The brilliant star was suddenly extinguished. Diana, "queen of people's hearts", was dead. And we wept. Britain awoke to the news of Princess Diana's grotesque and untimely death in the horrific crash which also claimed the lives of her friend, Dodi al-Fayed, and their chauffeur.
The new life which seemed to beckon was suddenly, brutally, at an end. The sun shone but our world instantly seemed a darker place.
Church bells tolled and a terrible silence gripped the land.
Hundreds made their way to Buckingham Palace, to Kensington Palace, and to Harrods store, building banks of flowers in tearful tribute.
In churches across the UK, stunned congregations offered prayers for the deceased princess, for her young sons, William and Harry, for Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles and the royal family.
On street corners, in shops and on railway platforms, people stood in silent disbelief.
In millions of homes, men, women and children sat transfixed as the BBC suspended normal programming to tell the awful story.
On-the-hour bulletins, preceded by the national anthem and the Union Jack flying at half mast, confirmed a nation in mourning.
Politicians and churchmen struggled for appropriate words. The Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, found them, his voice cracking with emotion, as he paid tribute to "a wonderful and warm human being" whose life was so often touched by tragedy, yet who touched the lives of so many across the world "with joy and with comfort".
Mr Blair wondered how many times we would remember her and in what different ways.
"With the sick, the dying, with children, with the needy. With just a look or a gesture that spoke so much more than words, she would reveal to all of us the depth of her compassion and her humanity.
"We know how difficult things were for her from time to time. We can only guess that. But people everywhere kept faith with Princess Diana.
"They liked her, they loved her, they regarded her as one of the people. She was the people's princess and that is how she will stay, how she will remain in our hearts and our memories for ever."
Time and again, it was to Princess Diana's "humanity" that people returned. So often attention seemed focused on her wardrobe, on the glamour she undoubtedly brought to British royalty. Yet spokesmen for her favoured charities reminded us of the depth of her commitment to children, to AIDS sufferers, to the homeless, of her pioneering spirit.
The recent images of yachts, of swimsuits and sunshine holidays were eclipsed as we remembered the princess who shook hands with the leper, and who forced a change in the international climate with her outspoken campaign for a worldwide ban on landmines.
South Africa's President Nelson Mandela paid tribute to the woman who had become "an ambassador for victims of landmines, war orphans, the sick and needy throughout the world".
Former US Secretary of State, Dr Henry Kissinger, told of "a very sensitive, at times very amusing lady who desperately wanted to make a difference in this world".
The Scottish Primate, Cardinal Thomas Winning, spoke of her "magnificent legacy of love and concern for people at the margins of society" at home and abroad. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr George Carey, identified the vulnerability, the very human frailty, which lay at the heart of the British public's love affair with the beautiful princess who, 16 years earlier, had been swept from the pageantry of the fairytale wedding at St Paul's, complete with gilded carriage.
"She seized the imagination of young and old alike. This beautiful woman was also a very vulnerable human being and out of that vulnerability and weakness, if you like, comes lots of strength, her compassion and her commitment to people."
That extraordinary commitment was fuelled by the many tragedies which dogged Princess Diana's life - from the collapse of her parents' marriage when she was just six, to the "saddest day" of her life, one year ago, when she and Prince Charles were finally divorced.
There will now be some anger and guilt. Historian Ben Pimlott is right to say that we might all share responsibility because the paparazzi represented a public appetite which ultimately consumed her.
Most of all there is just the terrible sadness, the sense of loss and waste, the compassion and concern for her family, and the knowledge that we will never see her like again.
Baroness Thatcher said a beacon of light had been switched off. And in his grief, Mr Mohamed alFayed lamented the death of a princess who will be irreplaceable.