players. We've got the lot down here at this street party. Come back to us now, and I'll find you some more atmosphere.
MORGAN: It does look amazing. And we're looking at live pictures again of the incredible scenes on some of these boats. 20,000 people in total on 1,000 ships. Obviously led by the queen and the main royal party. And they are surrounded by a Royal Navy kind of squadron of boats. If you can imagine the royal carriage for the wedding with the great artillery. This is the naval version, isn't it, Richard?
QUEST: Ten naval vessels from different branches of the Royal Navy all not only playing ceremonial, but playing crucially security role. So, and also, of course, then you've got the Royal Marines as well.
BALDWIN: You know, this nation hasn't had a diamond jubilee. I mean this is the only one we'll see in our lifetime, but it was since 1897 it was Queen Victoria at age 78, and we have, as we were looking from -- from all these vantages of this tremendous flotilla. Let's go to Zain Verjee because somehow she made it on to one of the boats. Zain, I think you're in the narrow boat section. How is the weather down there?
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is very windy, and that's been part of the problem for the last little while. I'm in the narrow boat section, and basically if you look all around me, these are canal boats, and you know what, they can't deal with the wind. A lot of the other vessels have a v-shape, and they can maneuver themselves with the currents and the wind or other boats are motor powered and they have two engines and they can control things, so we've been having a situation maybe a little bit like a bumper car situation. There have been one or two rear-endings going on, but right now all is well. We're looking good. We're in a fabulous formation.
The rules are basically you have to keep a distance between these vessels of about one boat, so that's kind of the general rule of thumb. The other piece of advice for that I have been given is if you go overboard -- and I'm standing pretty close on the edge, but the rule is that none of these vessels can stop and rescue you. You're basically on your own. But there's a real sense of excitement here. There's a real sense of history as this pageant cruises down. You know, like Helen of Troy was the face that launched 1,000 ships, and today it's the Queen Elizabeth II who has 1,000 vessel flotilla here on the Thames, and it really is a moment where everyone here is savoring. If you take a look, guys, you can see that so many people who are probably some of the more popular people in London right now, because they have balcony views of the Thames and the flotilla, are having a great time. People have lined up for hours to see this pomp, this pageantry, and this patriotism. Piers, Brooke.
MORGAN: Now, this is an amazing spectacle. And in terms of the weather, I mean it apparently was exactly the same weather 11 or 12 degrees on coronation day back in 1953. It rained as well, and it's pretty much rained every since for Queen Elizabeth II.
BALDWIN: So, you have ...
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: Decided it will rain continuing today.
MORGAN: My (inaudible) tells me it is going to be pretty miserable. But who cares? We're British. We don't care.
BALDWIN: We're brimming -- we're brimming with pride. Go ahead, Richard.
QUEST: The Spirit of Chartwell carrying the queen is now passing under Waterloo Bridge. I'm guessing she's about 10 to 15 minutes away from arriving here at the Tower of London.
MORGAN: Now, it will be -- it will be an amazing moment. We'll be back after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MORGAN: You're back watching live coverage of the Queen Elizabeth II's diamond jubilee here in London. We're just by Tower Bridge waiting for the Royal flotilla to float down towards us. I'm with Brooke Baldwin here and Richard Quest. What a day. What a day to be British, Richard Quest!
BALDWIN: This one is brimming. You're bursting at the scenes as well.
QUEST: My bosom is overflowing with pride today.
BALDWIN: No, it's interesting because, you know, I was reading something you were writing yesterday about how traditionally the Brits are stoic and with a very stiff upper lip, but this is the perfect excuse, right, to show that emotion, to brim with pride, to go gaga over the diamond jubilee.
MORGAN: I don't know what's in the ...
QUEST: And that's the reason why. Look at it. I mean who else does this? BALDWIN: The Spirit of Chartwell.
(CROSSTALK)
MORGAN: The one thing that British do better than anyone in this world is this pomp and pageantry, led by the queen and her family. Look at this barge. This is the Spirit of Chartwell, one of the greatest vessels that I think I've ever seen on the River Thames.
And we're now in the Tower of London. In the old days, of course ...
BALDWIN: Off with your head.
MORGAN: If you were married to King Henry XVIII, you would be taken down there and beheaded. These days, a little less threatening, remarkable pictures. Right here we're at Tower Bridge. I think there are tens of thousands of people just here. So, imagining this for eight miles, I would say there are well over a million people lining these streets. An extraordinary spectacle.
QUEST: And those are the boats of the -- representing the commonwealth because all the queen's realms, all the queen's territories, all the countries which she rules ...
BALDWIN: One-third of the world's population.
QUEST: Yes. They're all represented on the river today.
MORGAN: And there she is. Her majesty, the queen, 60 great years on the throne. She's the second longest serving monarch in the history of Great Britain. She's also currently the second longest serving monarch anywhere in the world still alive and still on the throne. She's about three years to catch up with the King of Thailand.
QUEST: Judging by those pictures now, the beginning of the flotilla, we should start to see ...
BALDWIN: Approaching us.
QUEST: It's approaching us. W e will hear the royal jubilee bells and see them, I'm guessing, within minutes as the flotilla comes forward with the manpowered craft.
BALDWIN: Let's just take a -- let's take a quick look. Let's just listen in.
(MUSIC)
MORGAN: Extraordinary pictures here in London. I haven't seen anything like this. I lived on the River Thames on and off for the last 20 years, and I have never seen a spectacle quite like this in my life.
You're seeing 1,000 boats coming down the Thames to celebrate the diamond jubilee of her majesty Queen Elizabeth II who had been on the British throne since 1953, the famous coronation. Here she is today still in charge.
Welcome to London. You're watching live pictures from the diamond jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. I'm Piers Morgan.
BALDWIN: And I'm Brooke Baldwin. It is so nice to see you here from this Sunday afternoon here in London, and we can begin to hear the crowds behind us.
So, just to give you a little geographical layout, we are right next to the Tower Bridge, and we are beginning to hear the crowds screaming from the river banks of the River Thames as this flotilla, all 1,000 boats.
Take a look at the map, and can you see the progression here along the river as it winds around. Heading towards us, heading towards London Bridge and then Tower Bridge right where we are.
MORGAN: Celebrating, as I say, 60 years of Queen Elizabeth II's reign as the queen of great Britain and the commonwealth. She is here today with al the senior members of the family on a special barge, the Spirit of Chartwell, that is barreling down the Thames towards us here at the Tower Bridge.
We're joined by Richard Quest, who is as excited as I am, he's just trying to get it better.
QUEST: Well, I am turning around like a topsy-turvy thing because I'm waiting now. We are looking at the pictures on television. They've passed London Bridge, so the bells of the royal jubilee bells are just moments away from where we are, Tower Bridge, and that means that the Spirit of Chartwell itself could only be five or ten minutes behind.
Any second now we're going to see.
MORGAN: You can hear them.
QUEST: There we go.
BALDWIN: It's down that way.
MORGAN: You can hear the roar.
BALDWIN: Let's listen. Here she is.
MORGAN: You're watching live pictures of the queen's diamond jubilee celebrations. I'm here with Brooke Baldwin and Richard Quest. We're all here at the Tower Bridge, and we are literally several minutes away from the queen arriving on this magnificent -- is there another word for this, Richard Quest? This is a magnificent barge, the Spirit of Chartwell.
BALDWIN: I was watching Richard. Your iPhone, you are trying to crane your neck to try to get a picture of this that we're seeing. QUEST: Absolutely.
MORGAN: Here we are.
BALDWIN: Just listen.
QUEST: Here we go. This is the start. We're going to get our first pictures. I need to take some pictures myself here.
BALDWIN: This is the floating belfry.
MORGAN: Explain all that, Richard.
QUEST: This is the Ursula Katherine, eight bells specially cast for today. The largest weighing half a ton called Elizabeth, and afterwards they will be sent to St. James' iconic high church, but they've never done this before.
BALDWIN: A floating belfry. You can hear the bells being returned to these different churches all along the Thames, so it's like this echo, this reverberating here along the river.
MORGAN: You won't be able to pick this up quite at home, but the noise is becoming deafening, both of the bells and the roars from I would say even here just at Tower Bridge, 50,000, 60,000 people.
BALDWIN: Look at the scene.
QUEST: The same white chapel foundry from 1517 cast Big Ben, cast these bells.
MORGAN: And the next boat behind it will be the Gloriana, which is the royal road barge. What's unique about that is it has about 16 -- or 18.
BALDWIN: Eighteen.
MORGAN: Horsemen led by Olympic champions like Steven Redgrave, led by some Paralympics competitors as well. Also, people who have served in Afghanistan and Iraq and the British armed forces, and they are rowing in front of the Spirit of Chartwell, the royal barge.
QUEST: Absolutely. It was the Spirit of Chartwell -- one quick fact -- made partly from wood from Prince Charles' own estates.
BALDWIN: We are just getting going here live in London, the diamond jubilee. Quick break. We're back with the first floating belfry ever.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MORGAN: Welcome back to London. You're watching incredible pictures here of the river Thames, Queen Elizabeth II celebrating her diamond jubilee, 60 years on the throne.
Brooke, this is quite something, isn't it? BALDWIN: Ninety-six hundred cut flowers, 600 plants used, just on this particular royal barge alone as it floats along and nears us here at Tower Bridge. Much more live pictures from the diamond jubilee after this quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MORGAN: Welcome back to London at Tower Bridge. We're watching incredible pictures of Queen Elizabeth II's diamond jubilee celebrations. Her majesty literally sailed right behind us, and we get the real flavor of the remarkable atmosphere here.
Let's go to Max Foster, who we have somewhere in the bowels of this vast crowd -- Max.
MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: We're beneath you somewhere, but check out the crowds going that way. All seven miles of river, I have to say, have been backed up like this all the way along. They've had to stop crowds coming in.
Having a good time, guys?
(CHEERS)
FOSTER: The Gloriana has just gone by, and we have all the rowing boats coming across at the moment. This is the final section really. But everyone is really waiting for the queen's barge. There will be more down there by that army ship, and then we're going to watch it all go about.
Are you all set to see the queen?
CROWD: Yes!
FOSTER: They've been waiting a long time. They had to get in very early. How early did you get here? Eight o'clock. The dedicated Brits.
BALDWIN: So incredibly dedicated. It's amazing all these kids now. I was at Hanley Toy Store, world renowned toy store, the other day, and I was talking to an 8-year-old. I said who was the only other reigning monarch, you know, who reached a diamond jubilee here, and he said he was it was Queen Victoria. Eight years old.
I want to bring in both of our guests here, Dickie Arbiter, former Buckingham Palace spokesman from 198 to 2000.
Welcome to you.
DICKIE ARBITER, FORMER BUCKINGHAM SPOKESMAN: Thank you.
BALDWIN: India Hicks, Princess Diana's bridesmaid. And your mother was the queen's lady-in-waiting and we'll get into all those --
MORGAN: More importantly, you were one of Princess Diana's bridesmaids. INDIA HICKS, PRINCESS DIANA'S BRIDESMAID: Brooke said that.
BALDWIN: Way to pay attention, Morgan.
MORGAN: You're being drowned out by the noise behind us.
BALDWIN: Here's my question for Dickie. As we take a look at these pictures and you see the queen looking so regal at the front of the Spirit of Chartwell, and looking at the onlookers in London, and a billion eyes on her around the world, you knew her for years. What must be going through her head?
ARBITER: I think she's totally overwhelmed by what's happening.
BALDWIN: You do?
ARBITER: Yes, you can imagine 1,000 boats, and she hasn't seen this many boats in any one place since 1953. It's a coronation. When we really had a big royal navy.
But this was completely overwhelming. There are 1,000 boats on the river, and there are tens of thousands of people lining the river, and we've heard the crowd here. We've seen them waving flags. I think we're overwhelmed as much as she is.
MORGAN: Does she get nervous, the queen? She's attended 60 years of celebratory events. Not quite on this scale. But from your knowledge of it, would she be feeling nervous today?
ARBITER: She wouldn't be feeling nervous, but she would be overwhelmed because seeing so many people, seeing this enthusiasm. You know, we are told time and time again by the critics that the monarchy should go. The Republicans want to have a say.
MORGAN: You're watching pictures here of --
BALDWIN: Her coronation from 1953.
MORGAN: 1953, and I think you actually watched that.
ARBITER: I watched that on television on the screen about that big. It was very black and white. You had to have the curtains tightly shut. Otherwise, you wouldn't see the picture. It was terribly exciting. It was television in its infancy.
MORGAN: How does this compare, the celebrations we're seeing today to even the coronation itself?
ARBITER: I think it's on par because people were very enthusiastic in 1953. It was the -- after the wedding of 1947. It was the biggest thing we have seen where people camped out for days. The weather was just like this, like it is today. It rained for most of the time.
BALDWIN: It's pouring down rain now. I'm looking at India. She's smiling back at me. But we're going to work through it because everybody else is working through it and enjoying it as well. And so, as we keep looking at the pictures, India, my question to you is this, as Dickie talks about watching the coronation in black and white, it was your mother who was with at the time prince Phillip and the Queen. She was princess at the time. It was your mother.
Explain that whole situation. They were in Kenya on --
(CROSSTALK)
HICKS: They had left feeling that the king was in relatively good health, although looking back you could see how frail he was as he went to the airport to wave off his daughter Princess Elizabeth. They were unbelievably close. They were away for a week.
Nobody had anticipated the king would die. In fact, the funeral clothes that a monarch -- or members of the royal family (INAUDIBLE) had been transferred to Australia. The news came through. They were in Kenya, that the king had died. King Philip had to take (INAUDIBLE) aside and explained that her beloved father was dead, and when asked later Prince Philip was asked how did the queen take it? He said, bravely, like a queen.
My mother said it was absolutely extraordinary. They had to get back to Nairobi to fly back to England for the funeral and for the queen to become queen and the coronation.
BALDWIN: She went up the tree a princess and came down a queen.
HICKS: My mother said the whole world changed from calling her Princess Elizabeth or Lillabeth, and she suddenly was a queen and a deep curtsy, and the relationship changed.
MORGAN: It's an amazing moment at the airport in Africa when she came to fly back to Britain when all the photographers --
HICKS: Don't tell my story. You're nicking my story.
MORGAN: You finish it. That's why you're here. It's your mother.
HICKS: It is extraordinary. Especially you would appreciate being -- having come from that world of the press that when they got back to Nairobi at the airport, the world's press had descended, and my mother said she looked, and all of the members of the press had placed their cameras on and the ground and their heads were bowed in a sign of respect because the queen was in mourning for her father.
BALDWIN: I can't imagine at age 25 taking on that responsibility. So here's my other question, though, knowing that she's married and her husband now Prince Philip, duke of Edinburgh, she is his sovereign. He walks behind her.
HICKS: The shadow.
BALDWIN: Yes.
HICKS: Not only that, but their private life has gone forever.
MORGAN: And, India, I mean -- what does your family make of the way the queen has been since that moment, given they were there right at the start
HICKS: I mean, unfaltering loyalty. You know, it is extraordinary to see how the monarch has adapted, and I do think that we see right now that we have modernized our monarchy in the fact that there's some extraordinary statistic that 88 percent of the commonwealth in Britain would want a monarchy, whereas a number of years ago that was faltering. We have adjusted.
Here today we see, you know, what a celebration it is.
MORGAN: And, Dickie, I mean, the queen has reigned for 60 years. Appropriately, it is now pouring with rain. Will she be bothered by this?
ARBITER: No, she won't be bothered by it at all. She's used to it. When she goes walkabout, if it's raining, she's got an umbrella.
As you can see through, (INAUDIBLE) use the word the queen has adapted because that's exactly what she's done. She doesn't change. She adapts.
That's what the monarchy has done for 1,000 years. It's adapted. It's evolved, and that's why --
MORGAN: When people say to you, Dickie, what is the point of the queen, what is the answer?
ARBITER: The answer is that it's -- she's a head of state. You can say what's the point of a president? You know, executive president, yes, they are voted into office. A ceremonial president is really the same as a ceremonial queen.
BALDWIN: The queen is above it all. I mean, it's the parliament who passes and writes the legislation. The queen --
ARBITER: Exactly. That's why Charles I had his head disconnected from his shoulders because he interfered in parliament.
MORGAN: Everybody knows who the boss is, and she's coming down this river in a magnificent barge. So, we'll take a short break and be right back with these extraordinary scenes here in London of the queen's diamond jubilee. Really, you'll never see this again in your life.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: You're looking at live pictures. Piers Morgan and I --
MORGAN: I'm so excited by this.
BALDWIN: You are so excited. I'm Brook Baldwin.
MORGAN: London Bridge is opening up.
BALDWIN: London Bridge is opening. It is not, from what I understand, happened very often, and it's opening because we are about to see and we're perched right next to Tower Bridge. We are about to see the Spirit of Chartwell. This is the royal barge. This is the royal barge carrying her majesty, carrying her husband Prince Philip, the duke of Edinburgh, and carrying the duke and duchess of Cambridge, Prince Harry, Prince Charles, also Camilla.
MORGAN: The significance of that is you never see all those royals on the same moving vessel ever. This is a unique occasion. Security reasons, you never have the queen and her heir and his heir all together on one moving thing.
BALDWIN: Let's just stop and listen.
MORGAN: Let's just watch this. This is incredible.
(INAUDIBLE)
MORGAN: You're watching these incredible pictures right behind us. This is the queen arriving at Tower Bridge for her diamond jubilee celebrations in the Spirit of Chartwell. It's quite extraordinary barge. It seems to go on and on and on.
BALDWIN: And on.
MORGAN: It contains all the senior royals, and the ovation that the queen got as she went through the tower -- through the Tower Bridge, which was open for the occasion, I have not heard a roar like that in a very, very long time. It was really incredibly moving. This is nowhere, Brooke Baldwin, I would rather be --
BALDWIN: Than right here in the rain with me looking at the queen, right?
MORGAN: My goodness. This is one of those lifetime moments I don't think I'll ever forget.
BALDWIN: We should mention this is a boat. This is the Spirit of Chartwell. This is something that they, the royal family, basically commissioned for this precise event, and they really worked it inside out. It's like this 17th century meets art deco kind of boat, and you see these -- I kept looking at the flowers. There are something like 6,000 flowers here as part of this boat, and when you look at the front of it, is it turning?
MORGAN: Oh, my goodness!
BALDWIN: It's turning. It's pulling a 360 that we had only heard about. Richard is nodding.
MORGAN: The royal barge is now performing a rapid fire 360 turn.
BALDWIN: I have never seen a boat do this.
MORGAN: I have never seen any boat that size do this. This is absolutely remarkable.
BALDWIN: So if you get a moment, when you see the front -- here had he is. We were talking to Dickie Arbiter, who had been a spokesman for the queen for two decades, a decade and a half. I said what in the world must she be thinking right now with all these shouts and bell chimes and 41-cannon salute, and he said she's probably overwhelmed.
MORGAN: Look how fast this boat is turning. This is really extraordinary. I had been told it was very high-tech the Spirit of Chartwell. It had been brought right kick and screaming into modern day technology and could do this kind of thing. It is literally revolving at pretty high speed on a 360 axis. Quite remarkable.
BALDWIN: And these are the cameras on board this boat. I'm told there are six different cameras just to give us a better vantage of what's happening on board. Part of the roof of this boat, and this is one of the reasons they chose this boat, is to be able to have these two thrones. The queen has been stand and taking it all in, but there is a throne for her.
MORGAN: Shockingly, we have to go to quick break, but we've got to come back before it's turned around. So, we'll see, hopefully, very soon.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MORGAN: Back to CNN's live coverage of the queen's diamond jubilee here in London. We're at Tower Bridge where a cacophony of bells and cannons and boats and --
BALDWIN: Cheers.
MORGAN: -- cheering. This is scenes like I have never seen in my 47 years of being a British subject, and it really is quite remarkable. We're going to bring in some guests here now.
Katie Nichol, you're the royal editor of "The Mail on Sunday". In your time have you seen anything quite as magnificent as this?
KATIE NICHOL, THE MAIL ON SUNDAY: I don't think anyone has seen this. Unless you were around 300 years ago, no. I mean, this is just -- this is the most spectacular thing.
Of course, we had the royal wedding last year. That was wonderful. It takes a lot to top that. This is -- I mean, this is over succeed it. It is just the sheer scale, the sheer number of boats on this river and the reason that the Spirit of Chartwell has turned is that she will now pull up along side HMS president and he will watch the flotilla pass. It gives the queen an opportunity to see everything that we're experiencing.
MORGAN: Let's just remind everybody, this boat, which is huge, just did a 360 turn --
BALDWIN: In the middle of the river Thames.
MORGAN: -- three or four minutes in the middle of the river Thames. It looks like it could do a 360 in not just 20 days.
NICHOL: A feat of engineering. There are lots of engines on board. Many of these vessels are manpowered, but you couldn't really put the queen on anything that involved ores. She's going to get a wonderful vantage point and see what the British public, despite the rain, have enjoyed today.
MORGAN: It makes you proud to be British, doesn't it?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a wonderful moment.
BALDWIN: We see all the umbrellas. Everyone is prepared on this flotilla, and I know it was so much prettier. You were at the derby. We'll talk about the derby, which was the queen -- she loves her horses. Loves horseracing.
I want to bring in Vassi Chamberlain, the senior editor of "Harper's Bazaar U.K."
And, Vassi, you and the duchess of Cambridge got the same memo today, wearing the red.
VASSI CHAMBERLAIN, HARPER'S BAZAAR UK: Well, I think it's the color of today. I think we probably chose, well, red, white, and blue, which was my uniform of choice. I think she got it totally right wearing McQueen.
BALDWIN: Alexander McQueen, and she wore Sarah Burton, from Alexander McQueen her royal wedding day last year. She's stunning.
CHAMBERLAIN: I think she's looked the best she's ever looked. I think the fashion editors today are going to be cheering even more loudly than they did last year.
BALDWIN: I imagine that the royal household is very cognizant of the younger royals not upstaging the queen on her day, on this 60-year anniversary of her reign. So, it's interesting the choice I find that the duchess of Cambridge is in such an eye-grabbing, stunning color as red and then you juxtapose that with the queen, her majesty herself, wearing all white.
NICHOL: Which is very unusual, isn't it, Vassi, for the queen to wear white?
CHAMBERLAIN: I think it's very unusual for her to wear white, but I suspect knowing the relationship that the queen has with Catherine that they consulted each other --
BALDWIN: Coordinated.
CHAMBERLAIN: I absolutely think that because I don't think Catherine would have worn something quite so strident had the queen not said absolutely go ahead.
MORGAN: Let's bring in Becky Anderson. She's in Piccadilly at the street party where they appear to be going absolutely crazy, Becky.
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Absolutely crazy too, sort of. This is a complete experience. You see me underneath the umbrellas that are sold in this shop by this young man, the cunning standing here.
He has -- who has one of the few individually owned shops on Piccadilly on this historic day for the first time ever. This is main street, London. That's been closed down for what has been the most tremendous street party.
Even Millie here. Hello, Millie. Even she's got a little something on down there. It's been an extraordinary day. There have been thousands and thousands and thousands of people here. They are still here enjoying the big screens, watching the footage that you have been watching today.
It really has been the most extraordinary atmosphere. We've got -- knocking out a big old hog roast. What? Are you stopping me?
MORGAN: Becky, we're going to leave you now, Becky. We're going go to Max Foster, who is down behind me in the crowd. I can tell you, it is now raining incredibly hard. I'm getting absolutely soaked. But I don't care, because we are celebrating my queen's great jubilee and yours, Max Foster's.
Where are you? Are you drowning? What is happening down there?
FOSTER: Check it out. Look at the crowds. Look at the umbrellas. You still having a good time, guys?
(CHEERS)
FOSTER: This is Britain after all. We're used to all of this. Anyway, the Middleton's boat just went by, so we had a wave from Pippa, and then we have the royal barge.
You guys -- who are you? Corgi. Have you enjoyed watching it all go by?
Still enjoying it, guys? Kids, yes?
UNIDENTIFIED KID: It's really fun.
FOSTER: You don't mind the rain?
Getting worse and worse, Piers, but everyone is staying here. You can see although flags waving and all the umbrellas.
MORGAN: No one is going to crush the British spirit today. This is like a -- this is a fine British summer's day.
BALDWIN: A summer's day. Look at these crowds, Piers Morgan.
MORGAN: This is a typical summer day in England.
BALDWIN: The weather here is very fickle.
MORGAN: This is about as bad as it gets, actually, but the queen will be very pragmatic, and so will her subjects. We are used to being rained on. It rained a lot in this country. That's why we have a wonderful array of umbrellas.
Katie Nichol, you covered the royals for a long time. The significance of the diamond jubilee in relation to the monarchy, isn't it the way that William and Kate have explode odd to the international stage and so on? Put it into context for them.
NICHOL: Well, I think actually the 60th year is really now an opportunity to look forward. I think you really cannot underestimate the importance of who is on the Spirit of Chartwell today.
It's the queen. It is her son. It is her grandson, the future of the monarchy.
It's very significant because what we're seeing now is a slimmed down monarchy. This boat and who is on this boat is what the future is all about.
MORGAN: Let's get one thing very clear because I keep being asked by Americans in particular, could the queen abdicate? And if she did, would William become king?
Absolutely zero chance of that happening. The queen will go on until she dies, and the next king, if he is still alive when she dies, will be Prince Charles. They believe very keenly in the natural -- the significance of today is seeing them all together to remind people it will be the queen, Prince Charles, and then Prince William.
NICHOL: I think you're absolutely right, piers. The queen used her state opening of parliament in March to renew that vow that she made when she was 21 years old that her pledge would be to her country, her service to her country. She will serve until she takes her last breath. There is no question of abdication. There is no question of Charles missing out on what he has waited many, many years to take on.
BALDWIN: One other question, I feel like, coming from the U.S., and we were just so enamored by the story of the royal wedding and look at the kids wave and the duke and the duchess of Cambridge now and their whole story. And speaking to people just the past couple of days as I have been in London asking them what seems more significant, and they said absolutely it's today. The royal wedding was lovely last year, but this is such a bigger deal.
NICHOL: This is about head of state. This is about the queen. William and Kate bring us glamour. They bring us youth and bring us everything we have to look forward to for the future, but this year, these celebrations are about her majesty, the queen. MORGAN: I think we should say now that I think unequivocally, Queen Elizabeth II will go down as the greatest monarch this country has ever had. Victoria was amazing, but this one given the problems that the royal family has had to endure in the last 60 years given the fact that there was speculation about the future of the monarchy and so on, the fact that she's attracting this kind of crowd today.
NICHOL: Look at the turnout.
(CROSSTALK)
MORGAN: Through all those cynics.
We're going to go to a break, but when we come back, more from this dazzling extravaganza on the river here in London.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Live pictures. This is David Perry. He is the conductor, conducted the London Philharmonic Orchestra for years, and he is the number 1,000th boat of the 1,000 boats along the River Thames. We will have more historic live pictures on this diamond jubilee live from London when we come back.
(COMMERCIALK BREAK)
MORGAN: Welcome back to London. You're watching extraordinary pictures here of the River Thames which celebrates today the queen's diamond jubilee, 60 glorious years on the throne of Great Britain.
And we're joined by two people who should be experts on what is happening behind us.
Captain Andy Kyte of the Royal Navy, welcome to you, sir.
And let me ask you, first of all, we just saw one of my favorite parts of the whole flotilla which is the Dunkirk, and these were 70 of the boats used on the day of Dunkirk rescuing those British troops from the beaches there. What is the significance of having them here today?
CAPT. ANDY KYTE, ROYAL NAVY: Just the rain brings out the Dunkirk experience, but I think just having that link to history and back to such an iconic event is hugely important today's because, of course, it links backs to her majesty's own wartime experience and her own wartime service. I think being able to put that thread, if you like, through history and links to the Ireland nation and the royal navy and the maritime piece that is --
MORGAN: Well, it's interesting you say that about the queen and the war, because one of the reasons she's so beloved, rather like her mother, was that in the war she could have disappeared and been squirreled away and hidden until it was all over, but she stayed here. She put the uniform on. She worked, stayed in London. The bombs rained down.
And I think that is part of the magic of the queen is that when it really mattered to her country, she stayed the course.
We're also joined by Peter Bardamirvik (ph). You are a general and curator of the National Maritime Museum.
This for you has to be one of the great days, doesn't it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, that's right. Excess, splendid stuff.
MORGAN: Hey, let me -- if I may just interject. We're looking at the pictures, and you se this orchestra. It is the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and what's fun about that particular boat as it's the 1,000th is they will be playing quite the repertoire. I was speaking to the conductor the other day.
So, when they pass, the MI6 building, the British intelligence agency, they'll be playing the James Bond theme, they'll be playing Dan Buster's waltz when they pass by other location, whey they passed by Globe Theater, they play something from Edward VI, just to give a little bit of that flavor.
Here's my question to you, Peter, and that is this -- why use the river as the back drop, because we have never seen anything like this on the Thames since 1600s?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, that's the whole point is that the river is for the modern age, a great neglected stage. I mean, up until the middle of the 19th century, this sort of thing happened regularly once a year when there was the lord mayor's procession which for 403 years took place from the city down to Westminster every year as the new lord mayor of London went to swear his open allegiance to the crowd.
From the middle of the 1850s the great stink of 1850 --
BALDWIN: The smelly river. I learned al about that the other day.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They had to embank the river to stop that, and so, in fact, what happened is the engineering work stopped it to a degree. Also, the speed of the river flowed up, and it actually -- the steamboats had already taken over.
MORGAN: From a naval point of view, how many of these boats are navy boats?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, a number of serving warships today which provided the guard of honor for her majesty every.
MORGAN: These are active servicemen from the royal marines.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a number of off shore craft from the marines that has an international link to it because we've got the officers and men and women from the royal Australian, the royal New Zealand, and the royal Canadian navies as well, and we have two rigid inflatable craft that is used by us on a day to day basis, and, of course, diamond kicks off the whole weekend on Friday when she made a grand ceremonial entrance into Portsmouth Harbor.
MORGAN: But the queen's probably not ever better protected than she is right now surrounded by royal marines, one of the great regiments in the world.
You're watching live pictures from the queen's diamond jubilee in London. It really has been a quite remarkable 40 minutes is all it's been. But already we've seen scenes the likes of which I don't think have ever been witnessed in the country or probably anywhere in the world.
BALDWIN: Duchess of Cambridge tossed on a scarf.
Did you notice that?
MORGAN: She did?
BALDWIN: She's getting a little cold. Can you see the plaid scarf?
MORGAN: It's freezing.
BALDWIN: It's frigid.
MORGAN: Pouring rain.
BALDWIN: We will know (ph) of the spirit of Dunkirk here on the platform, right, Piers Morgan?
MORGAN: Live and well. We're back after this short break.
BALDWIN: In just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Catherine Middleton, the newest addition to the queen's family. At 29 years old, she was the oldest woman to ever marry a future king, and one day she'll be the sixth queen Catherine to serve the United Kingdom.
This is CNN's live coverage of the diamond jubilee.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MORGAN: Back here in London watching live pictures of the queen's diamond jubilee. Huge fog horns going of from some of the 1,000 boats that are streaming now behind us down towards Tower Bridge.
We're going to bring in two guests now. Philippa Gregory, a historian, and also Mark Dickens, former naval officer, and Charles Dickens, great, great grandson.
Welcome to you both.
(CROSSTALK) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.
MORGAN: Philip, let me ask you, straight away, I made a bold claim earlier that this may well go down in history as the greatest of all British monarchs. What do you think?
PHILIPPA GREGORY, HISTORIAN: No.
BALDWIN: No? No, she says.
(CROSSTALK)
GREGORY: No. Of course not. There have been other ones who have been in times of greater danger. I mean, Elizabeth I with the invasion of the armada and Charles I, very memorable. Henry VIII is memorable.
She's done a great job but she's done it in the modern world. This isn't a world where kings or queens can be or should be that significant in the terms of great events.
BALDWIN: What about the evolution of the monarchy. I read the most recent biography the queen in the 1990s were a tough decade with the divorces and the with the Windsor fire. What does she call it, the (INAUDIBLE), right? Moving from that point on to today, how has she evolved?
GREGORY: I think what she's managed to do is she really did bring it into the modern world what she showed was a modern family. Then they went on to family us the difficulties that the modern families have. So, it's not being a very, very distant family hidden behind had the palace walls treated with ridiculous amounts of deference, to being a family out and about, she pioneered the walkabouts.
BALDWIN: Right.
GREGORY: But having said all of that, you only have to listen to the coverage in England today to realize insane deference is still alive and well and flooding the air waves.
MORGAN: Mark Dickens, what would your great, great grandfather have made of this, do you think? "Great Expectations," "Bleak House." Where are we going here?
CMDR. MARK DICKENS, ROAYL NAVY (RET.): "A Tale of Two Cities." He loved the party. He loved the pageantry. He met Queen Victoria in his life. He didn't have time for the royal family when he was younger but came to appreciate it toward the end of his life.
MORGAN: Your father was a war hero and got to know the queen well, played with her on the royal yacht.
DICKENS: Yes, when he was a very junior officer, Princess Elizabeth as she was, and Princess Margaret, come aboard the previous royal yacht and we have to play with her. MORGAN: Leave us on that suspenseful moment.
DICKENS: All right.
MORGAN: We're going to take a short break, find out exactly what your father did with the queen on the royal yacht. Sounds fantastic.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MORGAN: Back in London. With me Brooke Baldwin.
You're watching the diamond jubilee here. We're Tower Bridge, a remarkable house, I must say. We have our two guests here.
Mark Dickens, have you ever seen anything quite like this?
DICKENS: Nothing at all, quite fantastic, but very British with the weather like this. Sort of perfect, isn't it?
BALDWIN: I have goose bumps.
(CROSSTALK)(
BALDWIN: A drowned rat, I apologize.
Back to your story, you were talking about?
DICKENS: Well, my father was on board the royal yacht in the 1930s. The job of a very young officer was to entertain the royal family. Elizabeth was 12 at the time and Margaret was there he used to play hide-and-seek on the royal yacht.
It is a lovely story. Whether it is true or not, I'm afraid we'll never know. But --
MORGAN: Philippa, in terms of the queen herself, she will go on reigning until she dies, I think?
GREGORY: Absolutely. I mean, Piers, you know so difficult to people who don't get it, but a hereditary monarchy has to be inherited, you can't choose.
MORGAN: The reason for that, mainly, it is someone hand over to Prince William and bypass Charles. But if William, God forbid, was involved in some terrible accident, could you lose the whole monarchy you couldn't overstate it?
GREGORY: I think it is bigger than that I think if you suggested to the people that you can choose who is king or queen, why would we choose any of them? Why wouldn't we choose somebody else?
The whole point of the monarchy as they run it in England at the moment, Britain at the moment it has to be hereditary it has to go until death, you can't choose to be queen.
MORGAN: Her mother lived to 101, the queen has at least another 15, 16 years, or probably more actually, the way modern and science is going.
GREGORY: The real problem with that is when it does happen, Prince Charles will be a very, very old king. And what happens is each generation, you are pushing the age of the monarch back and that's not necessarily helpful for a monarchy.
BALDWIN: She has never once sat down with a journalist to give a formal interview. I do know --
MORGAN: Only a matter of time.
BALDWIN: Good luck with that, Mr. Morgan. I do know she is writing in diaries and just imagine what could be written on those pages all these years.
We are watching this historic occasion. I know, Piers Morgan very excited to be British on this Sunday, rainy day in London. We are back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MORGAN: Happening live this hour, a spectacular grand finale from the royal pageant, queen's diamond jubilee, the London Philharmonic will perform several pieces, national anthem and the royal navy will do a spectacular fly pass over our heads here at Tower Bridge. Nine naval helicopters will form what is called a diamond nine.
Let's bring in Richard Quest and also rejoining us, India Hicks, who is a bridesmaid for Princess Diana.
Welcome to you both.
