When I met the Queen, she showed great seriousness and empathy – but also reduced us to raucous laughter | Kevin Rudd

We somehow imagined she could stay with us forever - an indestructible force that always bounced back from adversities both personal and national

I suspect Queen Elizabeth II's death has struck so hard for many for two main reasons.

The first is that the Queen was a constant and rock-solid presence for almost the entire postwar era - there was a sense of certainty and strength in the values she brought to public office, in an age whose only certainty seemed to be change itself.