Agencies
Washington
Former United States President Jimmy Carter has been honoured with a state funeral at the Washington National Cathedral, capping nearly a week of national mourning for the former politician and humanitarian leader.
President Joe Biden delivered the eulogy in Washington, DC, on Thursday morning, less than two weeks before he leaves office.
Carter “never let the tides of politics divert him from his mission to serve and shape the world”, Biden told the mourners. “The man had character.”
All of Carter’s living presidential successors were in attendance for Thursday’s funeral, including President-elect Donald Trump, who paid his respects before Carter’s coffin a day earlier in the Capitol Rotunda.
Tributes have poured in for Carter since he died on December 29 at the age of 100, with political leaders and others hailing his dedication to public service and decades of humanitarian work.
While he only served one term as president, from 1977 to 1981, the former peanut farmer from the US state of Georgia left a lasting legacy during his post-presidential career.
He won the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2002 for the work his organisation, The Carter Center, did to fight the Guinea worm disease in Africa and to monitor elections across the world.
He was also heavily involved in building homes for low-income people through Habitat for Humanity, earning him admiration across the political spectrum.
Thursday will conclude six days of national rites that began in Plains, Georgia, where Carter was born in 1924, lived most of his life and died after 22 months in hospice care.
Ceremonies have continued in Atlanta and Washington, DC, where Carter has lain in state since Tuesday.
