KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand tenor whose solo filled St George's chapel at Windsor Castle overnight has described Sir Edmund Hillary's farewell service as an "unbelievable experience".
Nick Madden sang the tenor solo that opens How Beautiful the Mountain written by his father, composer Richard Madden.
Sir Edmund was given a royal send-off with the Queen and Princess Anne present at last night's service.
Prime Minister Helen Clark and Sir Edmund's son Peter gave addresses, and readings were given by daughter Sarah and Grandson Sam Mulgrew.
Mr Madden said putting the experience into words was a challenge.
"It was an unbelievable experience. The Queen and the Prime Minister were sitting in the front row. It was quite surreal and I had one of the best seats in the house," he said.
As Mr Madden opened the service with the tenor solo, he had a number of thoughts: "I was trying to prove my worth to the position and make my family proud and also do myself a good service. It's really hard to describe," he said.
Mr Madden said his father was "thrilled" with the performance and deeply honoured to have his piece sung on such an occasion.
"I know, from speaking with my colleagues, they'll take that away as a lasting memory from their time at the chapel and a lot of these guys sang at the Queen's 80th jubilee service. They said this was much more poignant," he said.
Mr Madden said the stand-outs for him were Helen Clark's address which "summed up Sir Ed from a New Zealand point of view" and Mereana's Karanga. "She was very emotional and it was haunting," he said.
He said the Karanga next to the military knights bringing Sir Edmund's banner up the aisle was a "good juxtaposition".
He described state services as "manicured" and having the cameras and lights shining on you is a strange feeling.
"It's satisfying once you've finished," he said.
Mr Madden, originally from Dunedin, finished the day with a flavour of New Zealand by opening a bottle of Speight's which he had to order online.
