Looking out of the window on Friday morning, Britain still seems to be there. The trees, sky and birds are the same, the river continues to flow and trains rumble along in the distance as normal. Yet this is a different country to the one seen from the same vista just the day before - as Thursday's EU referendum has revealed that the United Kingdom is more divided than ever.

In the end, 51.9 per cent of the 33.5 million people who voted backed Brexit, but that only tells half the story. The ayes and nays were split so significantly along clear lines that it feels like Britain is at war with itself.

Young versus old, urban versus rural, middle and upper class versus working class, England and Wales versus Scotland and Northern Ireland - the divisions were obvious.

The nation's youth must be particularly perturbed, with YouGov reporting that 75 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds voted to remain in the EU, while the 25 to 49 age group also strongly favoured staying. But instead the people who will have to live with the result the longest were taken out by those aged 50-plus and particularly the over-65s, 61 per cent of whom backed Brexit.

Meanwhile, cities like London, Manchester, Liverpool, Leicester, Bristol, Reading, Brighton and Cardiff will be leaving the EU against their will because those living in rural areas and former industrial towns were so strongly in favour of a break. The future for Scotland and Northern Ireland is also now unclear after they, as expected, preferred to remain in the European trading bloc.

It all adds up to a dizzying problem for outgoing Prime Minister David Cameron's eventual successor. As if negotiating acceptable terms for the EU exit wasn't daunting enough, the next Conservative leader will also have to heal the wounds caused by the bitter, jingoistic referendum campaign and unite the populace in a bid to solidify the country's new place in the world.

US presidential hopeful Donald Trump immediately congratulated Britons on 'taking back their country', but exactly what this vote means will only become clear as negotiations with the EU take shape. The Leave campaign didn't reveal specific plans on what its post-vote priorities would be, but for now it is unlikely Cameron will trigger Article 50 of the 2009 Lisbon Treaty - setting in motion the formal, two-year legal process for leaving the EU - before he is replaced at the Conservative party conference in October.

Once that is done and the European Communities Act, which enshrines EU law in the UK, is repealed, the government will have to decide which of the thousands of European directives from the past 50 years should be withdrawn and which should be retained. Britain's place in the single market will become a political battleground, while any changes to laws affecting the environment, agriculture, workers' rights and human rights would also be controversial.

Leavers also have to deliver on their promises of an Australian-style points-based system on immigration, increased investment in the NHS (although Nigel Farage has already said the £350m a week pledge that was central to the campaign was a mistake), and the early negotiation of a favourable trade deal with the EU.

The referendum result has provoked great uncertainty and fear in the financial markets, with the pound and FTSE 100 Index plummeting. While that was always likely to be the case in the event of a Brexit, it is vital that this state of flux is kept as short as possible.

The challenges for the new leadership are numerous, complex and, when it comes to uniting a divided nation, perhaps even insurmountable.

The view from the window may stay the same, but this unsettled country has voted to change its future and the pressure on those charged with ensuring Britain becomes 'great' again is heavy indeed.

Martin Downer is a freelance journalist based in the UK