The Bhutto family's war council gathered yesterday around a long table at their country home. The chair at the head of the table was empty, apart from a portrait of the assassinated matriarch and political leader, Benazir.
There was urgent business on the agenda. As grieving supporters shouted at the gates of her home, her softly spoken son Bilawal produced an envelope containing a handwritten "political will" - written two days before her ill-fated return from exile last October - and started to read.
In her testament, Benazir Bhutto called on her husband, Bilawal's father, Asif Ali Zardari, to take over the reins of her party on her death. But her posthumous wishes were overruled by her family. Within moments, Bilawal became the third Bhutto to lead Pakistan's largest political party - a job with a terrifying death rate.
Described by friends and relatives as a reserved and polite young man, Bilawal initially rejected the job that was thrust upon him yesterday. "He didn't want to do it. He wanted to continue his studies," admitted Ali Jafri, an uncle whose task it was to "prepare" the teenage dauphin for the role.
Ultimately, there was little choice. The inexperienced Oxford student accepted the job with a short speech in which he urged the party to work "for the poor downtrodden people of Pakistan", according to Zulfikar Ali Mirza, a family friend who was present.
Bilawal also urged those present to "run the party democratically" - an ironic touch given that his mother was "chairperson for life" and he himself was selected without a vote.
A black belt in tae kwon do and enthusiastic target shooter, Bilawal will be a figurehead until he completes his studies at Oxford, becoming the third generation Bhutto to study there. But in a country dominated by a 40-year-old political cult, the symbolism will be powerful.
Bilawal is something of an unlikely candidate. Jafri, his uncle who shared the family's eight-year exile in Dubai, described him as a shy and bookish teenager who never had a girlfriend. "The mother wouldn't allow it," he said.
"Bilawal was never a sporty guy. He was always into magazines, books and history. He was a very, very shy boy. But with tons of effort we've groomed him very well. He was learning everything from [Benazir] about politics and about Pakistan."
Alan Duncan, the Tory shadow business secretary and long-time friend of Ms Bhutto, said Bilawal had spent a couple of days working for him during the summer before he began studying at Oxford.
"He seemed to me quite reserved, dutiful and steeped in the cause of the family. There are moving echoes of what happened to Benazir when she was at Oxford, when her father was deposed and hanged. She rose to events and I have no doubt that Bilawal will do so too."
Bilawal's shyness is perhaps behind his decision to go by the name Bilawal Lawalib - his first name spelt backwards, at Oxford. Fellow students described him as popular and sociable. They say he does not broadcast his family connections and appears to live the life of any other first-year student.
On the section of his Facebook page devoted to favourite quotes he lists jokey comments from Oxford friends and the words of his own family, including his mother. Messages of sympathy now fill his wall on the site, and on the day of the assassination, he added the quote: "Well behaved women rarely make history."
In throwing himself into Oxford student life, he has followed in his mother's footsteps. Bilawal has been to several debates and social events at the Oxford Union.
"He was a familiar face at the union," said Luke Tryl, who was president last term. "He's very charismatic and engaging; he speaks confidently and eloquently. He seems very worldly and aware.
"He's chatty, he is willing to speak to lots of different people and he's good at making friends with new people. He never said who his family were. I only found out some time after I met him."