When I logged on for my shift at 2pm September 8 last year there was a strange feeling in the air at Echo HQ.

Buckingham Palace released a statement about 90 minutes earlier confirming the Queen was under medical supervision.

A worried Liz Truss had been passed a message during PMQs and then-Prince Charles was seen boarding a helicopter to be with his “mummy” in Balmoral. The Palace seemed to be preparing us for the worst.

I’d only been working at The Northern Echo, and as a reporter, for three months and this was only my second time on the late shift.

Read more: Minute by minute: What happened the day the Queen died and Charles became King

I had been, as I am sure every journalist has, dealing with the nerves a few weeks earlier before my first late shift – which involves a couple of hours flying solo - joked that I’d be ok as long as the Queen didn’t die.

There had been years of planning for Her Majesty’s death – known as Operation London Bridge – but we would only have one chance to get our coverage right. No journalist wants to get it wrong.

“We’re continuing as normal but preparing for the worst,” I was told as I checked in with our news editor after clocking on.

As the afternoon went on it was clear the situation was worsening as royals flocked to Queen Elizabeth II’s bedside, but no announcement came from the Palace.

Our sources had suggested any announcement would be made before 7pm – otherwise, the tragic news could break the next morning. As 7pm approached we hit 6.30pm, and the news we had been anticipating, but never wanted to receive, arrived.

The Northern Echo: How Buckingham Palace announced the death of Queen Elizabeth II.How Buckingham Palace announced the death of Queen Elizabeth II. (Image: PA)

Those next few hours were a whirlwind. Tributes poured into our long-serving monarch. Businesses announced mourning periods. Events were cancelled.

We pulled together a special edition of the paper, ripping up the plan for the front pages and starting over with just hours to the deadline.

The Northern Echo: The Northern Echo Front Page the day after Queen Elizabeth II died.The Northern Echo Front Page the day after Queen Elizabeth II died. (Image: NORTHERN ECHO)

It’s often easy to get caught up in a story until you take a step back. As I sat down with a (much-needed) glass of wine after logging off and turned on the TV to find newsreaders dressed in black, the significance of what had happened finally hit me.

Watching coverage of her life it was a replay of the Queen's sketch with Paddington from the Platinum Jubilee just a few months earlier which brought a tear to my eye.

The Northern Echo: Members of the public soon gathered outside Buckingham Palace following the announcement.Members of the public soon gathered outside Buckingham Palace following the announcement. (Image: PA)

Fast-forward a week and I pick up my phone to see a missed call from our editor. ‘It’s my day off so it must be important’, I think as I call him back.

“We’re going to send someone to London for the funeral,” he says, “Would you do it?”

I never expected to be covering one of the biggest stories of our lifetime, but I was set to head to London to do just that.

One week later, on Monday, September 19, my alarm went off at 2.30am. I was set to catch the first train to London from Newcastle Central Station at 4.45am, dispatched especially for mourners journeying to the capital in a bid to capture the mood of the nation.

I expected the train to be rammed but there were only a handful of people on board at first. As we called at each stop the train started to slowly fill up with people who felt compelled to be in London. The sense of community in that carriage will never leave me. Friendships were formed and total strangers joined together to plan their day. The Queen was continuing to unite us as she had for the last 70 years.

On the journey, I met some mourners – a three-generation family, a pair of tennis partners and best friends, and a lady travelling solo – to whom I explained my work, befriended, and spent the rest of the day with. One, coincidentally, happened to be a distant cousin of an old friend from secondary school.

We, like many, struggled to get anywhere near the procession route and filed into Hyde Park with thousands of others to watch the service on the big screen.

The moment was no less special. Relatives and partners stood embracing each other as they watched the emotional service, some shedding a tear, and when the minute's silence began, you could hear a pin drop in the park despite it being packed with mourners as far as the eye could see.

It was an emotional sight and moment, even for someone quite hard-skinned like myself. Goosebumps stood up on my arms as the park, and I, reflected on the Her Majesty's life.

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Heading back to Kings Cross to catch my evening train home normality was returning to London’s streets.

On board Chief Feature Writer Chris Lloyd and I sat in our carriages frantically typing away, filing our copy back to Echo HQ as the team put the finishing touches on yet another special edition of the paper.

The Northern Echo: The Northern Echo Front Page the day after the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II - 'She made history, she was history'.The Northern Echo Front Page the day after the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II - 'She made history, she was history'. (Image: NORTHERN ECHO)

I felt honoured and privileged to be there on such an important day covering one of the biggest stories of our lifetime.