Queen Elizabeth receives Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during an audience at Windsor Castle on March 7 this year. Photo / AP
Queen Elizabeth receives Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during an audience at Windsor Castle on March 7 this year. Photo / AP
News of the death of Queen Elizabeth II filtered through to a swearing-in ceremony as hundreds of soon-to-be Canadians were about to take their citizenship oath.
There was a long pause as officials in Ottawa worked out how best to proceed, and awaited official confirmation of the name chosen bythe new monarch.
"The monarch is now King Charles III, King of Canada," the presiding judge suddenly declared following public confirmation by Liz Truss on the steps of Downing Street.
"It was a quick and sober acknowledgment. Extremely Canadian," said Robert Rocha, a Canadian journalist, who was sitting with a friend going through the ceremony
The oath was then quickly altered and the new citizens each declared their allegiance to "Sa majesté le roi Charles III, roi du Canada" – "His Mastery King Charles III, King of Canada."
At the end of the ceremony they declared: "The Queen is dead. Long live the King!"
In doing so, they became the first citizens to join a Commonwealth country in the new era.
Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip in Schefferville on their royal tour of Canada in 1959. Photo / AP
The confusion in Canada reflected the struggle of leaders and peoples across the Commonwealth to adapt to such a foundational change. The vast majority have never known another monarch.
At the time of her death the late queen was the sovereign of 14 independent countries - Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Belize, Grenada, Jamaica, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, Tuvalu, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Overall, 2.5 billion people live in the Commonwealth's 56 member states.
In Canada, the late Queen had been the monarch for almost half of the country's existence.
It is a country she had an especially close personal connection to, visited more than any other during her reign, repeatedly referring to it as her "second home".
Justin Trudeau, the Canadian Prime Minister, was tearful as he said: "She was one of my favourite people in the world. And I will miss her so.
"As her 12th Canadian Prime Minister, I am having trouble believing that my last sit-down with her was my last. I will so miss those chats."
In Toronto, the city's landmark CN Tower fell dark in a show of respect.
Meanwhile, in Australia, the Sydney Opera House's sails were lit up with an image of the late Queen.
She had been there when it was opened in 1973, one of 16 visits she made to the country.
Australia's Parliament has been suspended for at least 15 days, and the Australian Defence Force led a 96-gun salute at dusk.
After Prime Minister Anthony Albanese returns from her state funeral, there will be a national day of mourning.
Like many, Mr Albanese spoke about how the late Queen had been an anchor for the Commonwealth as it sailed the unpredictable tides of history.
He said: "Her Majesty was a rare and reassuring constant amidst rapid change. Through the noise and turbulence of the years, she embodied and exhibited a timeless decency and an enduring calm.
"This time of mourning will pass but the deep respect and warm regard in which Australians always held Her Majesty will never fade."
Even those not enamoured of the monarchy as an institution were left bereft.
Malcolm Turnbull, the former Australian Prime Minister, who led a failed campaign to make Australia a republic, came close to tears as he paid tribute.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern with a portrait of Queen Elizabeth during her press conference at the Beehive in Wellington on 9 September 2022. Photo / Mark Mitchell
"She devoted her whole life to the nation, the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth and other countries like Australia," he said.
"The Queen understood that to preserve an institution you have to change."
Here in New Zealand, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was awoken by a police officer with a torch at 4.50am local time.
There was only one reason for that to happen. The police officer didn't have to tell her.
"When that torchlight came into my room, I knew immediately what it meant," Ardern said.
"She [the late Queen] was extraordinary. I learnt much from observing her. We share our thanks for an incredible woman who we were lucky enough to call our Queen."
There has been debate in Australia and New Zealand on whether to become republics, replacing the monarch with a citizen as the head of state. A 1999 referendum in Australia was defeated.
Adam Bandt, the Australian Greens Party leader, was accused of being disrespectful when he said: "Now Australia must move forward. We need to become a republic."
Mr Albanese slapped him down, saying: "Today's a day for one issue and one issue only, which is to pay tribute to Queen Elizabeth II."
The debate is also taking place in the Caribbean, where Barbados last year became a Republic, bringing 396 years of the British monarchy's reign to an end.
Andrew Holness, the Prime Minister of Jamaica, is planning a referendum. While he described the late Queen as a "close friend" of Jamaica, he did not refer to her as head of state.
Queen Elizabeth visiting the Maori Arts and Crafts Institute wood carving school in Rotorua in 1995. Photo / NZME
One official in Kingston told the Telegraph: "Jamaica needs to free itself from the shackles of colonialism finally."
An official in Antigua said: "The Queen kept everybody together in the Caribbean. She was well loved in the archipelago. I don't think that with her passing that they will want to have a king as their head of state."
The Queen visited many of the Commonwealth nations in the Pacific.
James Marape, Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, described how she was fondly known as "Mama Queen" because she was "the matriarch of our country as much as she was to her family".
She also visited India, the largest Commonwealth nation by population, three times as monarch. On Sunday, India will observe a day of mourning and Indian flags will be flown at half-mast around the country.
It is an unheard-of public declaration of grief for a foreign figure in contemporary India, where Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister, has risen a wave of nationalism.
Modi said he was "pained" by the late Queen's death and praised her "inspiring leadership to her nation and people".
Many in India reflected on the longevity of her reign. The late Queen ascended to the throne during an India-England test cricket match that proved to be the former's first international cricket win.
"So, essentially every international match India won was during her reign," said Abhishek Mukherjee, of Wisden India.
In Malta, a former British colony that has been long associated with the royals, the British High Commission in Valletta, the capital, put out a book of condolences for anyone wanting to pay their respects.
The condolences book was flanked by a Union Jack and a portrait of the Queen, who lived in Malta as a young princess in the early years of her marriage to Prince Philip.
In a Royal British Legion pub in a backstreet of Valletta, as tourists wilted from the roasting summer heat, barmaid Maria Agius said: "I was shocked by her death. It seemed to happen so quickly. But she had a good long life. And she loved Malta."
Asked what she thought about the Queen being succeeded by King Charles, she said: "No comment. It won't be the same."
