George HW Bush funeral: Former president flown to Texas after moving eulogies at National Cathedral
George HW Bush, the 41st president of the United States, is being honoured in a funeral service at Washington National Cathedral today following three days of mourning in which his body lay in state at the Capitol Rotunda.
The Texas Republican, an ex-oil executive who served in the Oval Office between 1988 and 1992 having previously been Ronald Reagan's vice-president and CIA director, oversaw the post-Cold War transition and led a successful Gulf War in Iraq.
The four living ex-presidents - Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Bush's son George W Bush and Barack Obama - are in attendance at the service, with George W Bush giving an emotional eulogy where he called his father "wonderful".
Current President Donald Trump sat in the front row with the Obamas, Clintons and Mr Carter.
The three days of mourning - in which the president's coffin, draped in the Stars and Stripes, stood on display at the Capitol Rotunda in Washington - concluded this morning.
In addition to the four previous occupants of the White House attending today's service will be the king and queen of Jordan, princes from Britain and Bahrain, Germany's chancellor Angela Merkel and Poland's president Andrzej Duda, among representatives of more than a dozen countries.
After the national funeral service at the cathedral, Bush's remains will be returned to Houston to lie in repose at St Martin's Episcopal Church before burial on Thursday at his family plot on the presidential library grounds at Texas A&M University in College Station.
His final resting place will be alongside Barbara Bush, his wife of 73 years who died in April, and Robin Bush, the daughter they lost to leukemia in 1953 at age three.
Those who will remember the president today with a memorial address include Bush's eldest son George W Bush, president himself between 2000 and 2008; Alan Simpson, the former senator from Wyoming, known as an acerbic wit; Brian Mulroney, the former Canadian prime minister who also gave a eulogy for Ronald Reagan; and presidential historian Jon Meacham.
Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been speaking on CNN this morning, contrasting Mr Bush wit the current President Donald Trump. Mr Bloomberg has himself been eyeing a possible presidential run in 2020.
Wednesday's state funeral for the late president will be attended by "formers" Barack Obama, George W Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter. The last time they were together with Trump was at his inauguration in 2017. Recalling the funerals for Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan, they will all sit together in Washington National Cathedral, with the exception of the younger Bush, who will be seated nearby with his family.
As for the Cathedral service, all eyes will be on that front row, given Mr Trump's animosity towards Mr Obama and Mr Clinton's wife - the former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Mr Trump spent his entire presidential campaign belittling Ms Clinton and accusing her of crimes relating to her use of a personal email account for government business when she was secretary of state.
Until this morning, queues of people lined up to pay their respects to Mr Bush.
"He was so qualified, and I think he was just a decent man," said Sharon Terry, touring Washington with friends from an Indianapolis garden club. Said her friend Sue Miller, also in line for the viewing: "I actually think I underestimated him when he was in office. My opinion of him went up seeing how he conducted himself as a statesman afterward."
The casket of former President George HW Bush will leave its place of honor in the U.S. Capitol at 10am EST (3pm GMT) and begin a procession to his state funeral at the Washington National Cathedral
US financial markets are due to close on Wednesday a national day of mourning as former President George H.W. Bush's funeral goes on in Washington, DC. The New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq will both suspend trading for the day.
The US Postal Service will also "suspend regular mail deliveries, retail services and administrative office activity."
Former President George HW Bush was briefed in 2011 about his eventual state funeral and the process of lying in state, Jim McGrath, Bush's spokesman, said.
"Do you think anyone will come?" the former president was said to reply.
Four men are expected to deliver eulogies. The late president's son George W Bush, also a former president; former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, who held the post while the elder Bush was president; former Republican Senator Alan Simpson, who has known the Bush family since the 1960s; and historian Jon Meacham, who wrote a biography of Mr Bush.
