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
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Your support makes all the difference.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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Here's footage of George Bush choking up during the final moments of his eulogy for his father, describing him as "the best father a son or daughter could ever have."
Reverend Russell Levenson Jr has called for Americans to remember George HW Bush by practicing empathy and kindness towards others.
“Some have said this is an end of era, but it does not have to be," the reverend said Wednesday.
He concluded his remarks, followed by a song from Michael W Smith.
Irish tenor Ronan Tynan once again performed, this time singing “The Lord’s Prayer.”
According to the BBC, the famed singer visited George HW Bush hours before his death.
There was a tribute to George HW Bush's time as a naval aviator:
One line that we missed from former Senator Alan Simpson's eulogy for the former president, saying his tombstone only needs a single letter.
"His epitaph, perhaps just a single letter: The letter 'L' for loyalty... It coursed through his blood. loyalty to his country, loyalty to his family, loyalty to his friends, loyalty to the institutions of government."
Rev Canon Jan Naylor Cope of Washington National Cathedral said prayers "for our brother, George"
"You promised paradise to the thief who repented; bring our brother to the joys of heaven."
Song fills the air as the casket is carried from the National Cathedral to a military guard of honour outside.
A little more on the pallbearers carrying the casket as it is loaded into the hearse.
Interesting point from a BBC reporter - it is not often you get some many dignitaries gathered in the same room, let alone having to file out in a pack.
Now that the state funeral for George HW Bush has wrapped up at the Washington National Cathedral, the former president's body will be flown back to Texas.
Mr Bush's body is set to arrive at St. Martin's Episcopal Church in Houston, Texas, this evening. He'll lie in repose at the church overnight, until 7am ET (12pm GMT) on Thursday.
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