Jacques Chirac funeral: World leaders bid farewell to former French president

Harriet Brewis @HattieBrewis30 September 2019

World leaders, past and present, gathered in Paris this morning to pay their respects to former French president Jacques Chirac.

France's Emmanuel Macron, Russia's Vladimir Putin and former US president Bill Clinton were among the mourners standing in silence in memory of the 86-year-old, who died last week.

Mr Macron presided over the solemn ceremony near Napoleon's tomb in the courtyard of Les Invalides.

A military band played the national anthem, La Marseillaise, as Mr Chirac's coffin was carried to the centre of the courtyard, draped in the French flag.

The French president was later joined by Mr Putin, Mr Clinton, the Queen’s younger son Prince Edward and scores of other names from the political world stage at a memorial service in the city’s Church of Saint-Sulpice.

Mr Chirac, who served as president between 1995 and 2007, died "peacefully among his loved ones" on Thursday after years of ill health.

Nicknamed "Le Bulldozer" early in his career for his determination and ambition, he was the first president of the country to acknowledge France's role in the Holocaust, and was feted by the French people for his defiant opposition to the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Dogged by controversies in his later years, he sustained popularity among his loyal admirers. A court conviction after he left office for misusing public funds did little to tarnish his image.

"This former president had a true love for people, equally at home in the salons of the Elysee or the living room of a farmer," Archbishop of Paris Michel Aupetit told the roughly 2,000 people gathered in the Saint-Sulpice church.

"Goodbye, and thank you Monsieur Chirac," the archbishop added.

Mr Chirac's widow Bernadette, 86, was absent from the funeral mass because of frail health.

Earlier, she and other members of Mr Chirac's family attended a private service in Paris’s Hotel Des Invalides, the public building where Chirac's body had lain in state over the weekend.

The Saint-Sulpice church was chosen for Mr Chirac's state memorial service after Notre Dame Cathedral was partially destroyed in a fire in April.

The last three French presidents to die, Charles de Gaulle, Georges Pompidou and Francois Mitterrand, all had their funeral masses at Notre Dame.

Former Prime Minister of Spain Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero (right) and Bill Clinton leave a lunch for the visiting heads of state
EPA

Among the world heavyweights at Monday’s mass were also German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri.

European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker pulled out for health reasons, a spokeswoman said.

Following the service, President Macron hosted the international leaders at a lunch at the Elysee Palace, although Mr Putin was expected to fly out before the lunch, the Elysee said.

Mr Chirac is due to be buried later on Monday at the city’s Montparnasse cemetery, in a plot next to his daughter Laurence, who died in 2016.

Jacques Chirac-In Pictures

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Over the weekend, thousands of people queued outside the Hotel des Invalides to pay tribute to Mr Chirac.

His coffin was displayed, draped in the Tricolour flag and in front of a large photograph of the smiling former president.

Mr Chirac was "someone who had a different idea of his role, of France's role in the international community, who showed it in difficult situations," saud Paris resident Remu Issons, who was among the crowd at the lying-in-state.

Crowds also gathered at Paris town hall, where Chirac served for 18 years as mayor.

"My heart is heavy," said Anne Firmin, who was looking at a display of photographs of Mr Chirac at the height of his political power.

"For me, it's my whole youth."

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