In Pictures: A reign for the ages takes its place in the history books
A burial at Windsor sees the second Elizabethan era formally laid to rest.
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The funeral rites for the Queen are the nation’s formal farewell to the woman who reigned for an unprecedented 70 years.
The Queen carried out her duties up until her death at Balmoral in Scotland, having also juggled a family life relentlessly exposed to the scrutiny of the press and, unlike her predecessors, television.
She reigned from a period when the nation was still recovering from the Second World War and was going through a period of intense social change.
The Empire’s transformation into the Commonwealth had already started but continued under her reign.
Princess Elizabeth learned she had become Queen in Kenya, in a tree-top hotel, when she was informed of the death of her father King George VI at a time when she was raising young children, and she returned to British soil to be greeted by her first prime minister Sir Winston Churchill and opposition leader Clement Attlee.
Treetops Hotel, perched in the branches of a giant fig tree in Kenya. It was here that the former Princess Elizabeth learned of the death of her father, King George VI, and that she was now Queen (PA)
The Queen is crowned, with many Britons getting their first experience of television (PA)
The Queen, wearing the Imperial State Crown, and the Duke of Edinburgh, dressed in uniform of Admiral of the Fleet, wave from the balcony to the onlooking crowds at the gates of Buckingham Palace after the coronation (PA)
The Queen escorted by her host, French president Rene Coty, right, as she leaves the Elysee Palace in Paris (PA)
The Queen presented the World Cup to Bobby Moore but also had to deal with heartbreaking incidents such as the tragedy at Aberfan that claimed 144 lives, mainly children.
The Queen in 1960 riding on the racecourse before the opening of the third day of the Royal Ascot meeting (PA)
The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh follow the pointing finger of local resident, councillor Jim Williams, who lost seven members of his family in the Aberfan disaster (Archive/PA)
The royal family in the grounds of Frogmore House, Windsor (PA)
Charles is invested as Prince of Wales by his mother at Caernarvon (PA)
The Queen waves from the balcony of the White House in Washington as she stands with President Gerald Ford, his wife, first lady Betty Ford, and the Duke of Edinburgh (Archive/PA)
The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh wave as Concorde flies by the Royal Yacht Britannia as the royal couple neared Barbados (PA)
Princess Anne had wed Captain Mark Phillips in the 1970s.
All of those marriages would later break down, and the Queen herself would describe the year 1992 as an annus horribilis.
The Queen on the balcony with the newlywed Charles and Diana (Archive/PA)
Pope John Paul II and the Queen at Buckingham Palace, London (PA)
The Windsor Castle fire and the marital problems of the Queen’s children made 1992 her annus horribilis (Michael Stephens/PA)
Her role as head of the Commonwealth also took her on long voyages.
The Queen and Boris Yeltsin exchange a smile as the Queen makes a speech during a state banquet held in her honour at the Kremlin’s Faceted Hall in 1994 (Martin Keene/PA)
Dressed in black, the Queen meets the crowds of mourners outside Buckingham Palace after arriving for the funeral of her former daughter-in-law Diana, Princess of Wales (John Giles/PA)
The Queen wipes her eyes at the funeral of her sister Princess Margaret; her mother would also die a few months later (Fiona Hanson/PA)
The Queen waves to the crowds after receiving gifts during her visit to a mosque in Scunthorpe, north Lincolnshire (John Giles/PA)
The wedding of grandson William to the then Kate Middleton further secured the royal line, as did the birth of Prince George, who is expected to become king one day.
The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh leave Westminster Abbey after the wedding ceremony of William and his wife Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, in central London (Suzanne Plunkett/PA)
The Queen with Pope Francis as they meet at the Vatican (Arthur Edwards/The Sun/PA)
She also continued to follow guidance at the funeral of her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, where she sat alone.
As the nation got back to normal, the feelgood factor returned with a Platinum Jubilee which saw the Queen joined on the royal balcony with three people also likely to occupy the throne, Charles, William and George.
The monarch could not attend all those events and went to spend her last summer in Balmoral, her Scottish retreat.
She carried out her last public duty in appointing Liz Truss as Prime Minister, having earlier accepted the resignation of Boris Johnson.
Captain Sir Thomas Moore receiving his knighthood from the Queen during a ceremony at Windsor Castle (Chris Jackson/PA)
The Duchess of Cornwall, the Prince of Wales, the Queen, Prince George, the Duke of Cambridge, Princess Charlotte, Prince Louis, and the Duchess of Cambridge appear on the balcony of Buckingham Palace during the Platinum Jubilee celebrations (Leon Neal/PA)
The Queen’s last appearance before the cameras as she prepares to appoint Liz Truss as her 15th prime minister (Jane Barlow/PA)
The hearse carrying the coffin of the Queen, draped with the Royal Standard of Scotland, leaving Balmoral as it begins its journey to Edinburgh (Owen Humphreys/PA)
The coffin of the Queen, draped in the Royal Standard with the Imperial State Crown placed on top, is carried on a horse-drawn gun carriage of the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery during the ceremonial procession from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall (Henry Nicholls/PA)
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