The death o f Queen Elizabeth II will be felt deeply across Scotland today as the nation mourns a woman who earned respect and love across all boundaries.
Her Majesty was a constant symbol of stability in a country changing beyond recognition from the wealth of empire, to the demise of industry and the 21st century world of the internet and globalisation. The fact that her life and reign have ended here in Scotland is apt – as she clearly loved this country and was loved in return by most Scots.
Even many of those who feel that the institution of monarchy is out-of-date had a great deal of affection for Queen Elizabeth. She was here on the historic day when the Scottish Parliament was re-established in 1999 and Balmoral remained the favourite of her homes.
The tributes and tears shed outside Balmoral when the news was passed on that the Queen had died will have been reflected in homes across Scotland.
She was there as a young princess to help heal the wounds of World War II. As Queen of Scots, she was always determined to make sure that she was a monarch for the whole of the UK.
Seventy years on the throne, stretching from the conquest of Everest to the defeat of a global pandemic, was a remarkable achievement.
From the splendour of her coronation to the sight of a frail, smiling Queen welcoming her 15th Prime Minister to the comfort of her Scottish home this week, she showed extraordinary resilience.
Even at the last, the Queen roused herself for the service of her country, performing her constitutional role with a steady assurance of continuity.
It was a poignant and symbolic reminder of her devotion to duty. No one, of course, goes on forever. Elizabeth II, the longest reigning monarch in British history, died yesterday at Balmoral, surrounded by her family, bathed in the love and regard of the nation for a lifetime of service.
She was never happier than tramping the moors around Balmoral.
Her famous Corgi dogs and her horses became emblematic of her love for the outdoors and the countryside.
Internationally and nationally she was a bearer of reconciliation, visiting post-war Germany in 1956 and in 2011 becoming the first monarch in a century to visit the Republic of Ireland.
As head of the Commonwealth, which she did so much to establish, she laid a golden thread around the globe and helped Britain acknowledge its colonial past without destroying the shared inheritance.
And it is a mark of her standing that all political leaders in Scotland, including those seeking independence, are genuinely in mourning today.
Hardly anything else weathered the tumultuous passage of time but she rode each change of each of her seven decades as monarch with an inscrutable sense of dignity which just added to her allure.
Not many really knew what the Queen was like or what she thought but she was able to touch lives personally and nationally with her presence, her unpretentiousness and her occasional flash of wit.
She did change, quietly and slowly modernising, game enough to appear with James Bond at the opening of the London Olympics.
She was wise enough not to engage directly in passing political squalls but shrewd enough when called on to advise and encourage politicians through the decades.
She exercised her entirely symbolic power so skilfully that her influence was almost invisible. But as she commented herself, the very notion of monarchy in a modern age, meant that she had to be seen to be believed.
Through years of public engagements, walkabouts, ship launches and making total strangers feel at ease, she became the much-loved part of life in this country.
Christmases will not be the same again without her annual broadcast, a duty she took seriously and which only served to reinforce the belief that she would somehow last forever.
As a mother she endured as much personal heartache as any modern family does, and was widowed after 73 years of marriage to Prince Philip, whom he described as being her rock.
The tumultuous public and private lives of her children gave her a sense of having suffered life’s traumas like everyone else, despite most of her time being spent in a gilded cage.
Regardless of that distance between monarch and subjects, people felt the presence of the Queen bone-deep in their lives.
Respect for her was not just felt by those who are avid supporters of the monarchy.
Even hearts of stone melted with deep sympathy and sorrow for a woman who devoted her whole life to her country.
For any family mourning a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother this is a difficult time.
So time and space will be rightly given to the Royal Family as the country transitions to a new era and a new king.
The pomp and the ceremony may grate as the days of official mourning pass slowly by.
The departure of the Queen will feel for some like the slow passing of the old ways. Her steadfast sense of duty, her enduring dignity, in a reign like no other, may not outlast her.
Her death could trigger a deep, rumbling earthquake of emotion that will shake the nation and question these stabilising and unifying forces she represented.
But the overwhelming feeling will be of sorrow, for with her passing we have lost something of ourselves.
For now there is only solemnity, sympathy and respect for service rendered.
Goodnight, Ma’am. God bless you.
