00:00So a lot has happened since we last spoke. How have you been feeling over the last few days?
00:05I think it's been really moving to watch the scenes playing out in Scotland in particular but also in London.
00:11There have just been tens of thousands of people filing very quietly past Buckingham Palace
00:16and then people lining the routes of the Queen's Coffin procession.
00:20I think I've been taken aback by just the scale of this event.
00:24I don't remember anything else like it in two decades of being a journalist.
00:28So if you could just tell us a little bit about what's going on today.
00:31All the action today has been centred on Edinburgh where the King and the Queen Consort have been at the
00:37Palace of Holyrood House.
00:39They are going to be meeting the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and other important officials.
00:46But the key moment is going to be when the King and members of his family, his siblings in particular,
00:51will be walking behind the Queen's Coffin as it departs Holyrood House.
00:55They'll walk along the Royal Mile and to St Giles' Cathedral where this service of thanksgiving is taking place.
01:03Can you tell us a bit about what we've seen today?
01:07We've seen the King and Queen Consort Camilla attending Westminster Hall for a meeting of both Houses of Parliament
01:13in which he gave a declaration in response to their motion of condolence.
01:17He has since flown up to Edinburgh and he's been to the Palace of Holyrood House,
01:21which is where this very moving royal procession began, taking the Queen's Coffin from there along the Royal Mile in
01:29Edinburgh
01:30to St Giles' Cathedral for a service of thanksgiving.
01:33Wow. And you know, it's been a really emotional four days and we've seen Princess Anne following her mother's coffin
01:40and really stayed by her side for as long as she could have been. How do you think she's feeling?
01:45I think it's really interesting to see the way that Princess Anne has been conducting herself.
01:50You know, she is famously perhaps more like her father in her sort of no-nonsense approach to life.
01:56But you know, the grief and the suffering that she's going through has been very apparent and incredibly moving.
02:03We saw her curtsying to the Queen's Coffin as it arrived at the Palace of Holyrood House, which was very,
02:09very emotional.
02:10And of course, she joined the coffin for the six-hour journey down from Balmoral.
02:15She's also going to be on board the plane that brings the Queen's Coffin back to London tomorrow night.
02:21You know, we've seen some poignant images of Prince William and Prince Harry reunited with their wives.
02:27And you know, it was a bit of a shock, but very welcome.
02:31Is it right to suggest that this could be the start of them moving forward together?
02:36I think everyone would like to see this as the first step in some kind of reconciliation.
02:41I think it's too early to say that, you know, everything's fine again now.
02:45There's been a lot of difficult emotion on both sides.
02:49But I think both princes, the brothers, recognise that this was a time to show unity in honour of their
02:55grandmother.
02:55And that's why we saw them, you know, first William reaching out to his brother to invite him and Meghan.
03:01And then the Sussexes in return agreeing and joining forces with them.
03:06Right. And will we see them together again?
03:08There's been reports that they will be walking side by side in the Queen's Coffin procession.
03:13And obviously that's very different to Prince Philip's funeral where they were separated by Peter Phillips.
03:18Absolutely. I think it's too early to say yet what the formation will be.
03:22We'll know more in the coming days.
03:25But I think one would assume that all the Queen's grandchildren who want to,
03:29will be taking part in the procession on foot behind the gun carriage carrying her coffin.
03:34Something that will be particularly difficult, I think, for William and Harry in particular,
03:38because as we all remember, they had to do that behind their mother's coffin.
03:41So it's going to bring back a lot of very difficult memories for them.
03:45Yes, I can imagine.
03:47So Harry and Meghan, they've spent a week away from their children.
03:50Can we expect to see them joining the ceremonies?
03:54I don't think we're going to see the Sussex children.
03:56I'd be very surprised.
03:58Given their young age, it's not really probably an appropriate moment for them to be seen in public.
04:05Look, nothing is being said about whether or not Archie and Illy are coming to join their parents.
04:11And that's for fairly obvious reasons of security, among others.
04:15But I would not imagine, given their very young ages, that they would be involved in any of the ceremonial
04:21aspects.
04:21And have we had word on the Wales children either?
04:25Nothing's been said yet about the Queen's great-grandchildren.
04:29And I think we have to look to previous similar events to realise that traditionally royal children don't attend church
04:36services,
04:36particularly big ceremonial events like this, until they're a little older.
04:40That being said, George and Charlotte have attended more public church services over the past year.
04:45So it's possible that they will attend.
04:47But I wouldn't expect any confirmation on that until much closer to the time.
04:50Right.
04:51It has already been an incredible four days.
04:54And like many journalists, I'm sure you knew that at one point this would happen.
04:58But has there been anything that shocked you or pleasantly surprised you from the way the public have responded?
05:04I think the biggest surprise is just the scale of this moment.
05:09You know, I think I've said already that in 20 years of being a journalist,
05:12I've not really encountered an occasion quite this momentous in terms of the number of people on the streets,
05:19in terms of the number of media who have descended on London for this.
05:24And we always knew it was going to be a huge moment.
05:27Actually living through it is just a completely extraordinary experience.
05:31And I know that William and Kate did have some royal engagements planned.
05:37Can we assume that most of the royal engagements are going to be postponed until after this period of mourning?
05:42Ones that aren't obviously to do with the Queen's funeral.
05:45I think we won't see any royal engagements until after this period of royal mourning ends,
05:50after the funeral, and even then it may be that some engagements are postponed.
05:55Certainly planning around future engagements will have been put on hold.
05:59So there may be a little bit of hiatus before things get back to normal.
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