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Chirac Gets Full Military Honors as France Bids Him Farewell

Associated Press

   PARIS - Former French President Jacques Chirac was given full military
   honors Monday as past and current world leaders gathered in Paris to
   attend his final service.

   Cutting a solemn figure, French President Emmanuel Macron presided over
   the ceremony on a mild, sunny morning near the site of Napoleon's tomb
   in the courtyard of Les Invalides. A military band played the national
   anthem, ``La Marseillaise,'' before Macron inspected the troops.
   Chirac's casket, covered with a Tricolor flag, was then carried to the
   center of the courtyard.
   Macron, who did not speak, later attended a memorial service at the
   Church of Saint-Sulpice in downtown Paris alongside dozens of French
   politicians and foreign officials, including Russian President Vladimir
   Putin, former U.S. President Bill Clinton, former German Chancellor
   Gerhard Schroder and Jordan's King Abdallah II.
   Chirac's coffin was driven to Saint-Sulpice, where pianist Daniel
   Barenboim played a Schubert impromptu, as mourners lined the procession
   route to his funeral service. When the hearse carrying Chirac drove by,
   the crowd broke into applause.

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