The United Kingdom leaves the European Union on Friday with a mixture of joy, anger and indifference, casting off into the unknown after nearly five decades and dealing a blow to Europe's drive to forge unity from the ruins of World War Two.
The EU's most powerful leaders, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron, saw Brexit - due at 2300 GMT - as a sad moment that was a turning point for Europe. The EU warned that leaving would be worse than staying.
In the United Kingdom's biggest geopolitical upheaval since its post-war loss of empire, it turns its back on 47 years of membership and must begin charting its own course for generations to come.
