LONDON — Monday finally marks the end of the second Elizabethan age.
Westminster Abbey's tenor bell tolled 96 times, once for each year of Queen Elizabeth II's life, before her coffin was carried in for the state funeral.
Behind it followed her eldest son, King Charles III, who at age 73 is finally taking the reins of the kingdom.
The service began after the epic line of devoted mourners who had spent four days filing past her coffin was halted and more than a week of ceremonies steeped in ancient tradition came to a close.
It came as the United Kingdom braced for a return to normalcy, albeit without its beloved queen, who will be laid to rest next to her husband, Prince Philip.
In his sermon, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby recalled how when Elizabeth turned 21 she vowed, in a radio address to her millions of subjects around the world, to spend her life serving the British nation and the Commonwealth.
"Rarely has such a promise been so well kept," Welby said.
While Welby spoke, the thousands gathered near Windsor Castle, where the queen's coffin will be laid to rest, watched the unfolding ceremony on huge screens erected for the momentous occasion. And many had tears in their eyes.
"We just felt we had to come," said Louise Austerfield, 42, who came down from West Yorkshire, in the north of England.
The state funeral for the United Kingdom's longest-serving monarch — whose 70-year reign began in the aftermath of World War II and spanned the dawn of the space race to the ubiquity of the internet — was not only a farewell to a much-loved leader, but also cemented the rule of its new one, Charles.
And the ceremony played out on a grand scale.
Some 4,000 military personnel were mustered to parade on the streets of London and Windsor. Tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, lined the streets, and inside Westminster Abbey, the guest list included leaders such as President Joe Biden and France's Emmanuel Macron, European royals, as well as British doctors and other emergency workers.
Billions are expected to watch on television, possibly making it the most-viewed live broadcast in history if audiences surpass the 2.5 billion estimated to have seen Princess Diana's funeral in 1997.
Monday's packed schedule has already begun. At 6:30 a.m. (1:30 a.m. ET), the last members of the public were allowed into Westminster Hall to see Elizabeth lying in state. The hall, which was built more than 1,000 years ago, has now been closed in preparation for the grandest funeral in British memory.
But it is the intimate remembrances and images that have touched so many.
U.K. ROYALS Live updates: Britain says a final farewell to Queen Elizabeth II
"It was incredible to be able to come and to be here and to just pay my respects," said Sima Mansouri, 55, one of the last two members of the public allowed into Westminster Hall. "I've adored her since I was a little girl. I moved from the Middle East to the U.S. and then to the United Kingdom for the past 25 years. … I call this place home and she made me feel like I was at home here, and safe."
Just after the doors of ancient Westminster Hall closed, those of nearby Westminster Abbey opened, beginning an event few have seen the likes of before.
The event will attempt to "unite people across the globe and resonate with people of all faiths," as described this week by the Earl Marshall, the Duke of Norfolk, the hereditary official in charge of organizing British state funerals.
Shortly after 10:35 a.m. (5:35 a.m. ET), the queen's coffin was lifted from its platform, known as a catafalque, by members of the British Army's Grenadier Guards, the iconic soldiers whose tall, black busby hats have appeared in a million tourist photographs outside Buckingham Palace.
They placed it on a Royal Navy gun carriage, which was removed from active military service in 1901 to be used for the funeral of Queen Victoria. From Westminster Hall, it was taken in a procession to Westminster Abbey, just across Parliament Square, for the state funeral. It's a journey of barely 500 feet but was conducted at such a solemn pace that it took 8 minutes.
The square is lined with soldiers from different companies and squadrons. The procession itself was led by some 200 pipers and drummers from Scottish and Irish regiments, as well as Gurkhas —Nepalese fighters who traditionally have fought alongside British troops — and the Royal Air Force.
Flanking the coffin were pallbearers and royal bodyguards, and King Charles III, Camilla, the queen consort, and other royals walked behind.
The exact guest list has not been published, but the hall's capacity is 2,200 people. Alongside Biden, a litany of other heads of state confirmed their attendance, including Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.
They were joined by more than 180 members of the public identified as key workers, including emergency service personnel and other professionals who were recognized in the queen's birthday honors list in June.
The funeral began at 11 a.m. (6 a.m. ET), and it featured readings by British Prime Minister Liz Truss, among others, and prayers from Britain's assorted archbishops, cardinals and other religious leaders.
Toward the end of the hourlong service, the last post bugle call sounded. The Reveille bugle call, the British national anthem and a lament played by the queen's piper ends the ceremony at noon.
The coffin will then be taken to Hyde Park's Wellington Arch, flanked again by the same members of the procession and punctuated by minute guns fired from the park. This time, it will be joined by members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Royal Ulster Constabulary from Northern Ireland, and the publicly funded and cherished National Health Service.
An hour later, the coffin will arrive at the arch, be placed in the state hearse and taken to Windsor Castle for more minute guns, another service, and a private burial at St. George's Chapel alongside Philip, whose body has been placed in the chapel's royal vault since his death last year.