DATE=4/9/02

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=QUEEN MOTHER FUNERAL (L-O)

NUMBER=2-288494

BYLINE=TOM RIVERS

DATELINE=LONDON

INTERNET=YES

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Britain stopped as the nation bid farewell to the Queen Mother during her funeral at Westminster Abbey. Tom Rivers reports from London.

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Two-thousand people from around the world came to Westminster Abbey to honor the one known affectionately in Britain as the Queen Mum.

The mother of Britain's Queen Elizabeth the Second, died March 30th at the age of 101.

Through song and word, they reflected upon her long, event-filed life. A life, said the Archbishop of Canterbury, she lived to the full.

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Her's was a great old age, but not a cramped one. She remained young at heart and the young themselves sensed that.

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As the choir sang inside, thousands of people outside joined in. The mood was not one of grief, but of celebration for the long life of the nation's favorite royal.

The Queen Mother had planned much of the service. But it was the spontaneous show of emotions after the funeral that the feelings of the nation came through.

Up to one-million mourners lined the route from Westminster Abbey to Windsor Castle. As the Queen Mother's hearse passed Buckingham Palace on its slow journey, two World-War-Two era Spitfire fighters and a Lancaster bomber flew over in a sign of respect.

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To many, her determination at the height of the blitz in World War Two is what she will be best remembered for.

Once at her beloved Winsdor Castle, the grandmother to the nation was laid to rest, in a simple private ceremony in St. George's chapel, next to her husband, King George the Sixth, who died 50-years ago.

With the passing of the Queen Mother, an historic era has ended, an era which spanned the past century. For Britons, her memory and the events of her time will be forever intertwined. (SIGNED)

NEB/TR/RAE