The smoke from Ngarrindjeri Kaurna Elder Uncle Major Moogy Sumner’s welcome drifts across the pews, as the Archbishop of Adelaide Geoffrey Smith speaks of how many mourning Her Majesty grew to think of her as a grandmother or great grandmother.

“Queen Elizabeth may have lived a long way away but she was always there,” he told the hundreds of South Australians lining the pews inside.

It is a sentiment shared by Penelope Schulz, who travelled from Tanunda to first place a white camellia flower at Government House and then a pink camellia at St Peter’s Cathedral in memory of the Queen who died on September 8.

Now Penelope takes a front row seat in the outdoor marquee erected for those who missed out on securing a ticket to be inside.

“The rain doesn’t worry me. I think they are the tears I am crying. I’ve got my pearls on, I hardly ever wear them but I’ve actually been wearing them to bed,” she says, adding that the Royals wear pearls to mourn.

“The Queen, I love her, I always have, I think it’s my parents, my parents adored her, my Mum and Dad were actually presented to the Queen at the opening of Kaiser Stuhl (winery) in the Barossa, that was in ’77.”

Penelope Schulz from Tanunda. Pic: Belinda Willis/InDaily

There are others in the crowd with deep connections.

Three members of the Royal Caledonian pipes and drums group are dressed in their finery to pay tribute to the woman they once played for at Windsor Castle in England.

Bass drummer Robert Howie said most of the band played for the Queen’s 90^th birthday in 2016, the only other Australian band invited to the event was the SA police band.

“She set an unbelievable standard in her service for everybody,” snare drummer Bob Moffatt says, adding that he was lucky enough to drink red wine and nibble scones along with five other band members and the Queen during the event.

Tenor drummer Margot watched the funeral in London the night before on the television and was still feeling emotional.

“We were all up watching last night and I shed a tear, especially when they showed her Fell pony and corgis waiting at Windsor Castle,” she says.

Service men and women are in the church and standing at posts outside. Among them is Royal Australian Air Force recruit Jazmyn Powell and soldier Rohullah Ismaili, the two volunteering to drill and open the car doors for the Governor on her arrival.

It is when Governor Frances Adamson arrives that the service begins. Later she walks to the front of the grand old church first consecrated in 1878 to deliver a reading, so too does Premier Peter Malinauskas.

Uncle Moogy’s welcome to country during the state service at St Peter’s Cathedral. Photo: AAP/Matt Turner

A rollcall of church leaders deliver their prayers: the Reverend Dr Melinda Cousins from Baptist Churches SA, and others from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, the Catholic, Lutheran and Churches Together SA.

All stand for the City of Adelaide Pipe Band as its members march through the centre of the cathedral and then voices ring out to sing ‘God save our gracious king’, before fittingly finishing the service with the Australian national anthem.

Lorraine Brougham is among those singing. She tells of always being a royalist and wishing she could have travelled to England to farewell the Queen. Tonight, Lorraine is walking with support after undergoing spinal surgery just a few days ago.

“I can line up for a couple of minutes when other people could line up for miles in London, I love the Queen,” she says.

“Nothing was going to stop me from coming tonight.”

Lorraine Brougham at the state service for the Queen.