It has been a long goodbye, but at 7.30pm on Monday we say a final farewell to the only monarch most of us have ever known.
And as the curtain drops on the Elizabethan Age, we must brace ourselves for the one about to begin.
King Charles promises to be a worthy successor to his mother, though he must worry over his ability to bond with the nation in quite the way she did.
Ever since the Queen’s death was announced 10 days ago, the outside world barely got a look-in as we wrapped ourselves in our grief and counted the cost of what we have lost.
But the Queen would have been the first to say we should not dwell on the past, and this most progressive of monarchs would want us to now turn our faces to the future.
The King has made a solemn pledge not to meddle in politics, but independence movements bubbling up at home and abroad are issues he cannot ignore.
He reigns over a UK in danger of fracturing, and presides over a Commonwealth in which some members may not want him as Head of State.
This newspaper believes in self-determination. It is up to individual countries and their peoples to make that choice in a democratic way, and we trust the King will respect that.
Once the official period of mourning is over tomorrow we must turn to issues no less pressing while our attention has been elsewhere.
There are hopeful signs that the war in Ukraine is entering its endgame. But as President Zelensky told British MPs, the next 90 days are critical.
We must give him the support he needs – moral, military and economic – to win back his country and rebuild it.
Liz Truss can make Britain’s unwavering commitment clear at the UN this week where Russia will be listening. And on her return from New York, she must knuckle down and sort out the cost-of-living crisis.
Her opportunity is the emergency budget on Friday, which must go further than tax cuts for the wealthy and more bunce for bankers.
Her plan for lower-income families to transfer personal tax allowances between partners would give them a much-needed £2,500 boost and should be introduced sooner not later.
King Charles says he worries how struggling families will cope this winter. That is not political interference but an observation of the obvious. Ms Truss should be concerned too.
The Queen did not just set an example to her son, but to the 14 prime ministers who passed through her reign.
She died before she could give the benefit of her wisdom to her 15th, Ms Truss.
As our nation turns a new chapter in her long history, we look forward to a kinder, more caring Britain. And it is now Ms Truss’s mission to deliver it.
