Dwarfed by the wooden stalls surrounding her, Queen Elizabeth cut a solitary and stoic figure at the funeral of her husband of 73 years, Prince Philip.
Clad in black, she sat alone with only her eyes visible between her hat and face mask, due to coronavirus restrictions.
Her handbag was perched on the seat next to her where her consort would usually sit.
It was an odd sight: 29 of her family members spread along the pews, split by household, not an uncommon sight during the pandemic, but a huge change for a family used to commemorating life events on a world stage.
While the UK came out of its national period of grieving with the conclusion of the funeral, for the royal family, and particularly the Queen, it's just the beginning of processing their loss.
The royal family's official mourning period — the first in nearly 20 years — continues until Thursday, two weeks' since the duke's death. This means all the family's official duties, not related to Prince Philip's funeral, have been cancelled. All communications are sent on black-edged stationery, and in a modern development, all official royal social media accounts have changed their profile pictures to a black coat of arms.
For the government, this also means that no new laws can be given Royal Assent.
Will the Queen wear black?
Whether the Queen will return to her usual cheerful pastel suits or maintain funereal black in the weeks to come remains to be seen.
Professor Anna Whitelock, professor of the history of monarchy at the Royal Holloway University of London, said there's little doubt that she'll be soon back to her royal duties.
"I think the Queen will do as she's always done, which is to kind of keep calm, carry on and be supported by her sense of duty and service even now she doesn't have Philip with her," she said.
On a personal level, the Queen's next test will be her birthday on Wednesday, when she turns 95 — usually celebrated privately, the Duke of Edinburgh's absence will be keenly felt.
It's as a life partner that she'll miss him the most.
"Constitutionally the death of Philip doesn't make a difference. I think really the question is how personally the Queen is going to be affected by this," Professor Whitelock says.
"One only has to think back to Queen Victoria and the devastating impact of Prince Albert's death on her.
"She never really recovered. She never stopped wearing mourning clothes for the rest of her life, which was four decades and really did withdraw from public glare. She was deeply affected by it."
Grief on the world stage
The Queen, of course, is no stranger to mourning in public.
Her first major loss was her father, George VI, who died while she was on a royal visit to Kenya.
But more recently, 2002 was a deeply tragic year for the monarch.
Her sister Princess Margaret died on February 9, after years of ill health. Her funeral was a doubly sad occasion, falling 50 years ago to the day that they buried their father.
Then on March 30, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother also passed away, aged 101.
On the evening before her mother's funeral, the Queen addressed the nation.
"The extent of the tribute that huge numbers of you have paid my mother in the last few days has been overwhelming," she said.
"I have drawn great comfort from so many individual acts of kindness and respect.
"Over the years I have met many people who have had to cope with family loss, sometimes in the most tragic of circumstances. So I count myself fortunate that my mother was blessed with a long and happy life.
"At the ceremony tomorrow I hope that sadness will blend with a wider sense of thanksgiving, not just for her life but for the times in which she lived — a century for this country and the Commonwealth not without its trials and sorrows, but also one of extraordinary progress, full of examples of courage and service as well as fun and laughter."
Within seven weeks, the Queen had lost her two closest friends and confidantes — a huge blow, according to Princess Margaret's lady in waiting, Anne, Lady Glenconner, in the documentary Elizabeth: Our Queen.
"I think she missed them a lot. Suddenly she lost her two best friends really," she said.
Biographer of Prince Philip Gyles Brandreth added that with the death of the Queen Mother, there was a subtle change in the role of the Queen.
"Now the Queen was the oldest member of the family. She was the matriarch. She was, as it were, moving into the Queen Victoria role. She was the senior member of world royalty," he said.
"And some people say that that almost freed her, that she seemed to relax a bit."
A 'crucial linchpin of continuity'
If the death of her mother and sister were a new era in the Queen's reign, then the death of her consort marks another shift — one towards the younger generation.
The Queen is already the oldest monarch in the world — since 2015 following the death of King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia, at the age of 90.
Now she is the oldest in her family too, the last of the pre-war generation.
Next year she celebrates her platinum jubilee — a first for the Commonwealth — with 70 years on the throne.
Professor Whitelock said this just the beginning of a generational shift.
"Philip is clearly one half of that partnership of continuity which has survived most people's lifetimes and obviously the other crucial linchpin of that continuity is the Queen," she said.
"It won't be until her passing that we really see the closing of that chapter and the beginning of a different era and different generation … and the end of those values with which she's associated. Deference, duty, and public service in the ways she's conducted it.
"Philip's passing underlines the kind of vulnerability and mortality of the Queen and the very fact — that is obvious — that we're coming to the end of her reign too."