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CNN Live Event/Special

The State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II; Queens' Coffin Makes Last Journey Down Long Walk at Windsor; King Charles III Joins Procession to St. George's Chapel. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired September 19, 2022 - 10:30   ET

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

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR (voice over): I mean, less somberly but with the similar color, pageantry, bands on great glorious occasions as well or celebrations, like her various jubilees, all of those things.

[10:30:13]

RICHARD QUEST, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice over): So, in front of the -- that what you're looking at there is the Household Cavalry Mounted Division, and the lifeguards of the most senior branch of the army. In addition to which you also have members of various households. So, you have the director of the collection, the lord chamberlain's office, the master, a whole variety of different groups will all be taking part in this procession.

And it is a different group, for instance, here. You will have local people from Windsor. You'll have those who made the royal -- the royal party possible in Windsor. They will be taking part in it. So, for example, you have got the sovereign's escort from Windsor.

I'm looking at the list here. You have got the detachment of the lifeguards. You've got the king's arms, the captain of the bodyguards. And, again, immediately in front of the coffin are those members of the royal household who made the whole thing work, the lord chamberlain's office, the master, the keeper of privy purse, the private secretary. They're in front of the hearse. And behind it will be joined by members of royal family when they get to the north.

AMANPOUR (voice over): For a nation that wants to feel grand and to imbibe the grandeur of the past, this is what this is about as well.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR (voice over): There is nothing more grand than this. It gives you the grandeur and the glory all in one.

As the hearse is approaching, we'll meet the procession and then, of course, walk up to St. George's, where the family is gathered. And that family, of course, Don, in New York, includes many other royals from Europe. But to whom the queen was related, via Queen Victoria and her nine children, to so many of them, as well as the entire royal household for this very personal service that we will very soon see.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR (voice over): Your quite right, a grandeur and glory, both you and Christiane, it is quite right. We've been just talking about this extraordinary journey that the queen is taking and, really, the whole world is taking this journey along with her.

Trisha, you're very familiar with this journey. You grew up here. These are roads and streets and highways that you travel quite often. And you have been giving us a history on what is happening.

TRISHA GODDARD, BRITISH TELEVISION PRESENTER (voice over): Yes. The queen's cortege passed not far from Runnymede, where, of course, the Magna Carta was signed. So, there is lots of history there.

Just to -- I'm absolutely blown away by how many people you can see. This -- the long walk is actually part of my running route, I'm a keen runner. And I don't know if you're cameras can pick it up, but I've got a picture I took from my last run. And if you can see what it normally looks like, nothing there, nothing there at all, apart from the top of the run of the queen's deer. She has a herd of -- so, if you can see that, that is what it normally looks like, absolutely desolate.

And now have a look at the picture of all of those people there. Normally, at the top of the walk, you just have the queen's deer, as I said, the red and what have you, it is just the most gorgeous countryside. So, to see this many people this close, I mean, I just can't wrap my head around it. I really -- I'm shocked but not surprised. It is growing, I think, the feeling for the queen, royalty. I'm sure if you did any surveys now, there would be an absolute surge of people who are newly interested in the monarchy.

LEMON (voice over): As we look at members of the military there with their heads bowed, but we have also noticed that there are some with their backs, and I would imagine that is for security because they need to keep watch to make sure people are doing what they are doing, it is also, I'm sure, a sign of respect as well for the queen.

But this is what I want to talk about, Sally. The folks who are going to be at this, shall we say, more intimate ceremony that they're having, the royal family is going to gather with the congregation made up of members of royal household, past and present, as well as a personal staff who have worked on these private estates. This is a more intimate affair, people who are closer to the royal family.

SALLY BEDELL SMITH, AUTHOR, ELIZABETH THE QUEEN (voice over): Yes. It is from the highest ranks of the private secretaries to the equirries, to the people who worked on her various estates, Sandringham, Windsor, Balmoral, people who worked in Buckingham Palace. I mean, it is the household who worked for her, know her very well -- knew her very well.

[10:35:04]

And she knew all of the people. She knew their ups and downs. I remember a Scottish clergyman once told me about walking around Balmoral with her and she looked over and she said, see that man over there, one of my -- one of the people who works for me, his wife left him and now he has a new girlfriend.

So -- but she kept -- she kept in touch with all of the people who worked for her. And they had such affection for her, many of the workers for very many years. You see like Angela, Kelly, her dresser, who was the daughter of a worker in Liverpool, or a dock worker, these are people that she made no distinction between the duchess of Devonshire and the daughter of a dock worker.

LEMON (voice over): This is an honor for them.

SMITH (voice over): It is an honor for them, and, yes, and they are honoring her. And they feel it is, well, not only their duty but their wish to give her the ultimate mark of respect.

LEMON (voice over): But everyone, obviously, the people in the cortege or the procession there are people she knew and were close to. It is interesting because we saw some of the members, and I said, look at how tall that gentleman is right there. And you said it's --

SMITH (voice over): He's her deputy private secretary. I think he's seven feet tall.

LEMON (voice over): Yes. Talk to me about the people who are going to be here, Julia, and just what they meant to her and what she meant to them.

JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice over): This is the final moment, I think, to say goodbye. And we were talking about it being ten people deep. If you're look at this walk now, this is 20, 30, 40 people deep, and the people at the back can't even see. But they want to be there to share their respects, to pay their respects, to be present, I think, for her final moments.

And it is funny because of length of her reign, I think we all have different memories of her, whether you see her as the movie star in the 1950s and the black and white iconic images or the more matronly mother and grandmother that was dealing with her children's indiscretions, or more recently with the images of her with Paddington Bear, and I spotted a few people dressed as Paddington Bear and docking theirs hats as she goes past. I think we as individuals all have memories of her.

And I think being there today and remember those that aren't there but are just watching on the television around the world or in the country, it is just about being present in the moment. And these are astonishing images that we're seeing.

LEMON (voice over): So, Zain, I want to ask you because people are doing what we do, and when it goes back Anderson and Erin, we have a conversation about what is going on, and I am sure are around their television sets are doing the same thing. And I think they should know that the members of royal family are each paying tribute to the queen in their own way. The women are wearing jewelry that was either given to them or borrowed from the queen or were gifts from the queen. Charlotte is wearing a broach, earrings from the princess of Wales and so on and so forth.

ZAIN ASHER, CNN ANCHOR (voice over): And it is interesting because you could see the every connection that every single member of the family has with the queen. She was a mother, of course. She was a grandmother. But she was also part of institution. She represented the institution. I mean, this is a family but it is also a family business.

And I just want to talk about --

LEMON (voice over): Hey, one second. I just want to say, the picture up on your screen, that was the duchess of Sussex. She wore an understated pearl studded earring. It's what you're seeing the picture there. They were also a gift from the queen. I'm sorry, Zain, go on.

ASHER (voice over): Yes. And I was just going to say that some of the pictures that we were seeing there of Windsor Castle, I think it is so fitting that Windsor Castle is her final resting place in a spiritual sense because it was also her resting place in the literal sense while she was alive. I mean, this is the place that -- Sally, you and I were talking about this. This is the place that she went to to escape the noise of London, to escape the hustle and bustle, to escape the hectic nature of London.

And it's interesting because when you look at Windsor Castle, when you look at some of these grand images, it doesn't necessarily look like the kind of place that you would go to to let your hair down. We're talk about a 1,000-year-old piece of architecture, built by William the Conqueror. It has apparently a thousand rooms, many of them lavish apartments. We know that the queen used Windsor Castle as a place to entertain the likes of Biden, the likes of Obama, the likes of Trump as well. But, yes, while she was in England, it was her --

SMITH (voice over): And horseback riding with Ronald Reagan. She spent an hour going eight miles with Ronald Reagan and telling him what to do the whole way.

ASHER (voice over): Despite all that, while she was in England, this was her sanctuary. This was her home. So, it is fitting that she goes here to be laid to rest.

GODDARD (voice over): It's cozier. Windsor actually -- we were talking about Buckingham Palace. The Buckingham Palace rooms are massive.

[10:40:00]

But Windsor, the rooms are much more intimate, they're cozier. The chapel, St. George's Chapel, we used to have our school Christmas service there. Everything is smaller and cozier.

And the countryside around, as I said before, I'm a runner, is stunning. You've got Royal Holloway College at one end in Virginian Water, where I grew up at one end, then you've got the long Holloway down. It is some of the most beautiful countryside in England.

LEMON (voice over): And you can't overstate how important Windsor was to the queen but also remember the fire in '93. SMITH (voice over): Oh, yes. I mean, she was -- the images of her in her raincoat watching Windsor Castle burning down in 1992, which was her annus horribilis, and this was toward the end of that year. I mean, she was absolutely stricken. And she went over to spend a night or several nights with her mother who was living then at Royal Lodge, also near Windsor Castle. And Prince Andrew played a sort of heroic effort in retrieving a lot of priceless objects and painting. And then it had a sort of a wonderful resolution because they rebuilt it and they rebuilt it and they opened it on time in 1997. And it also brought Prince Charles and Prince Philip together. They were in charge of the redesigning of certain rooms and it was a kind of wonderful thing that they did under the overall supervision of the queen.

LEMON (voice over): It is amazing, Julia, you pointed out, the crowds are now 20, 30 deep. This is -- this funeral is the largest single policing event that London, the London Metropolitan Police Force has ever undertaken. This is huge. This is as big as it gets and it probably won't get any bigger ever.

CHATTERLEY (voice over): If you think of the preparation it goes into any kind of state visit, I would imagine this is a hundred times that, maybe more. The organization, the rehearsals, but even I think the anxiety and the nervousness for all the military involved in this and the procession, never mind the security involved and for the organization of the people. But there will be people there at Windsor today, and I know two of them that have texted me that they actually stood in line between 12 and 14 hours to see the queen in London. And now they've gone there exactly just to be -- just to join her on her final journey.

LEMON (voice over): As we move inside now, we're going back to Anderson Cooper in London to watch this, again, these extraordinary images and sound play out, Anderson.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR (voice over): Yes, Don, thanks so much. As you can see, St. George's Chapel is nearly filled, the procession still, the long walk heading toward the chapel itself.

I'm here with Max Foster watching, Kate Williams, Clarissa Ward as well.

The royal family is about to join the procession.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR AND ROYAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Yes. All I'm being told now is they'll join the procession in that quadrangle in the north side as it moves towards Engine Court. So, very much the last part of the procession as it enters the castle. So, the public won't be able to see them this time.

The queen consort, princess of Wales, the duchess of Sussex, the countess of Wessex will all be following by car. And then they will halt at the west steps of St. George's Chapel in horseshoe cloister, where we saw the cavalry lined up on the steps there. And bearer party will lift the coffin from the state hearse and it will be carried up, the procession, up in procession to the west steps, which is a big feat. And minute guns will be fired by the king's troop on the east lawn as the coffin moves up there into the chapel.

So, you got royal standard flying high above the castle signifying that the king is in residence. Members of royal families from around the world are all seated, as are the broader royal family, as are the governor's general, as I understand it, from the realms and the prime ministers of all of the countries where the king is head of state.

COOPER (voice over): The queen has been accompanied along this long walk by members of various regiments and the people walking in front of her are -- a number of them are household personnel, household staff.

FOSTER (voice over): Household staff.

COOPER (voice over): Some of them very tall.

FOSTER (voice over): Very tall. I mean, I think people have been talking about that online, certainly. Tall Paul is the guy with gray hair on the right. And you may remember him, Anderson, from when Daniel Craig as James Bond jumped out of a helicopter with the queen for the London Olympics.

COOPER (voice over): Tall Paul was in that scene?

FOSTER (voice over): He was. He was walking on the corridor, a very close aide of the queen.

[10:45:00]

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): And you can see they are walking right alongside of the state hearse, some of the queen's equirries, including Major Nana Kofi Twumasi- Ankrah, Ghanaian-born officer who fought in Afghanistan known as T.A., who the queen appointed in 2017, the first black equirry to serve the queen.

COOPER (voice over): What do equirries do?

WARD (voice over): They have multiple roles. Essentially, they are sort of assistants. They welcome high-profile guests. They will be assisting the queen with official engagements.

FOSTER (voice over): They're often from very high -- relatively high ranks in the military and the'yre there to support in all of the ceremonial elements. I mean, they've also got butlers, which provide a very different role. Equirries are a very historic role. You're attached as a member of the military to the monarch and it is a very privileged position.

COOPER (voice over): What happens to a number of the queen's household staff now that, once she is buried, does the new king inherit them or do they become his staff, does he bring his own staff?

FOSTER (voice over): That's a very good question. I mean, there are clauses in their contacts so that their contracts effectively cease six months, I believe, after the death of the monarch and then the new monarch will decide how he continues -- I mean, he has already got a household that was based at Clarence House and I'm sure he'll give a lot of the top jobs to those people. But the queen had a much bigger staff and very effectively staff. So, I'm sure he'll want to keep some of them on.

And the queen would have talked about this as well with the king, make sure they're looked after. And in the castle, there're a lots of smaller properties. There is a beautiful terrace of smaller properties and former retired staff, or people that would come to the end of reign effectively will be given a property often on an estate and they will be given roles on that estate.

And just look at how they've laid out all the flowers from the members of the public there on the lawns at Windsor. I mean, it's been absolutely beautifully done there. This is the queen's horse that she rode every single weekend at Windsor until very recently. I can't remember his name. But this is would have seen many images of her riding that horse around the estate with very often Princess Andrew's wife, Sophie, they're great riding partners.

WARD (voice over): And you heard Queen Consort Camilla actually talking in a televised address about the queen's love of horses, which, of course, was very well known. But she joked that when the queen talked about horse breeding, for example, you knew better than to try to argue or to try to suggest that what she said wasn't exactly correct because it was such a passion of hers throughout the decades and something that was important for her to have privately to give her an outlet, as it were.

COOPER (voice over): We've seen wreaths also laid out on the grass by -- at Windsor Castle.

FOSTER (voice over): So, they were brought from Westminster Abbey. So, they're from the guests at Westminster Abbey, the big wreaths, from members of the royal family and foreign dignitaries and heads of state. So, it would be fascinating. One would hope that they'll open up the castle again relatively soon, and I'm sure people will be able read all of those cards from foreign heads of state. I think they'll be pretty extraordinary.

COOPER (voice over): This is obviously a major tourist attraction for anyone visiting London.

KATE WILLIAMS, CNN ROYAL COMMENTATOR (voice over): And in the archives in Windsor Castle, they have all the letters from all the monarchs before, and that is where Elizabeth II's own archive will go, including the diary she kept every day, in which we won't see for at least a hundred years. But I envy the history to the future who will get to read that.

COOPER (voice over): So, that would sealed for --

WILLIAMS (voice over): For at least a hundred years, and so we will never see it.

And here they are approaching the castle, the queen's escort, the king's lifeguard, the sovereign guard. And we really are looking forward to this. It's going to be beautiful service.

FOSTER (voice over): I just want to bring up an image as well of Prince Andrew, if we can bring that up. This is one of big debates a few days ago. This was where the queen's corgis were going to go. And Prince Andrew actually gave the queen these corgis as puppies and he's now taken charge of them again, he's taken them along there to the funeral that will -- that the internment, which is a lovely gesture, isn't it?

WILLIAMS (voice over): And one of her two corgis, Candy died over the summer, which is very moving for her. And she chose to have Candy flown back to Windsor. Normally, the corgis are buried where they passed away, and she chose to have Candy go back to Windsor. And I think that she wished to be commemorated there.

And that is very striking how many of the queens dogs she will also have with her at Windsor. She was also devoted to her corgis ever since she got her first one as a child and her own on her 18th birthday, from which she bred so many of her corgis.

[10:50:01]

FOSTER (voice over): Then look at that scene, the horse there standing on the right.

COOPER (voice over): And the symmetry of these images is --

FOSTER (voice over): I mean, everything is thought about, even knowing that that shot will be broadcasted around the world, so how should the flowers look.

WILLIAMS (voice over): As Queen (INAUDIBLE) Jordan said, the queen paid a real attention to detail, every tiny thing in every state visit, she cared about where the plates were, how everything was laid out. And so her procession, the final funeral procession, it all reflects her meticulous eye for detail and planning.

FOSTER (voice over): I think you would never the flowers being left on the car. They would normally be stripped away and cleaned up. But they're allowing the flowers to sit there, which is a real -- it's quite poignant, isn't it, a reminder of where the car has just been and the outpouring of -- I wouldn't say, grief, necessarily. It's grief but it's also a celebration, isn't it.

WILLIAMS (voice over): Celebration, commemoration and tribute to a monarch who never knew she would ever be queen, never expected to be queen when she was pitched into a new role at age ten and then became, I think, history will judge her as a successful monarch.

FOSTER (voice over): And with all of the flowers, Anderson, they're going to compost them and use them on the estate.

COOPER (voice over): Is that right?

WARD (voice over): Every single detail. I mean, it is just extraordinary. It is immaculate, the planning that's gone into. Nothing that we're seeing here is by accident. Everything is by design.

COOPER (voice over): Had the diaries of past monarchs -- I don't know if all monarchs have kept diaries, but have the diaries of past monarchs had been opened up?

WILLIAMS (voice over): They are opened up. They are -- Queen Victoria's are opened up, George III's correspondence are opened up. But, yes, we will have to wait a very long time to see Elizabeth II's --

FOSTER (voice over): Well, when I went to see Queen Victoria's ones in the tower here, I don't think I got to see all of them.

WILLIAMS (voice over): But they have a fantastic collection in the tower. They've got all of the archives from all of the monarchs.

FOSTER (voice over): So, the archive is the tower that is famous at Windsor?

COOPER (voice over): But very, often diaries from back then were not the sort of confessionals that they are today. It was a stiff wind today and this and this happened. But it is not a lot of often on the details one might want.

WILLIAMS (voice over): You can have a fascinating insight, what they tell you, what they don't tell you. So, I do envy those historians 150 years who get to read them and look back on this day and see what this day says about Britain, about the monarchy and about the world. It's such an incredible picture beamed all over the world.

COOPER (voice over): Look at that castle. I mean, that is an extraordinary castle, a thousand -- was it --

WILLIAMS (voice over): A thousand years old. It dates back to William the Conqueror. It was there to defend the Thames in London.

FOSTER (voice over): So, in the castle, we've also got the chapel at the heart of it, really. But then there is a whole -- there's the state department. Clarissa was talking about this.

COOPER (voice over): There're a thousand rooms as well.

FOSTER (voice over): Yes, there is no shortage. The state departments are spectacular and they are newly renovated because the fire that Clarissa was talking about earlier, which was in the annus horribilis, as the queen described it. But the half of the castle we don't get to go into. You remember when Donald Trump and President Biden were received at Windsor Castle, that is in the private area, that quadrangle, which the public has never allowed into. I think that is -- I mean, we're told it is a bit more rustic and medieval.

WILLIAMS (voice over): Yes. I've seen a few of the more private areas and they are more homely. But Windsor Castle, the state department, Rembrandts, (INAUDIBLE) incredible furnishings, renovated by Charles II and the monarch's successive. And the queen spent so many years here during World War II. She was evacuated here for safety, even though Windsor Great Park was bombed at least 70 times. And they use to put on pantomimes, Margaret and Elizabeth, and they used find old things in the cellar, like George IV stand chair (ph). They got up and used it for buttons and Cinderella has --

COOPER (voice over): You say the last time it was renovated was --

WILLIAMS (voice over): So, Charles II renovated them and they've been renovated by monarchs, so Queen Victoria, then converted them once more. But the state departments in Windsor Castle really are incredible. That is, of course, where she hosted so many state visits, including the state visit from President Biden in 2014, when Obama came, he came to Windsor Castle. It is the dining room is truly impressive.

FOSTER (voice over): They never disappoint.

COOPER (voice over): I mean, there are 40 monarchs have lived there over the course of the last thousand years is just extraordinary.

FOSTER (voice over): It is the longest continually inhabited castle in the world.

WARD (voice over): Almost continually in the world.

WILLIAMS (voice over): And the largest as well. And as you said, the burning of Windsor Castle to the queen was devastating. It has always been such a place of love for her.

COOPER (voice over): And she is returning to the place she loved.

FOSTER (voice over): The horse is called Emma, I've been told by the palace.

WILLIAMS (voice over): And the music we're going to hear today is by Sir William Henry Harris, who was the organist during the queen's childhood in St. George's Chapel, Windsor, and we believe that he taught Elizabeth to play the piano. So, we're going to hear some music from him and much of it is going to be played by the organist of St. George's Chapel.

[10:55:05]

FOSTER (voice over): So, the royal family is about to join the procession, that means that the gun salutes from the park as they come through the archway.

WILLIAMS (voice over): As max was saying, we are hearing the bell of Sebastopol that's only rung from the death of a monarch, the bell that was taken from in the Crimean war, in Sevastopol.

COOPER (voice over): I mean, look at that shot. You could see the long walk behind as the hearse is entering.

WILLIAMS (voice over): And the queen who had her coronation televised for the first time is now being -- her funeral beamed all over the world, billions watching in the biggest perhaps television event we've ever seen. This great moment of choreography of British history, which many generations in the future will look back on as the tribute to our longest reigning monarch. And the two corgis are --

WARD (voice over): The corgis.

COOPER (voice over): Were these the last two corgis that she kept?

FOSTER (voice over): Yes. She has got two other dogs, but I wonder where they have gone. These are the corgis.

WILLIAMS (voice over): The queen always loved their devotion. Princess Diana used called them the moving carpet, her first was when she was a child.

COOPER (voice over): Lovingly referred to them as the living carpet or --

WILLIAMS (voice over): I think a bit lovingly because they went everywhere with her.

COOPER (voice over): There is King Charles watching. There you have the immediate members of the royal family about to join the procession, and that she has been throughout this entire process, since the queen's death in Balmoral, Princess Anne is front and center.

WILLIAMS (voice over): Princess Anne as well has been integral. She has been such a support to the queen and named after the great Queen Anne, the early 18th century queen, who presided over the union between England and Scotland. Anne's role has been so significant.

FOSTER (voice over): This is the private part of Windsor Castle. This is the quadrangle, as it's known. And it's well-known as the place where the queen would -- great heads of state, President Biden and President Trump amongst them. You'll remember President Trump expected a guard of honor and he got slightly lost. But we're not -- the public aren't usually allowed in here and very rarely, actually, we're allowed to film there only on big occasions.

WARD (voice over): It is extraordinary just to look at their faces, the heaviness of the moment, not just in terms of the duty, the extraordinary moment that is taking place, but also coupled with that personal grief and the weight of the expectation, I think, as well, of the moment as the King Charles really assumes his new role, one that he's been waiting for, for many, many years, in which the public seems quite eagerly to support.

COOPER (voice over): And with each step closer to the queen's burial, King Charles steps more and more into the limelight, steps more and more into the future.

FOSTER (voice over): And this is all designed to get us used to him, as well in the position in association with her. There is a deliberate overlap over ten days for us to get a sense of transition into him being monarch. From tomorrow, all of this is over. He is king. Liz Truss is going to have to get back to the job, isn't she, in Downing Street. This is going to be a very different place tomorrow. The country has effectively been on hold for ten days.

COOPER (voice over): Royal family members in lockstep with the --

FOSTER (voice over): So, Prince William on this case, he has been wearing cavalry. Other occasions, he's wearing his RAF uniform, which is the service that he served in, Prince Harry and Peter Phillips there in mourning dress but wearing their military decorations.

COOPER (voice over): Members of the kitchen staff.

[11:00:00]