Queen Elizabeth II died surrounded by her family at Balmoral aged 96.
For 70 years, the monarch had devoted her life to her country however in her final years squabbles engulfed her own family.
But as her children, along with grandchildren Princes William and Harry, gathered at her beloved Scottish home the Firm that she had so long upheld was finally reunited.
And the royal rift seems to be showing signs of healing as the Prince and Princess of Wales extended a last minute olive branch to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to join them greeting mourners in Windsor.
For 70 years duty came before everything in the life of Queen Elizabeth II.
It came before her own feelings, her wishes, hopes and dreams.
And it came before the other treasured roles of daughter, wife, mother and grandmother.
Her first duty was to her people, and to the institution she was destined to serve.
Yet juggling the demands of monarchy and motherhood inevitably caused real personal heartache throughout her record-breaking reign.
Tragically, in recent months the drama and scandal of seismic family fall-outs had cast a long shadow over her twilight years.
These weren’t private petty squabbles but rows and a scandal which repeatedly made headlines around the world, with seemingly no prospect of reconciliation.
But yesterday there was the hope all that could be put aside as Her Majesty’s long life drew peacefully to a close.
Because her passing could help to achieve her final wish - by bringing the flawed and fractured Firm back together as a family.
Her two eldest children, Prince Charles and Princess Anne were already in Scotland in recent days, attending the Braemar Royal Highland Gathering in the Highlands together last weekend.
The heir to the throne - now new king - had been visiting his ailing mother daily .
And with news her health had taken a turn for the worse, other children and grandchildren headed north,
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were both desperately keen to join them, but as their children George, Charlotte and Louis had just started at their new school it was decided William should go alone.
He was joined on his flight to Aberdeen by the Earl and Countess of Wessex and - most tellingly - by his uncle the Duke of York.
Prince Andrew, who stepped back from royal duties over his relationship with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and a car-crash BBC interview, has remained close to his mother.
He is known to have been lobbying the Queen about returning to official life although both Charles and William had ruled this out and made clear there is no place for him in a new, slimmed down monarchy.
Yet in a sign of Windsor unity at this moment of crisis a grim-faced William was seen driving into Balmoral Castle at the wheel of a Range Rover with his shamed uncle Andy sitting beside him. Edward and Sophie Wessex sat in the back passenger seats both looking solemn and deep in thought.
As they arrived the Duke of Sussex was making his own arrangements to fly to Scotland.
Harry, in Britain with wife Meghan for a series of engagements, must have found the timing of his trip both fortuitous and deeply upsetting.
Relations between him and his family have hit rock bottom since the series of “truth bombs” dropped by the Sussexes in recent interviews.
Harry even claimed he had “lost” his father and had apparently made no plans to visit Charles or William during his stay.
But his love for his grandmother and fears for her health meant he cancelled an engagement to return to the family fold.
Finally the whole family were together in grief, but united at Balmoral by a love for a mother and grandmother, stronger than any of the rifts which have so publicly driven them apart.
They all know that Elizabeth would want to see her grandsons William and Harry rekindle their relationship and support each other at this dark time
They all know the Queen would want to see her family reunited behind her eldest son as he takes on the burden of duty as King Charles III.
A royal source told he Mirror: “The Queen had to put duty before family throughout her long rein, often at enormous personal cost.
“And following the death of the Duke of Edinburgh she was left without the strength and stay who helped her deal with family crises.
“Prince Charles and Prince William both stepped up to support her, and she remained close to all her children and grandchildren.
“But Her Majesty was clearly distressed by the ongoing rifts within her family.
“And the thought that her passing might bring some rapprochement would have comforted her in her final hours.”
Whether those wishes are truly realised remains to be seen.
As many ordinary families know, even the bitterest rifts can be healed when relatives are brought back together at times of grief and high emotion.
But the speed with which the senior royals flocked to Balmoral to be at the Queen’s bedside suggested that they are now prepared to put their differences aside.
Charles III had the benefit of a more normal family life in the years that he was a Prince.
And while his sense of duty is as strong as his mother’s he knows that the Firm will work best if the Family is united.
And he will put that aim above everything.
