Oslo shut down today. The airport cancelled flights to make room for royal aircraft, police marched along the main boulevards, and monarchs from half of Europe sat in the cathedral. Harald V, the king Norwegians called "the grandfather of the nation", was given a state funeral of a kind the city has not seen in a long time.

He died on 28 August, aged 89, after several days in hospital. Thirty-five years on the throne. The figure matters because it shows how long a monarch can stay relevant without a single scandal to fill a front page - something other European courts in the same period failed to manage.

The guest list is a political map in itself. Felipe VI and Letizia came from Madrid together with Queen Sofía. Carl XVI Gustaf and Silvia from Sweden. Victoria, the Swedish crown princess, who was Harald's goddaughter. From Greece came Anne-Marie, Princess Alexia with her husband and Prince Nikolaos. From Liechtenstein - Prince Alois. From Jordan came King Abdullah and Queen Rania, who joined at the last minute.

The ceremony began at one in the afternoon in Oslo cathedral. Three tolls of the bell at the start, three at the end. A minute of silence for the whole country. The speaker of parliament and the prime minister spoke, followed by an interfaith lighting of candles - the detail that says most about the kind of state Norway wants to be today.

The coffin was accompanied by the new king Haakon VIII, Queen Mette-Marit and Princess Ingrid Alexandra. It was then taken to Akershus Fortress, to the private chapel, where the state withdrew and only the family remained. Bells rang across Norway for an hour.

Queen Sonja, a widow after fifty-eight years of marriage, was seen walking alone through the palace gardens at seven in the morning, hours before any of it began. That is the scene that stayed - not the procession, not the uniforms, but a woman going out early to be alone before she has to be a queen in front of cameras.

The palace flag was lowered to half-mast and was only to be raised at the burial. A small protocol detail, but details like that are what hold an institution together - everyone knows what it means and nobody has to explain.

The reception the previous evening at the Grand Hotel was hosted by the new rulers. That is the moment a monarchy actually changes hands: not at the ceremony in front of the cameras, but at the dinner the night before, where you see who is seated close to whom.