Ceremonies for George HW Bush draw presidents and citizens
The four living ex-presidents are among those expected for a service of prayer in Washington.
Washington is bidding its final farewell to George HW Bush in a service of prayer and praise that is drawing together world envoys, Americans of high office and a guy from Maine who used to fix things in Mr Bush’s house on the water.
A viewing for the 41st president at the hushed Capitol Rotunda closed on Wednesday morning, and his coffin was carried to Washington National Cathedral for a state funeral.
The four living ex-presidents – Jimmy Carter, Mr Clinton, George W Bush and Barack Obama – are due at the service, and Bush Jnr will eulogise his father.
President Donald Trump will attend but is not scheduled to speak.
Also expected in the invitation-only crowd is Mike Lovejoy, an electrician and fix-it man who has worked at Mr Bush’s Maine summer estate since 1990 and says he was shocked and heartened to be asked to come.
On Tuesday, soldiers, citizens in wheelchairs and long lines of others on foot wound through the Capitol Rotunda to view Mr Bush’s coffin and honour a president whose legacy included Second World War military service and a landmark law affirming the rights of the disabled.
Former senator Bob Dole, a compatriot in war, peace and political struggle, steadied himself out of his wheelchair and saluted his old friend and one-time rival.
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 leukaemia in 1953 at the age of three.
Mr Trump ordered the federal government closed on Wednesday for a national day of mourning. Flags on public buildings are flying at half-staff for 30 days.
