Great Britain secured the Olympic team silver medal in the equestrian eventing competition at Greenwich Park.
Their brave gold medal challenge ultimately came up short as European champions and Olympic title favourites Germany took gold, with New Zealand clinching bronze.
Tina Cook's showjumping round - she had just one time fault - meant Britain secured second place and gave Britain its 18th Olympic post-war eventing medal alongside her team-mates of Zara Phillips, Nicola Wilson, William Fox-Pitt and Mary King.
After New Zealand's Mark Todd had one fence down it meant Cook, a double Olympic bronze medallist four years ago, could afford to have one fence down and still secure silver for her country.
And she collected just one time fault, meaning she had one of three counting scores alongside King, who jumped clear, and the Queen's granddaughter Phillips, who had seven faults.
Phillips, making her Olympic debut on High Kingdom, was watched from the stands by her mother the Princess Royal, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince Harry and the Duchess of Cornwall.
Britain's eventers had not won gold since Munich in 1972, when Phillips' father Captain Mark Phillips was in the team, but they gave it everything against a crack German quintet of world champion Michael Jung, Ingrid Klimke, Peter Thomsen, Dirk Schrade and Sandra Auffarth.
King and Cook both missed on an individual medal after picking up penalties in the jumping final as Germany's Michael Jung secured gold.
Sara Algotsson Ostholt of Sweden had to settle for silver after clipping the last fence, while Germany's Sandra Auffarth took bronze.
Zara Phillips jumped a clear round to finish eighth in the individual competition.