Jimmy Carter honoured at Washington funeral before Georgia hometown burial

Jimmy Carter, who considered himself an outsider even as he sat in the Oval Office as the 39th US president, is being honoured with the pageantry of a funeral at Washington National Cathedral before a second service and burial in his tiny Georgia hometown.

The proceedings began in the morning as military service members carried Mr Carter’s flag-draped casket down the east steps of the US Capitol, where the former president had laid in state, to be transported to the cathedral.

There was also a 21-gun salute.

At the cathedral, the Armed Forces Chorus sang the hymn Be Still My Soul before Mr Carter’s casket was brought inside.

President Joe Biden, who was the first sitting senator to endorse Mr Carter’s 1976 presidential campaign, will give the eulogy for his fellow Democrat 11 days before he leaves office.

All of Mr Carter’s living successors attended the Washington funeral, including President-elect Donald Trump, who paid his respects before Mr Carter’s casket on Wednesday.

The rare gathering of commanders-in-chief is an unusual moment of coming together for the nation.

They met privately before the service began. As Mr Trump went to his seat, he shook hands with Mike Pence in a rare interaction with his former vice president.

The two men had a falling out over Mr Pence’s refusal to help Mr Trump overturn his election defeat to Mr Biden four years ago.

Mr Trump was seated next to former president Barack Obama and the two could be seen chatting for several minutes.

Vice President Kamala Harris, who lost to Mr Trump in November, entered afterwards but did not interact with him.

Days of formal ceremonies and remembrances from political leaders, business titans and rank-and-file citizens have honoured Mr Carter, who died on December 29 at the age of 100, for decency and using a prodigious work ethic to do more than obtain political power.