Jono, Ben & Megan - The Podcast - FULL: UK Reporter Gavin Gray On Queen Elizabeth II

Episode Date: September 9, 2022

Our UK correspondent Gavin Gray joins us to talk the death of Queen Elizabeth II.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Hits, with a bonus podcast from Jono and Ben. Gavin, it's a sad day. It is indeed. It's a day I think so many people have been dreading, but here we are. Somebody who has been a constant throughout my life, through so many people's lives, probably almost all the listeners that we've got there. She's been a constant, whether or not they're monarchists or republicans or don't really care. This is somebody who's seen through some 15 prime ministers here in the UK, starting with Winston Churchill. And of course, just a few days ago,

Liz Truss. She's also seen through, I think it's 14 US presidents and of course, was in charge of the Commonwealth. And, you know, as such, was, you know, a figure that I think so many people from around the world looked up to, and so many figures are now going to be paying, I'm sure, their wishes to the rest of the family who are gathered at Balmoral. The Commonwealth has 2.5 billion people in 32 member states and 56 countries, as well as the 32 small states. And I think, frankly, we're going to see an outpouring now of tremendous grief for somebody that's been there just as an amazing sign of duty to us all. Well, as you say, the longest reigning British monarch, her rule spans seven decades, 96 years old.

I mean, one heck of a service and one heck of a life she's had. Yep, yep. She said she was never going to give up or abdicate. Lots of people, I know other political commentators were saying, oh, I think she will because this can't go on, not appearing at events, or she's not very well and she must be tired. But I can assure you it was never even in her mind. It was a duty for life is how she saw it, and for life it was going to be.

Now, of course, to be now of course tremendous privilege of course tremendous wealth but behind all that she effectively gave up having a private life having any sort of a private life there and then and i think that is an amazing tribute to her we now of course have got her immediate children all around her at Balmoral, and now the big machinations of state, the funeral, lying in state, all sorts of things now happen as the country goes into a lengthy period of mourning. It felt like she was one of those people that was just going to be around forever. You know, it's going to be hard to imagine life without her.

And the other question I wanted to ask you, though, Gavin Gray, is what happens now? Like, is Charles King immediately? Well, effectively, he is. But of course, there will have to be a service that is probably going to be, first of all, a Remembrance Day service at London St. Paul's Cathedral. The London Stock Exchange is probably going to close tomorrow and probably for a significant period of next week. It could be up to a 12-day period of national mourning here in the UK. And during that mourning period, the new king will deliver an address to the nation once he's been sworn in. Prince Charles, of course, will effectively see what's called the

Accession Council gathering to officially crown him at a black tie event of hundreds of people. And then it's likely he'll go on a sort of tour of the UK to say, look, this is me, hello, I know you know me already, but now I am the king. And I think so, therefore, you know, this whole process, which so long people have talked about what will happen, what is going to happen. Well, yes, it's still a bit of a shock, but it finally has happened. But Her Majesty, I think, would be perhaps the least to want anyone to start mourning massively about her. She's had an incredible life. She's given incredible service, as we've said, and I think probably leaves the

monarchy in a much stronger state in the last decade than it was in the 80s with the messy problems following the Diana divorce with Charles and then, of course, Diana's death. You know, it's been a turbulent period for her and she saw that through and I think has left a monarchy that's pretty strong. Although I think Prince Charles is going to have a very, very tough act to follow here. We've seen what we heard this morning, obviously, sadly, the Queen passed away in Balmoral in Scotland, but a lot of people we've seen on the news are outside Buckingham

Palace paying their respects. Do people have a holiday? Not a holiday, but does work shut over there? What happens? Does life go on? It must be hard over there in the UK with this big news. Yeah, there's going to be massive coverage, of course, of it. Many of the TV channels, I think,

will simply be playing tributes to Her Majesty for some time. I think regarding what happens next for businesses, well, I think it's being pretty much left pretty much up to them, actually. So I think some businesses will close as a mark of respect or will choose to close just for a day or something. And others, I think, will probably carry on as normal. I mean, there are, you know, there are, I think, there is a greater understanding now that when the Queen acceded to the throne, the whole country virtually shut down. I can't see that happening. I can see large sections of people, you know,

not going to work, businesses, yes, taking one or two days off. There may even be a sort of national holiday, as it were, on the day Charles accedes to the throne. But we're going to have to see over the next few days. This has all been very, very well worked out. It was known as Operation London Bridge if Her Majesty died in London. Of course, you know, all the broadcasters, me amongst them, practicing what would happen for this terrible day.

But it also became known as Operation Capricorn if her majesty died in scotland and indeed she has because it's quite a remote location and obviously now they're going to want to bring her majesty and the family back down to london for that mourning period for the funeral for the body to lie in state um and also i think for people to be able to express their empathy at buckingham palace as you said we're plenty of people out there already, I'm afraid, in floods of tears with this news. You have followed her and the family for a very long time. I dare say you've come into contact with her on many occasions.

What will you remember her for? Sense of humour, without a doubt. And that may seem odd because it very rarely came out in public, really. Because when you think about it, we never really saw her talk about herself, did we? We saw the Queen's message, but of course that was written for her and by her partially. We've seen her at affairs of state, but you never know her opinion about anything. But when she was actually talking to people, she really did have a very wash this little sort of sense of humor,

quite wicked. She was very fun. She enjoyed sometimes people's discomfort when events went wrong. She used to quite enjoy that, not in a nasty way, but I think she and Prince Philip used to giggle away to themselves. And then when they got in the car to roar with laughter, because, of course, everywhere they went was fresh paint, new buildings, you know, all sorts of things. But when things went wrong, and I do remember a couple of course everywhere they went was fresh paint new buildings you know all sorts of things but when things went wrong and i do remember a couple occasions when they did where she was very very you could tell she was loving it and i also think as well the look of astonishment on both our faces when i was on one official visit and uh it was at this magnificent stately home and the press were constantly being moved from one floor to another

so they could see her majesty coming up the stairs and then disappear down a corridor sort of thing and i suddenly got a call from my news editor saying we need you to do this we need and i had to get out of the building so i tore down these stairs thinking they were not the stairs that her majesty was using and yeah you can imagine they And I didn't, it's an exaggeration to say I nearly bumped into her, but she saw this startled being as I was startled and she was startled that I had to sort of sneak away as the bodyguards moved in to shuffle me back a bit. But it was one of those moments when I'm sure I probably slightly scared her at one moment and all I was trying to do was to get out to file a news report. But again, it would be one of those things that I think, you

know, she would laugh about as well. Because I do think a sense of humor is probably something even really only the family fully got to understand properly. Now, one conversation that will no doubt be had over the next couple of days, Harry and Meghan. What's going to happen there? I know Harry had traveled to Balmoral. I saw reports of that this morning. That's correct. So, yes, Princess Charles, Edward, Andrew and Princess Anne, the Princess Royal were all there. Then Prince William and Prince Harry went up separately.

Initially, there were reports that Meghan was going as well. I'm slightly relieved, to be perfectly honest, that she hasn't, because Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William's wife, has not gone up there. And I think by and large, you know, this is for the direct family to negotiate. And I think, frankly, it would have been really awkward trying to make small talk while remembering the Queen and not mention the opera interview, not mention the most recent interview with the New York magazine, and just to try and, you know, be nice and try and forget things, but to remember the happy times with Her Majesty, all the while knowing that, you know, is she filming any of this?

Is she writing about it in the journal that's yet to be published? Is Prince Harry putting this in his book that's coming out soon? So, look, I really think it's going to be very difficult. Prince William and Prince Harry have not spoken for months, and yet they've spent the last couple of days living 500, 600 metres apart in Windsor Great Park. So I think this is going to be very awkward, but you know what?

They are a family just like any other family, and I don't know about yours, but, you know, you do get these strange relationships so perhaps we shouldn't be too surprised by all this Every family's got their crap we always say it Well Gavin Gray, listen, thank you so much no doubt a very busy few

days coming up for you and we do appreciate your time No worries, take care guys