George HW Bush funeral: Former president flown to Texas after moving eulogies at National Cathedral

Follow latest updates as mourners arrive to pay tribute to the former president

Former US President George Bush Sr diesaged 94

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.

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Key Points

• President Trump says service is 'celebration for a great man'
• George Bush delivers moving eulogy for father: ‘The best father a son or daughter could ever have’
• Donald Trump avoids greeting the Clintons but shakes hands with the Obamas
• Casket to be transferred to St Martin's Episcopal Church in Texas after state service

[5 December 2018 20:15 · Chris Stevenson]

George HW Bush is the fourth president to have his state funeral at the National Cathedral. The others were Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford.

Seven other presidents have had memorial services there.

[5 December 2018 20:30 · Chris Riotta]

With the Washington funeral behind them, the Bush family is now flying to their home state of Texas where George HW Bush will be laid to rest alongside his wife, Barbara, and their daughter, Robin, who died at three-years-old of leukemia. 

When a president dies, the high-profile funeral processions are family affair. The Associated Press reports on a range of military honours and specific protocols the family must choose from, including providing a military escort for the immediate family until the official burial. 

[5 December 2018 20:35 · Chris Riotta]

Mr Bush will lie in repose at the St Martin’s Episcopal Church in Houston, Texas, until Thursday morning, where a memorial service will then be held for the former president. 

Shortly after, he will be transported by funeral train to Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, where he will be buried with his family at the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum. 

[5 December 2018 20:39 · Chris Riotta]

This concludes The Independent’s live coverage of George HW Bush’s funeral processions in Washington.