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CNN Live Event/Special

Royal Family Leaves Buckingham Palace for Queen's Funeral; Royal Family Arrives for Queen's Funeral; State Funeral for Queen Elizabeth II; Queen's Coffin Arrives at Westminster Abbey. Aired 5:30- 6a ET

Aired September 19, 2022 - 05:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[05:30:00]

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR & ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: So we've got the Foreign Royals now arriving. They were very senior because they were all part of the same setup.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Here's that image that we spoke with a short time ago this is a number of cars which had left I believe from Clarence House, Former Residents of King Charles heading toward who would be in these duty.

FOSTER: These are - I mean these - William, Charles Harry, everyone that's going to take part in the procession from Westminster Hall where the body is being lying in state to the Abbey where the funeral will take place. And the Senior Royals from around the world now making their way and this is the King's car arriving at Westminster.

COOPER: Explain, you can tell it's the King's car because of the standard on it--

FOSTER: Flying above and that's the state limousine designed to so the Queen can be seen and the King can now be seen just leaving Clarence House going down the Mount towards Westminster.

COOPER: Matthew Chance is out on the Mount. Matthew, where are you and what are you seeing?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Anderson, you're right. Well, we're watching these world leaders gather at Westminster Abbey to be at the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.

You can see there are tens of thousands of people. There are tens of thousands of people right here. We're on the Mount. And if we just turned the camera just over here you can just see how many people there are that have come out to pay their respects to Queen held in such high esteem.

Because this is the car carrying King Charles III coming pastors. I can see it now. People are cheering people are waving their flags. Listen to that. I mean, that's a really good sign for the future of the Monarchy in this country such a lot of goodwill towards King Charles III. Of course, his mother held in such high esteem as partly because of that, and you had such a long apprenticeship that he's held in such high regard himself right now. Look at all these people. We've talked about all these Presidents, Prime Ministers Heads of State Monarchs that have come to pay their respects to Elizabeth.

But it's these people tens of thousands of them who feel the Queen really touched them personally. They have gone to extraordinary lengths to come and pay their respects and show how much esteem they held the Queen. I want to bring you over here to Sarah (ph) Sarah hi. SARAH: Hi.

CHANCE: Good lovely T-shirt Sarah.

SARAH: Thank you.

CHANCE: Why have you come here today to pay your respects?

SARAH: Because for so long, the Queen has done everything for us and her duty before anything and I just felt coming here is the least I could do and I wanted to pay my respects and be part of it.

CHANCE: It's interesting, just very briefly. It's not a sad occasion necessarily as its more respectful, more of a - you come here to celebrate you were telling me earlier.

SARAH: I think it is celebration of life. And everybody is the same everybody is in really good spirits. And it's just you want to be part of the atmosphere.

CHANCE: Thank you very much, Sarah. Anderson, they have a lot of people here being part of the atmosphere back to you.

COOPER: Yes, Matthew, thank you, you're with Max Foster. Kate Williams, it is just extraordinary. I mean, no matter how many times you have seen this, and we've seen an awful lot over the last week or so. But just as - let's listen to the crowds cheering as their new Monarch is King Charles III drives by.

Since the Queen's death, difficult to get around lines of people, hundreds of thousands waiting to pay their final respects as she lay in state and yet still, the streets are crowded with tens of thousands hundreds of thousands of people there and here in Windsor as well.

FOSTER: There's a slight emotional conflict, I think amongst the people of the United Kingdom. And I think I really made sense of it yesterday when I went to see people at the end of the line going into Westminster for the lying in state. It was almost like a party atmosphere as they came towards the Palace of Westminster, you know, celebrating this moment in history.

But as soon as they walked into Westminster Hall, and saw the coffin, they just became so solemn and emotional. And I think these are the two sides of what you're seeing the King now coming out to take his position in the procession of the Queen's Coffin from Westminster Hall to Westminster Abbey in the Prince of Wales with him the two senior Royals now.

KATE WILLIAMS, CNN ROYAL COMMENTATOR: And it's so significant. This is the beginning of the final journey for the Queen. The King and the Prince of Wales will be accompanying her from Westminster Hall. It's a short journey to Westminster Abbey, and she will be on the gun carriage. And this really, really this is the last farewell we've had a week of mourning.

And this is the Queen's final journey and it really is very poignant to see the King and the Prince of Wales taking such a huge part in the ceremony.

FOSTER: These are other members of the extended Royal Family arriving at the Abbey.

[05:35:00]

FOSTER: So the ones not taking part in the procession. And amongst those Anderson will be Prince Charles, and Prince George, who I can tell you are going to be taking their place in the procession.

ANDERSON: There are the children; we should point out of Prince William.

FOSTER: And there has been a lot of talking about this. Is it appropriate to have young children at the funeral? I was speaking to people this morning. And what I'm told is the Prince and Princess of Wales has thought very, very carefully about this and exposure, those children around there, but they've made the decision. William absolutely protects the privacy of his children.

COOPER: So Prince Andrew's children--

WILLIAMS: and this is Zara and Mike, Princess Anne's children and Janie and - and their husbands. And of course, we have - at the back. And really, really, this is the family here. And that was a wonderful tribute from Beatrice and Eugenie who wasn't there just a few days ago talking about how being the grandchildren had been the honor of their life.

And I remember picking - with her and picking raspberries. And this really reminds us that the Queen was both Head of States, mother--

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: Camila with the grandchildren, the children of Prince William.

FOSTER: There's just - there's the Princess of Wales. She's obviously you know, in charge of the children's care and just spare a thought for these two young children. They started a new school, and in the first week, their grandmother died.

Everyone at that school, obviously talking about - being future king, and all of this has happened to immense amount of change in his life.

COOPER: We also saw Meghan in there as well as Sophie. FOSTER: Meghan will be walking behind George in the procession of George and his sister Charlotte will be behind their parents.

COOPER: We should point out - we all remember with Princess Diana's funeral 25 years ago, William and Harry walking behind their mother's casket. William - Harry I know has spoken publicly in later years about the trauma of that about the horror of that for him at that age.

So obviously, William and Kate, the Prince of Wales, have been very careful in thinking about how their children might be involved.

FOSTER: When Harry spoken about it, his main trauma is the crowds going silent as he walked by there we are Charlotte. And this is - I think, what William and Kate the Prince and Princess of Wales have been considering, they're only going to be walking down the aisle sandwiched between, you know, family, so it's not going to be same level of trauma, you'd hope.

I assure they very much thought about exactly what they're doing on this occasion. I mean, the reality is you can protect these kids privacy as much as you like, but they have a place that they can't deny. And this is part of that. So these are the junior Royals that are heading towards their seats at the Abbey.

COOPER: That large group of sailors we should point out I believe those are the ones who will be actually he'll be towing.

WILLIAMS: The gun carriages are 123-years-old. It's been used for the Queen's father grandfather, great grandfather and also Queen Victoria and it was Queen Victoria's funeral from when the tradition of the sailors pulling the gun carriage not horses dates from.

And in fact so much of what we're going to see the dates and Queen Victoria it was quite a while females were political before that and she was to be buried as a soldier's daughter and so we have such a great role for the armed forces now.

COOPER: I want to go to Clarissa Ward. Clarissa I believe the caravan with the grandkids and escape or is right by near you. There looks like they're just getting out now the vehicles.

CLARISSA WARD, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right Anderson. We just saw Queen Consort, Camila arriving as well as the Princess of Wales Catherine, her children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte. You can see them now getting out of their car arriving here at Westminster Abbey Queen Consort Camila shaking the hand there as she walks towards the Abbey and behind her there, Princess Catherine and Princess of Wales.

And really just an extraordinary moment Anderson the streets are lined with policemen. And you could hear a pin drops. Honestly, it's gray skies, a somber moment, a feeling of reverence. But I think for many Britons also a moment of extreme pride, to be able to participate in this great tradition and to honor Queen Elizabeth II here in Westminster Abbey where she was crowned some 69 years ago where she married her beloved Prince Philip, some 75 years ago. And where today, so many from all around world more than 100 foreign dignitaries Royals Prime Ministers Princes and Presidents will pay their last respects to Queen Elizabeth II Anderson.

[05:40:00]

COOPER: --of the members of the British Navy who will be moving with dragging the funeral. It's extraordinary the history of what we're looking at. I mean, the fact that that did you call it Cortes?

FOSTER: This is the front of the procession. And that's the state gun carriage again, for--

COOPER: The very gun carriage has been used--

WILLIAMS: For Queen Victoria, right back in history. And it's so traditional. This is what sets the state funeral apart from a ceremonial that we saw for Princess Diana. And the role of the armed forces was so important to the Queen.

The role of the Royal Navy of course, her husband was in the Navy. Her father was in the Navy her two sons were in the Navy, she was a naval wife herself. And for the Royal Navy to be pulling the gun carriage on her final journey, this journey - this gun carriage that pulls her ancestors, her rural ancestors. It really is such a moving moment such a poignant moment.

And when the Queen enters that the Westminster Abbey she will go past the Tomb of the Unknown warrior in from the west gate. And this is such a moving place. It's commemorated all the fallen in World War I. And every royal bride has laid her bouquet on their after their wedding since the Queen's mother and the Queen did her so herself so did Kate. And reminds us of the fallen in so many of the wars of the servicemen and women are active participants in.

FOSTER: You see there are some Brits lining up there. You saw the Royal Household they were going to take their position. You can see that that's the King's Private Secretary there in the center of the picture. And this is Black Rod who represents parliament and here is the coffin coming out with the Royal Regalia as it's called on top this is the bearer party.

WILLIAMS: Imperial state crown which the Queen wears for the State Opening of Parliament, the orb interceptor that symbolizes her power, her earthly power and to religious power and how they look so small and so striking there on the coffin. And it's just the final time she will wear them because they've removed at the end.

FOSTER: They will - at the very end of the day there'll be removed before the coffin is loaded into the vault at St. George's and that will symbolize the end. The Monarchy has already ended but it will symbolize pretty much the end of the crown jeweler has been in charge of securing these priceless items on top of the coffin.

COOPER: Also the flowers looks like there may be a note with the flowers of - seeing that correctly. FOSTER: Yes.

COOPER: Standing behind this procession. You see Prince Andrew there, King Charles III. There's William of course.

FOSTER: You know the flowers that chosen by the King. They include foliage and flowers from Buckingham Palace Clarence House and Highgrove House. And they're chosen for their symbolism. So Rosemary for remembrance Myrtle, the ancient symbol of happy marriage, and a cut from a plant that was grown from a sprig of Merkel that her late Majesty's wedding bouquet came from the 1940s.

COOPER: Let's just listen in to this moment. We can hear several instructions being given in terms of moving the casket on to the.

FOSTER: --party with a Grenadier Guards than most senior guards. The Queen's Kerman, Chief to the Grenadier Guards, they've always had a very central role throughout this process and the 10 ball bearers are found from former equities to the Queen.

So the people that sort of served her for throughout her reign, which was still alive. And you've got a tri service guard of honor basically three officers 53 rank and file for each service with colors draped and accompanied by a band at the Royal Marines with drums draped with muffled to be mounted in Parliament Square as well if they go there.

COOPER: We also see Prince Harry of course there and Princess Anne and which is really a - there's some sound let's listen.

[05:45:00]

COOPER: The bells will be totaling all throughout the procession. Princess Anne parts of the precession of the Royal Family behind the casket, a break from tradition but also a sign of her the role the important role she has played ever since the Queen died.

FOSTER: And I think she will going forward as well. I think Charles has really drawn her into all of this and she was there when the Queen died and no one will ever be able to take that away from her position during this period of mourning that continues until the end of the day in United Kingdom but another week for the Royal Family. So ahead of this group of sailors, you'll see various military officials--

COOPER: Let's just listen.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: You can hear this in our ear on television we can hear this in our ears behind us as this procession comes to Westminster Abbey right near where we are. Look at the faces of the Royal Family Richard, you see the King, Princess Anne escorting their mother for her final, her final walk.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN ANCHOR & CORRESPONDENT: You have the possession in three parts those that are forward of the gun carriage, the coffin on the state gun carriage of the Royal Navy adorned with the crown the scepter and the orb and at the rear of the gun carriage the Royal Family, the family. The King, the Princess Royal, the Duke of York - mountain behind them was to Peter Phillips, the Duke of Sussex and the Prince of Wales Prince William and then Vice Admiral Sir Tim Lawrence, the Duke of Gloucester.

Very carefully thought through who's standing where the order of precedence and protocol dictating your position.

BURNETT: Taking the day Christiane and you see obviously, when you saw them move in as the gun carriage began to move, just be incredible coordination, the perfection and yet the human the humanity that we're seeing of the family of King Charles with that somber look on his face, and saying goodbye to his mother and taking on the mantle that you will be taking on today in a very real and tangible way.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATONAL ANCHOR: Exactly. And then again in his first speech he pledged to continue in her footsteps and her legacy and it is remarkable to see this because we've said it before we have to say it again.

[05:50:00]

AMANPOUR: There literally is no other modern equivalent to what we're seeing. This is the kind of tradition, the majesty, the pomp, the circumstance, all those words that really apply only to this kind of very, very British ceremony. And the Queen herself has conferred this slightly intangible but real legitimacy on this process for the last 70 years.

And that is what's so interesting at this moment is so vital, and that's why people have come out in their hordes towards this. You know, that some 2 million people expected in the city, including in the parks around us, Green Park, Hyde Park, St. James's Park, they're putting up huge screens all over the city, all over Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, in key places.

There'll be cinemas; they'll be pubs open for everybody watch this and not to mention all over the world. And again, I think the Queen is loved because in this modern world, she was about others she was about service. She really performed what her grandmother, Queen Mary once said, we are never tired, and we all love hospitals.

In that one phrase, she summed up what is the role of the Royal Family was. And the Queen played that role to the very end, never complaining, never explaining. And again, this is another with her family there and bring it all sort of to this, you know, public but also family closure. And she said over and again, that I have to be seen to be believed. This has to be seen in order for the people to believe. So everything about her 70 years was about showing herself in public, not her emotions, not her opinions by herself.

The bright colors that she wore, that's not an accident, used to show herself not just to the people, but when she was in a phalanx of males, always surrounded by male leaders, male Commonwealth Heads, male politicians at the G-7 at the, you know, the all these all these different Commonwealth meetings that she had. And I spoke to her one of her Female Prime Ministers, Theresa May, who said she was an inspiration for women and she was such a real person who knew so much as well.

BURNETT: And such a tie through history as you see the gun carriage Queen Victoria's gun carriage, the crown, which of course was originally made for the coronation of the Queen's father, King George, all of this tangible connection to history, a history of course, that goes back thousand years where you are Clarissa outside Westminster Abbey as this procession is making its way to where you are right now.

WARD: Just an extraordinary moment, Erin. We can see the hearse being pulled there on the dung carriage that pulls also Winston Churchill and Queen Elizabeth II Father, King George VI, I think everybody standing here can help but to feel moved, not just by the extraordinary beauty of those bagpipes but by this extraordinary moment, tradition history playing out in front of us in a way that we have not seen in our lifetimes.

And it's important to remember that more than 86 percent of people in England and Wales have never known any other Monarch than Queen Elizabeth II. So this is a moment of profound mourning. And you can see now here that the bagpipes have stopped. As people begin to process what it means to say goodbye to Britain's longest serving Monarch Erin.

AMANPOUR: Erin one thing I think that stands out here is. There is a sense of humility to all of this with the level of world leaders that are here. It is such a rare occurrence to have that many world leaders and dignitaries and heads of state in one place. The Emperor of Japan is here and that's not even part of the focus in any way. And this was something the White House worked very carefully to make sure they were - they reviewed protocol very carefully in advance. They didn't want any missteps.

BURNETT: Let's listen in a bit more right now to what we're watching.

[05:55:00]

COOPER: Queen's coffin is now reached Westminster Abbey shortly is brought inside were the world's dignitary's world leaders are waiting.

WILLIAMS: --guards, they're just about to bear the coffin into Westminster Abbey, the regiment of which the Queen was Colonel in Chief since she was 16 in 1942.

COOPER: Max we noticed were the members of the Royal Family who've escorted the Queen's casket here will they is walking behind the casket down the aisle at Westminster Abbey?

FOSTER: Yes, and you'll have others joining them as well most notably Princess Charlotte, Prince George, but also the Duke of Kent. Their long procession down the aisle, very powerful in front of a congregation of Heads of State of Prime Ministers from the realms also many charities as well, who the Queen worked very closely where they will get one seat each for charities. WILLIAMS: And the Queen went here to be crowned in 1953. She came out wearing the Imperial State Crown that we're seeing just next to this beautiful bouquet of flowers that have come from the include Myrtle that reflect the Queen's own wedding bouquet. The Imperial State Crown that orb scepter the last time she will carry them in her - as in her final journey.

COOPER: There's the same Westminster Abbey where Princess Diana herself was--

WILLIAMS: And this was the moment when the Queen bowed to Diana's funeral cortege, the only moment we've ever seen her bow that expression of respect there for Diana.

FOSTER: The bell sort of tolling - toll once for every year of the Queen's life.

WILLIAMS: And we are about to pass the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior as the Queen goes in through the west gate into the nave of Westminster Abbey, then to the altar where the service will be conducted. And among the music well here is the "Lord is my Shepherd" which has played at her wedding and is reputed to be one of her favorite songs--

FOSTER: And is a nod to Prince Philip you see him not - him throughout. And there'll be readings from the Prime Minister and the Head of the Secretary General of the Commonwealth.

COOPER: This is where the Queen's reign began. This is where she wanted it to end. Let's watch.

WILLIAMS: We'll never see another moment like this. This great moment states funeral - in the Imperial State Crown the last ever time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Third party stands still, third party slow march.

COOPER: Two Royal Leaders now standing up watching and waiting as the coffin slowly enters Westminster Abbey.

FOOSTER: So as the coffin heads down the aisle, the spouses will also be joining the Queen Consort, the Duchess of Sussex and Princess of Wales.

[06:00:00]