Lenzie family's poignant farewell to the monarch

She said on Saturday: “I feel emotional being here. The reality is, the Queen is today just at the end of the drive.

"We come here on holiday and stay on the estate and we have watched her come out of the gates many times.

"Now, this will be the last time.”

Shona was among the crowds who gathered on the Queen’s final day at Balmoral for the fondest of farewells as the Royal Family thanked the public for their support.

By the bus load, people came to say goodbye and queued in polite fashion for their moment to leave a flower, pay their respects and play witness to this end of an era in deepest, most serene, Deeside.

Utter silence pinned the crowd as members of the Royal Family, including Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward, along with a number of the Queen’s grandchildren, left their heavily plated cars to greet the public after attending private prayers at Crathie Kirk, shortly after 2pm.

On Sunday morning, the Queen left her beloved Balmoral behind for the very last time, as her final journey from Scotland began.

The royal cortege, on a scale never seen before, emerged from the castle gates at 10am with the procession of cars to make its way through Deeside and then to Aberdeen, Dundee and Edinburgh.

Thousands lined the route, which slowed to walking pace at points, with the journey to the capital to take more than six hours.

The 175-mile journey ended at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh.

St Giles' Cathedral was to host a service to celebrate the Queen's life and her connection to Scotland.

She was to lay at rest there until yesterday afternoon (Tuesday) allowing members of the public to pay their last respects.

From Thursday, the Queen will lie in state at Westminster Hall for four days. Her funeral will take place at Westminster Abbey on Monday, September 19.

The last member of the Royal Family to lie in state in the hall was the Queen Mother in 2002, when more than 200,000 people queued to view her coffin.