Aotearoa is honouring the late Queen's death at Wellington's Cathedral of St Paul, the official New Zealand Memorial service beginning at 2:00 pm (NZT).
It is taking place on New Zealand's official Queen Elizabeth II Memorial Day public holiday, with most of the country taking the day off work to mourn Her Majesty's death.
In respect of these events, Today FM's Trudi Nelson spoke with the Chair of Monarchy NZ, Dr Sean Palmer.
He spoke about the Queen and the monarchy in general, reflecting on the system and its people.
"It's such a remarkably flexible institution that it can really be whatever we need it to be," Palmer said.
"It's very easy to say, well, it's all British, but when you go to Canada, you'll find her [the Queen] speaking French and you'll find Native American aspects of the culture tied in with the monarchy… and of course, when you come to New Zealand, you find that their speeches will include some Te Reo.
"They respect all the different aspects that makeup New Zealand."
When discussing the one-off public holiday, Palmer believes it will be a 'fairly relaxed day' for a lot of New Zealanders.
"It doesn't have to be a huge occasion," he said.
"It's just a time to think about how fortunate we were to have this individual working for our country for seven decades and to think about how fortunate we are to have this extraordinary system of government, constitutional monarchy, because it is one of the most successful systems of government in the world."
Listen to the full interview between Dr Sean Palmer and Trudi Nelson above.
