My friend, Sherlock Holmes, invariably paid little to no attention to the news of the day, save for the criminal news and the agony column. While he was able, on occasion, to call upon obscure facts about our sometimes very illustrious clients, this was by no means the norm. Indeed, as my friend's fame grew and he was either hired or honored by one important political figure or another, I found myself needing to instruct him quickly on the position the person held and its importance to the country.

I certainly found myself with a greater knowledge of the British government than I had ever hoped to need, but even without this, I had always considered it important to remain informed of the events of the day, and so I made certain to read the newspaper in its entirety daily. Except, of course, for the criminal news and the agony column, which Holmes usually made certain to remove before I ever saw them.

Early in our acquaintance, I had sometimes attempted to bring Holmes's attention to important current events, to little avail, and by the dawn of the twentieth century, I had long since considered this a lost cause. Some events, however, were too momentous to ignore.

"Holmes!" I cried, putting down my morning coffee rather more heavily than intended, so that it splashed all over Mrs. Hudson's white tablecloth. She would undoubtedly be angry later, yet I could not concern myself with that now. I turned my attention back to the headline which had caused such a reaction in the first place. "Holmes, you must look at this!"

"Watson, you know I have no interest in politics, much to Mycroft's annoyance, for he insists that one must always concern themselves with whatever useless scheme the politicians-"

"Holmes!" I exclaimed. "I am aware of your disinterest in current events, but there are some things none of us can ignore." I held out the Times to him so he might read it.

BUCKINGHAM PALACE ANNOUNCES DEATH OF HER MAJESTY QUEEN VICTORIA

I have rarely seen Sherlock Holmes speechless, but an event of this magnitude caused even my stoic, disinterested friend to all but gasp aloud and reach for the newspaper. I watched him read the article, which said little other than what was necessary.

"She passed away yesterday evening, on the Isle of Wight," Holmes said. "Well, this is certainly newsworthy. Though I cannot say it is surprising."

"No," I conceded. "A woman of her age…but still. I had begun to believe she was all but immortal!"

Holmes laughed in his odd, silent way. "Come, Watson, you must know such a thing is impossible. Especially you, a medical man!"

"Yes, of course," I said. "Still…I can hardly imagine the country without her."

"In that, you are correct," Holmes said. "I do not remember another monarch, in fact."

I stared, aghast, at my friend's characteristic, but still surprising, lack of knowledge. "That is because neither of us have ever lived under another's rule. She came to the throne some seventeen years before I was born." I confess she had come to seem more an institution than a woman, perhaps because she had appeared in public so rarely since the death of Prince Albert, an event that was itself so far in the past many people only knew Victoria as the reclusive, black-clad "Widow of Windsor." Still, she had always been in the background of the life of the country, a sort of surety that all was going on as it should.

"Oh, that would explain it," Holmes said. "I do not mind telling you, Watson, I would not be in Mycroft's shoes now for all the world. Organizing a state funeral and making the government ready for a new ruler are sure to tax even his extraordinary capabilities to the limit."

"Yes, of course, he would certainly be involved. My God, Holmes, there shall be a funeral and - and a coronation, no doubt, in some time." I had, of course, heard stories from my mother and others, who remembered Victoria's own coronation and the funeral of her predecessor, but such events were so long ago they might as well have been the Middle Ages for most of the country, and indeed the world. Contemplating how much had changed since our Queen had come to the throne as a girl of eighteen was daunting. "She inherited a world of farms and now leaves a world of industry and electric lights," I said. Photography had been in its barest infancy upon her ascension; now motion picture theaters were becoming a common sight throughout London. From a world lit only by candles to lights powered by electricity, from communicating through letters which took weeks to arrive to the telephone, which enabled near instant communication. I found I struggled to grasp the enormity of it; everything which we now considered hallmarks of modern life, from common appliances to all the most well known books, musical works, authors, and political figures; all of them were encompassed in Victoria's reign.

"Sixty-three years is a long time," Holmes said. I looked up, surprised he knew such a fact, and he gestured to the Times article. "So it says in this article. The longest reign in British history."

"Yes," I said. "It seems only yesterday we were celebrating her Diamond Jubilee," I said. A historic day; even Holmes had been coaxed out of his disinterest and away from his chemistry table to join the crowds of well-wishers to view the royal family as they processed through London. It was the only time I remembered ever seeing the Queen wearing white rather than black. "It is strange," I said. "I never contemplated the country without her, though of course I knew this day must come. It is rather like the end of an age."

"I suppose you think they will name it after her," Holmes said.

"Well, why not?" I said. "Elizabeth gave her name to her age, and Victoria has already been compared to her more than once." If the Elizabethan age could be named after its queen, I saw no reason why our own times would not, in the future, be known as Victorian. "No one has symbolized our times so well," I said. "Why, there have been how many Prime Ministers during her reign? How different is our own country, since the start of her reign? The rulers of other countries, even, how many successive rulers have France and Russia had in her reign? It is remarkable."

"And now she is gone," Holmes said. "I am sure it seems so calamitous only to those of us who have not lived through this before, but nations go on, under other rulers. Some do not even have rulers. Our friends across the ocean do something similar every four years, Watson!"

"Yes, I know. But there was something so immutable and unchanging about her," I said. "No matter what else happened, she was always there. I suppose I found it comforting, in a way."

"Stability is always comfortable, and change always uncertain," Holmes said. "Speaking of change, I am sure I can count on you to know her successor."

"Oh, yes," I said. "Prince Albert, Prince of Wales, will succeed his mother as king, finally."

"Did Prince Albert not die many years ago?" Holmes asked.

"That was Victoria's consort. This is her son," I said. "He has been Prince of Wales for so long, I am sure he thought more than once he might not ever become king."

"Hmm. Come, Watson. If it is to be the dawn of a new age, let us go out and see it," Holmes said abruptly, in his characteristic way. I hastily followed him outdoors, and we began to make our way, without meaning to, toward the center of the city and Buckingham Palace.

We were hardly the only people who had thought of this, despite the bitter January weather. We passed many people thronged around the gates we all knew so well. People had begun to place flowers, and already there were so many no one could approach the imposing fence. I expect most of the country felt as unmoored as I did, without the steady presence we had all grown so accustomed to. Many of those we passed were crying as they stood, watching the silent palace.

"Still, Prince Albert is a known quantity," I said, after a few moments' silence, trying to think of what this new world might be like. "He has been acting in the Queen's stead for many years." These last few decades, the Prince had been doing much more than the Queen herself, though of course he was involved in none of the behind the scenes work of governing.

"King Albert now, Watson," Holmes said, as we passed a man on the street carrying a pad and pencil. I did not need Holmes's deductive ability to know that the man was a newspaper reporter.

Hearing us, the man turned around and shook his head. "I have some news that hasn't been reported yet. I'm a Royal correspondent, you see, for the Daily Telegraph. The new King has chosen to use Edward for his reign."

It took me a moment to remember that Edward was the prince's - king's - middle name. "Edward?" I said, once I did. "Why, he has been Prince Albert for sixty years!"

The newspaperman shrugged. "Supposedly he did not want to use the same name as his father, wanted him to 'stand alone' as the only Albert. If you ask me he didn't want to be associated with his father, after all that went bad between them, if you remember."

All of Britain - except perhaps Holmes - had known of the strife between the Prince Consort and his son, and I nodded. "So he shall be Edward the…" I counted quickly. "The Fifth?"

"The Seventh," our new companion said.

"King Edward VII." The unfamiliar name felt strange on my tongue. "I shall never get used to that." After so long with Queen Victoria and Albert, Prince of Wales, to change to King Edward VII made me realize more than anything else how much had changed. "We shall have to get used to singing God Save the King!" I said. "And our coins will soon have King…Edward on them." So much changed with the death of one. "Everything has changed overnight, Holmes. It is an utterly different world than the one we lived in yesterday."

"But get used to it we shall, and I daresay soon it shall feel as if it was never anything else," Holmes said.

"Perhaps," I said. "I am sure it will always feel strange though, to those of us who lived our lives under Victoria's reign."

"You may be right, Watson," Holmes said. "If I am correct, or rather if Mycroft is, when he tells me of things having to do with government, we shall not see a queen again for many, many years."

"No," I said. "Al-Edward has both a son and grandsons. It will be decades before another queen reigns, if ever."

"It is certain to happen again," Holmes said. "And if, as you say, Victoria gives her name to the age, she will be remembered until that time and beyond."

"There certainly will not be another queen like her," I said assuredly. But surely people had said something similar about Elizabeth, another queen who must have seemed as irreplaceable, until she was herself surpassed.

"Ah, Watson, you never know what the future will bring," Holmes said. "For now, let us step into this new world, this...Edwardian Age."

"Come, Holmes, it is too soon to name an age after him as well!"