FAREWELL YOUR MAJESTY

Queen Elizabeth was laid to rest in a service of haunting beauty, a fitting tribute to an amazing life of service. Her funeral, watched by millions the world over, was an event she was intimately involved in planning - and like everything she did, it was flawless

- NICOLA WHITFIELD, NICI DE WET, MAXINE PETERS & NASIFA SULAIMAN

AS THE first strains of the funeral service started from within Westminster Abbey, a sombre silence descended on the hundreds of thousands who've gathered in London to say goodbye to the extraordinary woman who'd reigned for 70 years. You could hear a pin drop in a goosebump-inducing moment signifying the final farewell to Queen Elizabeth II had begun.

The passing of the queen was always going to be a momentous occasion but the sheer scale of it all has been nothing short of breathtaking.

The broadcast of the funeral was expected to be the most-watched TV event in history, attracting more viewers than the 2,5 billion who watched Princess Diana's funeral.

More than 2 million people descended on the capital for the funeral and close to a million people queued to see her lying in state, braving the cold for up to 24 hours to spend a few minutes in Westminster Hall to view her coffin.

As the day of the funeral neared, thousands of people camped overnight along the route of the procession.

YOU arrived in central London shortly after 5 am and the streets were buzzing with police, army officers, and security guards. Near the abbey, pavements were nearly impossible to navigate people were sleeping rough on the streets, on wall ledges, and under trees not to miss out.

Rebecca Baker and her 12-year-old daughter, Flello, camped in a tent in an alcove near the abbey and managed to get a few hours' sleep. "It wasn't too bad, Rebecca said. "We wanted to do it to say goodbye to the queen."

Andrea Ragsdell and her partner, Rob Childs, slept in a single sleeping bag. "It was quite a noisy night, Andrea said. "But there were hundreds of Portaloos around the corner and we had McDonald's for dinner.

The queen's funeral has been called a once-in-a-lifetime event and the enormity of it is unlikely to be experienced again. Her passing has triggered global grief on an unprecedented level.