Even the hardest of hearts would have struggled not to melt at the moving sight of the Queen's favourite horse Emma loyally waiting for her coffin in Windsor.
The 24-year-old black fell pony stood by the Long Walk as the Queen made her final journey to Windsor Castle yesterday, accompanied by head stud, Terry Pendry, 72.
In a touching gesture, Mr Pendry laid out the Queen's Hermes headscarf - which she often wore while riding - across Emma's saddle.
And as the coffin approached, Emma stamped her foot once in what some commentators claimed may have been a sign of distress for her master.
And Mr Pendry, 72, who worked for the Queen for 28 years, said that Emma is aware on some level that she will never ride with the Queen again.
"The Queen adored Emma and rode her for more than 20 years so it was only right she should have been there, and she behaved impeccably," he told the Daily Mail.
'I think she probably had some sort of sixth sense that Her Majesty wouldn't be riding her anymore and she did her proud by standing there so respectfully."
Mr Pendry said that on their last ride, the Queen was physically frail but her mind was was 'crystal clear' and she was 'still sharp as anything'.
It was an honour, he said, to have served her and to have been able to bring Emma to say goodbye.
Sharing his heartbreak, he added: "I'm sad to say that I don't think we shall ever seen anyone like the Queen again and there are no words to express how much I shall miss her. I'm just so glad that Emma and I were able to say our goodbye at Windsor where Her Majesty enjoyed riding her horses so much."
Emma - full name Carltonlima Emma - was bred at the Murthwaite Stud farm in Cumbria by Thomas Capstick, who passed away in 2015.
She was just four when the Queen first started riding her, and Mr Capstick's aunt, Mary Airey, said he would have been 'so proud'.
"It was lovely yesterday to see Emma with Terry," she told the BBC.
"And - I don't know if people noticed - but when the coffin went past Emma lifted her foot and it was priceless."
So what will happen to the Queen's beloved pets now? It's thought that her surviving corgis, Muick and Sandy, will go to live with Prince Andrew at his nearby home in Windsor.
And royal biographer Claudia Joseph believes that Emma and the rest of the Queen's horses will also go to a new home, but one within the family, especially given Princess Anne and her daughter Zara's shared passion for riding.
"It is likely that the queen's daughter, Princess Anne, and daughter, Zara, who were both Olympic equestrians and well-known horse lovers, are likely to be involved in what happens next to the queen's animals," she told The Post.
