An outpouring of love

In death as in life, the Queen was a unifying force, bringing people together, and as the days counted down to the biggest funeral of the 21st century, our incomparable sovereign was enveloped in an uplifting aura of love.

- JULIET RIEDEN

In a speech on her last visit to Australia in 2011, the Queen quoted an Aboriginal proverb. "We are all visitors to this time, this place. We are just passing through. Our purpose here is to observe, to learn, to grow, to love ... and then we return home."

Elizabeth's faith was profound, guiding her through every twist and turn of her 96 years on this earth and since her passing, clerics who knew Her Majesty have affirmed that, like her late husband, she believed wholeheartedly in resurrection.

In death the Queen knew she was going home, and that comforting, joyous idea was everywhere in the funeral she planned.

In the 10 days leading up to her funeral Queen Elizabeth II was never alone on that journey home. She was cloaked in a powerful outpouring of love from her family, her military, her staff, world leaders and perhaps most affectingly, from her people.

The day was divided into three separate services - the State Funeral at Westminster Abbey with 2000 in attendance, a committal at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle with 800 guests, and a private burial in the evening for close family only.

But first the Queen had to be delivered to her people, her coffin lying at rest in St Giles' Cathedral, Scotland, and in state in Westminster Hall, London. Hundreds of thousands queued for hours, without care for their personal comfort, many sleeping out overnight, to pay their respects.

In the ancient Westminster Hall, Her Majesty was flanked by a rotating vigil including from her children and her grandchildren, united in their devotion to their matriarch.