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List of people who have received a state funeral

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This is a list of people who have received a state funeral.

Africa

Algeria

Angola

Botswana

Burundi

Cameroon

Chad

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Republic of the Congo

Egypt

Ethiopia

Gabon

Ghana

Ivory Coast

Kenya

Malawi

Mali

Mozambique

Namibia

Somalia

South Africa

South Sudan

Tanzania

Tunisia

Uganda

Zambia

Zimbabwe

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Americas

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Argentina

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Almost three million people attended Eva Perón's funeral in the streets of Buenos Aires.

The Bahamas

  • On 4 September 2000, a state funeral was held in Nassau for former Bahamian Prime Minister Sir Lynden Pindling.[10]
  • On 5 January 2012, a state funeral was held in Nassau for former Bahamian Governor-General Sir Clifford Darling.[11]

Barbados

Brazil

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State funeral of José Alencar, former Vice President of Brazil, at the Planalto Palace

Canada

Main article: State funerals in Canada
  • In August 2011, in a rare circumstance, Prime Minister Stephen Harper offered a state funeral for his political adversary and Leader of the Opposition, Jack Layton. Layton died of cancer three months after his New Democratic Party became the official opposition, for the first time in his party's history.
  • In 2014, former finance minister Jim Flaherty received a state funeral after his death.

Chile

Cuba

Dominica

Ecuador

  • On 17 December 2008, the state funeral of former President of Ecuador León Febres Cordero was held in Guayaquil.
  • On 16 November 2016, the state funeral of former President of Ecuador Sixto Durán Ballén was held in Quito.[20]

Grenada

Jamaica

  • Reggae singer Bob Marley received a state funeral in Jamaica on 21 May 1981, which combined elements of Ethiopian Orthodoxy[22][23] and Rastafari tradition.[24]
  • On 18 July 2004, a state funeral was held for former Jamaican Prime Minister Hugh Shearer in Kingston.[25]
  • On 23 June 2019, a state funeral was held for former Jamaican Prime Minister Edward Philip George Seaga in Kingston.

Mexico

  • The most recent state funeral held for a President of Mexico was that of Miguel de la Madrid in April 2012.[26]
  • Novelist Carlos Fuentes received a state funeral on 16 May 2012, with his funeral cortege briefly stopping traffic in Mexico City.[27]

Saint Lucia

  • Former Governor-General Sir William George Mallet received a state funeral on 28 October 2010, in the capital Castries.

United States

Main article: State funerals in the United States
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Caisson bearing the casket of U.S. President John F. Kennedy leaving the White House with the color guard and riderless horse following behind on November 25, 1963

In the United States, state funerals are held in the nation's capital, Washington, D.C., and involve military spectacle, ceremonial pomp, and religious observance. As the highest possible honor bestowed upon a person posthumously, state funerals are an entitlement offered to a sitting or former President of the United States, a President-elect, as well as other people designated by the President.[28][29] Administered by the Military District of Washington (MDW), state funerals are greatly influenced by protocol, steeped in tradition, and rich in history. However, the overall planning as well as the decision to hold a state funeral, is largely determined by the President before his death and the First Family.[30]

State funerals have been held in Washington D.C. for:

Venezuela

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State funeral of Francisco Linares Alcántara
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Asia

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Azerbaijan

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Heydar Aliyev's coffin at the Palace of the Republic

Bangladesh

Cambodia

People's Republic of China

Republic of China

By the Parliament of the Republic of China
By the Canton Military Government
By the Nanking Nationalist Government
By the Government of Republic of China (Taiwan)

Hong Kong

British Hong Kong

Hong Kong post-1997

  • Ann Tse-kai (2000)—Hong Kong – former Legislative Council, Executive Council of Hong Kong, Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Basic Law Committee, Hong Kong Affairs Advisor
  • Wong Ker-lee (2004) – Hong Kong business man, founder of Winco Paper Products
  • Henry Fok Ying-tung (2006)—Beijing and Hong Kong; Hong Kong businessman

India

Presidents of India (died in office)
Vice presidents of India (died in office)
Prime Ministers of India (died in office)
Former presidents of India
Former Prime Ministers of India
Union Cabinet Ministers (died in office)
Former Union Cabinet Ministers
Chief Ministers of India (died in office)
Former Chief Ministers of India
Former Chief Justices of India
Recipients of Bharat Ratna
Former Union Ministers of State
Chief of Defence Staff (died in office)
Former Chiefs of Staff of the Indian Armed Forces
Former State Cabinet Ministers

Other personalities who received a state funeral:

Indonesia

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The state funeral procession of B. J. Habibie at the Kalibata Heroes' Cemetery, Jakarta on 12 September 2019

State funerals has been arranged on the respective dates:

Iran

Japan

Formal state funeral

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Fumio Kishida expressing the memorial address at the State Funeral of Shinzo Abe

Funeral where the state is involved

Malaysia

North Korea

State funerals are infrequent in North Korea.[70] Funerals, and who appears on official funeral committees, are considered important cues on power hierarchies of North Korean politics.[71] According to a tradition inherited from the Soviet Union, the chairperson of the funeral committee of a deceased leader of North Korea is beyond all doubt the next leader. This held true when Kim Il Sung died in 1994 and was succeeded by Kim Jong Il, who in turn was succeeded by Kim Jong Un in 2011.[72]

Pakistan

Pakistan held the state funerals for the following people:

  • Muhammad Ali Jinnah (1948) – Father of the Nation and the 1st Governor-General of Pakistan (1947–48): died in office[125]
  • Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq (1988) – 6th President of Pakistan (1978–88) and 2nd Chief of Army Staff (1976–88): died in office[126]
  • Mushaf Ali Mir (2003) – 9th Chief of Air Staff (2000–03): died in office
  • Anwar Shamim (2013) – 3rd Chief of Air Staff (1978–85)
  • Abdul Sattar Edhi (2016) – Philanthropist and founder of Edhi Foundation[127]
  • Ruth Pfau (2017) – Physician who devoted more than 55 years of her life to fighting leprosy in Pakistan[128]
  • Asghar Khan (2018) – 5th Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Air Force (1957–65)[129]
  • Abdul Qadeer Khan (2021) – Nuclear physicist who is colloquially known as the "Father of Pakistan's atomic weapons program"[130]

Philippines

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Former President Fidel V. Ramos is laid to rest at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in Taguig on August 9, 2022.

The Philippines held the state funerals for the following people:

Presidents of the Philippines
Presidents of the Philippines that were given military honors in lieu of a state funeral
Vice-Presidents of the Philippines
Cabinet Secretaries and Ministers
  • Carlos P. Romulo (1985) – Secretary of Foreign Affairs (1968–84): died in office[139]
  • Blas Ople (2003) – Secretary of Foreign Affairs (2002–03): died in office[139]
  • Jesse Robredo (2012) – Secretary of Interior and Local Government (2010–12): died in office[140]
  • Susan Ople (2023) – Secretary of Migrant Workers (2022–23): died in office[141]
Senators of the Philippines
National Scientists of the Philippines
National Artists of the Philippines
Gawad Manlilkha ng Bayan (National Living Treasures Award)
Other personalities who received a state funeral

Singapore

A state funeral was arranged for the following people on their deathbed on the respective date:

Another type of funeral in Singapore is a state-assisted funeral. Similar to a state funeral, the deceased may or may not be entitled to a ceremonial gun carriage, though he/she does not lie in state in the Istana. Such funerals are accorded to:

South Korea

Previously, there were national funerals (국민장) and state funerals (국장). However, in 2009, the funeral of Roh Moo-hyun was held as a national funeral and that of Kim Dae-jung as a state funeral. This sparked controversy over the formality of the funeral, and the revision of the law in 2011 merged the two types of funerals into the state funeral (국가장).

State funerals in South Korea are a mix of the Western and Korean funeral traditions, which are modern adaptations of the rites held in the funerals of Emperors of Korea.

The following individuals have received state or national funerals in South Korea;

Thailand

Main articles: Thai royal funeral and Thai funeral § Government officials

In Thailand, state funerals are mostly analogous to the royal funerals held for the monarch and members of the Royal Family. Royal ceremonies are also held for the cremation of the supreme patriarch and senior members of the Buddhist clergy.

Turkey

Vietnam

A state funeral was arranged for the following people on their deathbed on the respective date:

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Europe

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Andorra

Belgium

Cyprus

In Cyprus state funerals are made for former Presidents.

Denmark

  • On 29 August 1945, two years after the German occupation force in Denmark had dissolved the Danish army and navy, a state funeral was held for 106 killed members of the Danish resistance at their execution site which was thus inaugurated as the memorial cemetery that would later become Ryvangen Memorial Park. While flags were flying half-mast throughout Copenhagen 106 hearses drove from the Christiansborg Riding Grounds through the city to Ryvangen, where bishop Hans Fuglsang-Damgaard led the funeral with participation from the royal family, the government and representatives of the resistance movement.[170]

Czech Republic

State funerals

Funerals with state honors

Czechoslovakia

Finland

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Funeral cortege of President Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim in Helsinki, 1951
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Funeral cortege of President Urho Kekkonen in Helsinki, 1986
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Funeral cortege of President Mauno Koivisto in Helsinki, 2017

82 people have been awarded the honour of state funeral, among them:

France

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Lying-in-state of former president Jacques Chirac

State funerals (French: obsèques nationales) are awarded by decree of the President of the French Republic to especially eminent French personalities. They have been held for:

Ireland

Main article: List of Irish state funerals

Italy

Lithuania

Malta

State funerals have been held for presidents, prime ministers and archbishops.

  • The most recent state funeral held for a President of Malta was that of Ċensu Tabone in March 2012.[181]
  • The most recent state funeral held for a Prime Minister of Malta was that of Dom Mintoff in August 2012.[182]

Netherlands

North Macedonia

Poland

Portugal

A state funeral in Portugal is regulated by a Government decree, later promulgated by the President of the Republic.

Romania

Russia

Main articles: Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, Death and state funeral of Leonid Brezhnev, and Death and state funeral of Boris Yeltsin

Soviet Union

During the time of the Soviet Union (1917–1991), the state funerals of the most senior political and military leaders were staged as massive events with millions of mourners all over the USSR. The funerals of Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko all followed the same basic outline. They took place in Moscow, began with a public lying in state of the deceased in the House of the Unions and ended with an interment at the Red Square. The most notable examples of such state funerals during the Soviet period of Russian history are the ceremonies that were held for Lenin and Stalin, and for the death and funeral of Leonid Brezhnev.

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The House of the Unions in Moscow

In the second half of the 20th century, whenever a General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union died, the event would first be officially acknowledged by Soviet radio and television. After several days of national mourning, the deceased would be given a state funeral and then buried. Soviet state funerals were often attended by foreign heads of state, heads of government, foreign ministers and other dignitaries from abroad. Following the death of General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev in 1982, there were five days of national mourning. Following the death of General Secretary Yuri Andropov in 1984, a four-day period of national mourning was announced.

The state funeral for a deceased General Secretary would be arranged, managed and prepared by a special committee of the Communist Party that would be formed for the occasion. As the funeral committee would normally be chaired by the deceased's successor, the preparations for Soviet state funerals were usually followed with great interest by foreign political scientists trying to gauge power shuffles within the Communist Party. The allocation of responsibilities during the funeral, appointment of pallbearers and positions within the order of precedence observed during the televised funeral ceremonies in Moscow could often be interpreted as a clue for the future position of Politburo members within the Party. When, after Brezhnev's death in 1982, Yuri Andropov was elected chairman of the committee in charge of Brezhnev's funeral, this was seen as a first sign by First World commentators that Andropov might be the most likely candidate for the position of General Secretary.[186]

Prior to interment, the body of the deceased General Secretary would lie in state in the Pillar Hall of the House of the Unions which was decorated by numerous red flags and other communist symbols. The mourners, which usually would be brought in by the thousands, shuffled up a marble staircase beneath chandeliers draped in black gauze. On the stage at the left side of the Pillar Hall, amid a veritable garden of flowers, a full orchestra in black tailcoats would play classical music. The deceased's embalmed body, dressed in a black suit, white shirt and a tie, would be displayed in an open coffin on a catafalque banked with carnations, red roses and tulips, facing the long queue of mourners. A small guard of honour would be in attendance in the background. At the right side of the hall there would be placed seats for guests of honour, with the front row reserved for the dead leader's family.

On the day of the funeral, final ceremonies would be held at the Pillar Hall during which the lid of the coffin would be temporarily closed. The coffin would then be carried out of the House of the Unions and placed on a gun carriage drawn by a military vehicle. A funeral parade would then convey the coffin from the House of the Unions to the Red Square. Two officers led the funeral parade, carrying a large portrait of the deceased, followed by a group of numerous soldiers carrying red floral wreaths. A group of general officers would come next, carrying the late leader's decorations and medals on small red cushions. Behind them, the coffin rested atop a gun carriage. Walking immediately behind were the members of the deceased's family. The Politburo leaders, wearing red armbands, came next and led the last group of official mourners. At Brezhnev's funeral, the escort of official mourners included forty-four persons.

As the coffin reached the middle of the Red Square, it would be removed from the carriage and placed on a red-draped bier facing the Lenin Mausoleum, with its lid removed. After a series of funeral speeches, which were delivered by military and political leaders (typically including the deceased's successor as General Secretary, as well as 'ordinary' workers) from the balcony of the Lenin Mausoleum, the coffin would be carried in a procession around the mausoleum to the Kremlin Wall Necropolis just behind it. There, with the most senior mourners looking on, the coffin would be placed on a red-draped bier and the mourners would pay last respects. The coffin's lid would then be closed for the final time and the body lowered into the ground by two men, with handfuls of earth thrown onto the coffin by the senior mourners. The grave would be filled in immediately afterward, while the mourners were still present to watch. Gun salutes would be fired, sirens sounded around the Kremlin and the Soviet national anthem be played. This marked the end of the interment. The senior mourners would then return to the balcony of the Lenin Mausoleum to review a parade on Red Square while the military band would play quick marches. This concluded the state funeral.

With small deviations, the described protocol was roughly the same for the state funerals of Lenin, Stalin, Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko. Lenin and Stalin were placed inside the Lenin Mausoleum while the others were interred in individual graves in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis located behind the mausoleum along the actual Kremlin wall. Stalin's body would lie beside Lenin's in the mausoleum until being moved to the Kremlin Wall Necropolis several years after his death.

Russian Federation

  • In April 2007, the first President of Russia, Boris Yeltsin, was buried in a state funeral after a church ceremony at the Novodevichy Cemetery. He was the first Russian leader and head of state in 113 years to be buried in a church ceremony, after Emperor Alexander III of Russia. His funeral is the template for all state funerals held in Russia today, but with the addition of prayers at the moment of burial by representatives of the Orthodox Church.
  • In November 2010, former Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin was buried in a state funeral in a church ceremony at the Novodevichy Cemetery.
  • In June 2015, former Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov was buried in a state funeral in a church ceremony at the Novodevichy Cemetery.

Serbia

Slovakia

  • A state funeral was held for the former President Michal Kováč in 2016.

Spain

Switzerland

Sweden

State funerals since 1907

Funerals with state elements

United Kingdom

Main article: State funerals in the United Kingdom
See also: Vigil of the Princes
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Oceania

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Australia

  • In rare occasions a Commonwealth state funeral is offered to people outside politics but who made a significant contribution to the nation, for example Sir Douglas Mawson was granted a Commonwealth state funeral in 1958.[188]
  • Military state funerals are offered to former senior officers of the Australian Defence Force, for example Field Marshall Sir Thomas Blamey
  • The Unknown Soldier was given a Commonwealth military state funeral on 11 November 1993, before being interred in the Hall of Memory at the Australian War Memorial.

New South Wales

  • The first state funeral in New South Wales was accorded to statesman William Wentworth on 6 May 1873.[189]
  • Some former governors who had previous military service were given military state funerals, for example Rear Admiral Sir David Martin and Air Marshal Sir James Rowland.
  • On 27 November 2007, Bernie Banton, a campaigner for asbestos victims who worked for James Hardie, lost his battle with mesothelioma, an asbestos-related disease. His family was offered a state funeral by NSW premier Morris Iemma.
  • Country singer Slim Dusty (2003)

Queensland

Victoria

Victoria has held the most state funerals in Australia, including:

South Australia

State funerals are generally offered to former Governors, Premiers, Deputy Premiers, Speakers of the House of Assembly, Chief Justices and other senior public officials.

  • Surveyor General Lieutenant Colonel William Light (1786–1839) received South Australia's, and Australia's, first state funeral on October 10, 1839.[201]

Western Australia

The offer of a state funeral is a decision of the Cabinet.

Tasmania

State funerals are generally offered to former Governors, Premiers, Deputy Premiers, Speakers of the House of Assembly, Chief Justices and other senior public officials.

Australian Capital Territory

The offer of a state funeral is at the discretion of the Chief Minister. People who have received state funerals include:

Fiji

New Zealand

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People draped in the New Zealand flag at the Auckland Domain as the hearse carrying Sir Edmund Hillary's coffin drives past during his state funeral

Samoa

Tonga

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See also

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Notes

  1. Remains were subsequently removed from the Libingan ng mga Bayani on August 8, 2016.

References

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