After a day of heartbreak and a long night of sorrow, her people woke to face the new dawn without their trusty compass. For 70 years, she had steered the way through the squalls and storms of destiny, guiding the country and Commonwealth on towards a brighter horizon.
But today, the great ship of state was adrift on open seas… and her anxious passengers were trying to cling on while waiting for a new Captain to set the course ahead.
Elizabeth II was not just the figurehead of HMS Great Britannia – she was its polestar, its powerhouse and its steely keel.
And with a terrible cost-of-living tempest brewing across her kingdom, the loss of our steadfast monarch now felt doubly cruel and shocking.
That is why thousands of sad and anxious people found themselves drifting to Buckingham Palace today. They were searching for stability... for some reassurance that we will be able to navigate the stormy waters of the difficult winter to come.
For many, it had only just suddenly dawned on them that this one remarkable and dedicated woman had been the anchor of their whole lives.
Young and old, republicans and royalists, people who never thought they cared about the institution of monarchy… they all felt a new connection to the late, great Queen Elizabeth.
“I never expected to feel as emotional as this,” said care assistant Ellie Williams, 26, from Colchester, Essex, as she laid flowers outside the palace. “I feel like I’ve lost a member of my own family… but it’s more than that.
“When the Queen made her Covid broadcast, it really settled people down and stopped them fretting so much.
“She’s seen so much over the years and we all thought ‘If she can get through it then so can we’. But who’s going to reassure us now?”
Donald Simons, 41, from Merseyside, agreed: “Families are worried sick about the cost of living crisis, the war, the environment… our whole future as a nation.
“We’ve had a lame duck government for months and the new PM has barely even hung her coat up in No10. Now we have lost the one person with the wisdom and strength to steady the ship.
“I’m sure King Charles will do a great job, but he’ll never be the nation’s guiding light like his mother.”
The sense of uncertainty and flux was almost palpable on the streets of Britain today.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, sensed it too and addressed people’s fears in the “Thought for the Day” slot and an interview on Radio 4’s Today programme. “It feels as though a part of our life that was taken for granted as being permanent is no longer there,” he said.
“And in that sense there is an enormous shift in the world around us, in how we see it and how we understand ourselves.
“Many people will be feeling a sense of grief and uncertainty.
“The death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II is a shock to our sense of permanence because her long and steadfast reign helped us make sense of who we are as a nation. It was a reign that was not only for the United Kingdom, it was a reign for the whole world.
“And around the world in the work that I do, I heard so many people who spoke of her only as THE Queen.
“She gave us a sense that life wouldn’t change and so with her death we fear that sense of permanence is rocked. And for many of us, it is almost impossible to imagine a world without her.”
But the Archbishop reassured the nation that the accession of King Charles III will keep Britain off the rocks in the difficult times ahead.
He went on: “Yes, Her Late Majesty has died but there was not one single second when we didn’t have a Monarch, a head of state. When I last saw the Queen in June I came away thinking, ‘There is a person who has no fear of death, has hope in the future and knows the rock on which SHE stands… her faith’.
“That also gives His Majesty King Charles his own strength – the strength to be our new sense of permanence and continuity. We are grateful for that sacrifice.”
His words were echoed by former Prime Minister Theresa May.
“The great strength of our constitution is that a new monarch does come to the throne and does so immediately,” she said. “It is very difficult for King Charles to take on that responsibility at the same time he is mourning the loss of his mother.
“But the continuity of our Monarchy should give people confidence and reassurance.”
So the ship of state sails on, with a new King at the helm.
And while there will be more storms to navigate, there are brighter horizons ahead. He simply has to follow the moral compass that has guided us for 70 years.
