The Queen’s funeral will be a day of profound sorrow and tears, but also of beauty and celebration for a wonderful life

Our hearts are with you

TODAY will be unlike any other day.

A day of ceremony and majestic ­pageantry beyond anyone’s experience.

A day of profound sorrow, and tears, but of beauty and celebration for an extraordinary and historic life.

Our country and much of the world will come to a halt, or a pause at least, to mourn.

It is hard for Britons to fully comprehend our Queen’s global fame.

By the end of the day — after millions, including 2,000 VIPs, have descended on ­London and Windsor from across the world and as much as half the planet’s population have watched on TV — it may finally have sunk in.

So will the cold reality that the long era of Elizabeth II is over, that we will never see another Queen in our ­lifetimes and that a new, less certain chapter has truly begun.

The Sun says good luck to all those directly involved in the funeral today and those who have planned it so meticulously over many years.

We have witnessed, from the moment of Her Majesty’s death, an organisational masterpiece amid the shock and grief: From the sombre motorcades and magnificent processions to the Royal walkabouts and even the queuing ­system to reach Westminster Hall.

It has been close to flawless.

We pray today goes just as smoothly. And we say to any who may wish otherwise:

Give us our day, without opportunistic protest or republican snark.

Give us — the majority who value and love our monarchy, history and traditions — this day to join together and mourn.

Here was a woman of 96 whose ­wisdom and limitless composure held the nation together through thick and thin for 70 years.

Composure

Hers was an incredible innings. Even non-royalists owe her and her family that much respect.

We have a little advice for parents whose kids have the day off: Convince them to watch at least some of today’s historic events, even if they’re not keen.

In years to come they will be thankful they can remember the day Britain ­buried our longest-reigning and ­perhaps even our greatest monarch.

Finally, our thoughts turn to those closest to the Queen.

When her beloved Philip died, Her Majesty herself said: “When you are grieving someone you deeply love, it isn’t easy when you have to do it in public.”

That is the burden her family, friends and staff bear today.

The world is watching. But from the outpouring of love over the last 11 days they should be certain of this:

Our hearts are with them.