If the Queen Mother had died soon after her husband, there would have been a long period of national mourning as veneration for royalty was then at its peak.

But times have changed and the Queen Mother lived far longer than any other member of the royal family has ever done.

The national mood now is one of respect for a woman who never wished to be Queen or Queen Mother but who fulfilled those duties faithfully for 65 years.

But it is not one for the full pomp and ceremony that inevitably followed the death of a leading royal, or top politician in the Fifties or Sixties.

There was an impressive funeral procession yesterday watched by thousands of people but nothing like the crowds of yesteryear.

Next week, there will be a funeral service but few shops will close or businesses pause as they invariably did in the past.

When the Queen dies, there will be a similar mood of respect and sadness but it will also signify the end of an era .

She and the Queen Mother were the last survivors from an age when royalty had to do little more but look regal and say little.

Royals have to move with the times like everyone else and future monarchs will have to be more informal for the institution to survive.