It was, said Sir Kenneth Branagh as he emerged from Westminster Abbey, "moving".
The Northern Ireland-born actor, 62, was alongside his fellow 'Belfast' star Judi Dench at the end of the two hour coronation of King Charles.
Asked to elaborate on why he described the ceremony as such, Sir Ken, after helping Dame Judi down a steep bit of path in the wet weather, said in a friendly way: "It was just moving. That is all I can say about it just now."
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The long coronation service, which went almost exactly to its two-hour schedule, had a global feel, yet Northern Ireland seemed woven all the way through the fabric of the occasion.
A key local element to the music was the choir. Viewers around the world might have wondered if seven girls among the singers, so striking in their blue uniforms, were from some school in the shires with ancient royal connections.
But, no, they were members of the Methodist College Belfast Chapel Choir, which had been invited to provide girl choristers to sing with the choirs of Westminster Abbey and HM Chapel Royal, St James’s Palace.
At the most dramatic moments in a service that was a musical tour de force, the girls were at the centre of the singing - for example during the anointing, when the choir sang in English, Welsh, Gaelic and Irish.
They were singing the Handel's dramatic Zadok the Priest when the king was divested of the Robe of State behind an anointing screen.
And they helped sing some of the specially composed modern music such as the partly Irish Tarik O'Regan's Agnus Dei. From where the press sat in the North Transept, behind the choir stalls, the voices of the choristers seemed to rise magically to the heights of the abbey.
One of those who emerged enchanted from the music and the service was Jayne Brady, head of the Northern Ireland civil service. She thought the ceremony "absolutely fantastic", all the more so given that her niece was one of the Methody singers - Nia Phelan, who is aged 17.
"I loved it," said Ms Brady. "It was amazing, a moment in time really."
The first minister in waiting Michelle O'Neill said, as she emerged from the abbey under an umbrella: "Well obviously I wanted to be here. We live in changing times and it was the respectful thing to do, to show respect and to be here for all those people at home, who I had said I would be a first minister for all. Attendance here is about honouring that and fulfilling my promise."
Asked about allegiance moments and the anthem moments?: "I think in life we all should be respectful and you know I have a different political allegiance and that is OK, we should be respectful of each other."
Other Northern Ireland politicians in attendance included the DUP, UUP, TUV, SDLP and Alliance leaders, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, Doug Beattie, Jim Allister, Colum Eastwood and Naomi Long.
Mr Allister said: "The event itself was a blend of the solemn, based on relevant scriptural references, and great pageantry. A truly British spectacular."
But he added that he was "disappointed to observe that Naomi Long joined with Sinn Fein and the SDLP in refusing to participate in the public affirmation of allegiance".
Before the coronation got under way the former Church of Ireland leader Lord Eames and Lady Mary Peters were part of the procession of the king and the queen.
Just prior to that the three main Northern Ireland church leaders were prominent in the procession of faith leaders in the abbey: the Rev David Nixon, the Right Rev Dr John Kirkpatrick; Most Rev Dr Eamon Martin and Most Rev John McDowell.
Archbishop McDowell, who is Anglican Primate of All Ireland, later brought the Orb from the altar, placing it in the king's right hand.
Only 24 peers got a seat in the service out of more than 600 of them, and three were from NI: Lords Dodds and Rogan and Baroness Hoey.
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