Former US President Bill Clinton and Russia’s Vladimir Putin are among dozens of past and present world leaders attending a memorial service for France’s Jacques Chirac.
A choir sang as the late president’s former security guards carried his coffin, which was draped in the tricolore flag, into Saint-Sulpice church in Paris.
Chirac died last week at the age of 86.
He served two terms as president and twice as prime minister.
Monday was declared a day of national mourning.
Among the mourners at Monday’s service were all three living former presidents of France – Giscard d’Estaing, Nicolas Sarkozy and Francois Hollande. Also present was President Emmanuel Macron, who last week hailed Chirac as a “great Frenchman.”
But the far-right leader Marine Le Pen – whose party won the biggest share of votes in France at the last European elections – was a notable absence from the funeral after the Chirac family made it clear she was not welcome.
During his first presidential term (1995-2002), Jacques Chirac took France into the single European currency. At the start of his second term (2002-2007), he spearheaded international opposition to the US-led invasion of Iraq.
His later years were blighted by corruption scandals, including a conviction related to his time as mayor of Paris and allegations he was given briefcases of cash by African leaders – which he strenuously denied.
At the weekend, thousands of people queued in Paris to see the coffin of the late president as it lay in state.
The queue of well-wishers stretched around the Hôtel des Invalides.
