After much doubt and hesitation over whether the Queen would be well enough to attend the Service of Thanksgiving for her husband the Duke of Edinburgh today, she arrived.
A tiny figure in green emerging through a side entrance, midway through the first hymn. There were audible whispers as to whether she was actually en route.
This was the closest she could get to sneaking in. Like her late husband, she isn’t much for fuss, and today she needed to make that difficult walk, with her mobility worsened, as unseen as it is possible for a Queen in an Abbey to be.
Only what made her entrance more conspicuous was whose arm she was on - that of her rumoured favourite son Prince Andrew in what is thought maybe his final public appearance.
Whatever people think - including her own family - about her choice of partner, the 1,800 congregation gathered was undoubtedly overjoyed to see her, singing with gusto as she made her way slowly but surely to her seat.
Perhaps she decided to make that journey alongside Andrew as much as support for herself as for his benefit. As a mum, on a difficult day, not wanting to feel alone?
Nevertheless, as she walked with her stick, she left Andrew’s side to make her own way, alone, to her seat next to Prince Charles.
She did so with surety. There was a little flurry of movement getting comfy. Reaching into her handbag for her glasses, a glance across at her assembled family, but then she was still, poised, unreadable for the rest of the service. If she was in discomfort she didn’t show it. This was the Queen as we have always known her, and as her husband knew her.
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There was probably little doubt in her mind she would attend. This may have been her first engagement away from Windsor for six months, but as the final act she could carry out for her husband, she would have wanted to be here come what may.
And it would have no doubt helped her to have her family around her. What a difference to that tiny, lone figure in black last April at the Duke’s funeral. This time she had children, grandchildren and even great grandchildren at hand.
Camilla and Anne, also in green, may have dwarfed her in the front row, but they were a tower of strength. Team Green.
And behind, Princess Charlotte and Prince George, neat as pins and gazing amazed up and around the Abbey at times, clutching their parents’ hands, must have bolstered her hope for the future as she mourned her husband and consort of the past.
This was a family affair after all. The service was ceremonial, the emphasis on the Duke’s faith, his duty, his dedication to his charities and causes. To the military, to young people through the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme, who lined the path to the Abbey’s main doors.
We sang and heard of pilgrims repeatedly, pilgrims in life. It was a nod to the Duke’s long dedication to learning, working, making his journey count.
The music was soaring, comforting, unifying.
But the presence of the Queen, the children, reminded us this was a service for a family missing their patriarch, too.
The Queen is said to have been involved in the planning, and small touches, like the orchids in the smaller posies inside, which were the same as those in her wedding bouquet in this very Abbey where they married 75 years ago this year under similar grey skies as today.
Nearly a year after her loss, this was her final chance to say goodbye and thank you.
And in the Abbey where she married him, where he pledged allegiance at her Coronation, where they sat side by side so many times, she did it. In her own way, in her own time.
