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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As the funeral procession moves away from the National Cathedral, here is something from presidential historian Jon Meacham, who gave one of the eulogies, on Mr Bush Sr's "life code".
"Tell the truth. Don't blame people. Be strong. Do your best. Try hard. Forgive. Stay the course."
Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States, who left the US after the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey, has returned to Washington for events around the state funeral of former President George HW Bush.
The Saudi embassy said that Prince Khalid bin Salman is in Washington and that Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir was leading the kingdom's delegation at the funeral service.
Here is an interesting bit of trivia about the attendees of Mr Bush's funeral service:
During the service Former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney praised Mr Bush as a strong world leader who helped oversee the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union and set the stage for the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) with Canada and Mexico, achieved under his successor, Bill Clinton.
With Donald Trump, a Nafta critic, seated in the front row, Mr Mulroney hailed the "largest and richest free trade area in the history of the world." The three countries have agreed on a revised trade agreement pushed by Mr Trump.
The departure ceremony has taken place at Joint Base Andrews, a US military facility in Maryland.
There is a departure ceremony at the base included a 21-gun salute.
Mr Bush Sr's casket was be loaded on to the presidential jet Air Force One, re-purposed for the solemn occasion as Special Air Mission 41.
A band played the hymn Goin' Home.
Here is the moment the Bush family boarded Air Force One on the way to Houston for George HW Bush's Texas funeral.
The flight to Texas is a chance for the Bush family to take stock and talk to each other after what must have been an emotional service.
Speaking to an NBC reporter, presidential historian Jon Meacham said he had a chance to read his eulogy to George HW Bush before the former president's death. Mr Bush was apparently typically humble.
In Houston, Bush's body will be transported by motorcade to St. Martin's Episcopal Church. A public viewing of Bush's casket will be held at the church until early Thursday, followed by a private funeral. Burial will take place at the presidential library in College Station, Texas.
George HW Bush played an important important role in the history of the National Cathedral where the service was heard. The building was chartered by Congress in 1893.
On Sept. 29, 1907, President Theodore Roosevelt laid the foundation stone. Exactly 83 years later, Mr Bush was there when the final stone was laid in place.
Mr Bush said at the time: "We have constructed here this symbol of our nation's spiritual life, overlooking the center of our nation's secular life, a symbol which combines the permanence of stone and God — both of which will outlast men and memories."
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