When Elizabeth was crowned Queen after her father's death in 1952, she was met with a tide of public jubilation — so it's only fitting she is being farewelled with the help of a different kind of tide.
Almost 70 years after Queen Elizabeth II's coronation, a sand artist has paid a poignant tribute to her at Adelaide's Brighton beach by engraving a likeness of the late monarch on the water's edge.
In full sunshine, and in full view of enchanted onlookers, Sue Norman began the meticulous process this morning, hours ahead of the Queen's funeral at London's Westminster Abbey.
Usually populated with crowds of beach walkers — as well as the occasional sand castle — Brighton's sands instead became a canvas on which Ms Norman imprinted one of her sand mandalas.
"A beautiful day to create a memorial sandala for the Queen," Ms Norman wrote on Facebook, encouraging passers-by to go and have a "look and even leave flowers" that would then be washed out to sea.
The side profile of the sovereign resembled a coin or a stamp — with the exception that, on the beach, she is facing to the left rather than the right.
After completing the work, Ms Norman told ABC Radio Adelaide's Sonya Feldhoff it was a therapeutic process that would also wash away feelings of sadness and poignancy.
"I've created a portrait, you might say a silhouette portrait, of the Queen at about 12 metres across," she said.
"She's got a silhouette of a crown and of course the pearls and around it a halo of pearls as well and at the base is a place where people are putting their flowers."
Ms Norman said hundreds of people including many passers-by had come down to have a look before it gradually disappeared.
"We've seen it in London, the people queuing to walk past and pay homage to the Queen for the last time and there are a lot of people here and around the world who can't do that, so I guess I've created a space," she said.
"That's one of the things I enjoy about the sand mandalas — the impermanence of it. It takes the feelings away.
She said a monarch butterfly flew across the piece just before she finished it.
"I just thought that was a beautiful thing to occur," she said.
The fleeting artwork took about three hours to create and will soon be at the mercy of the tide.
But with a fine afternoon and evening ahead, it won't be a king tide, but a gentle lapping of the water that is altogether more regal and sedate.
