Washington farewells George HW Bush in emotional state funeral
Tearful George W. Bush pays homage to his father George H.W Bush, describing him as a great president and father | WATCH
A tearful George W. Bush has paid homage to his father, the late George HW Bush, describing him as a great president and the best father a child could have.
Speaking at the first state funeral for a president since Gerald Ford in 2006, Mr Bush broke down at the end of a moving eulogy, saying he knew his father was now hugging his late daughter Robin and beloved wife Barbara in heaven.
“Your decency, sincerity and kind soul will stay with us forever,” Mr Bush told the mourners, who included all five surviving presidents, at Washington’s National Cathedral. “So through our tears, let us know the blessings of knowing and loving you, a great and noble man. The best father a son or daughter could have.
“And in our grief let us smile knowing that dad is hugging Robin and holding Mum’s hand again,” he said referring to Mr Bush’s daughter Robin who died aged three and Barbara, his wife of 73 years, who passed away in April.
Mr Bush said history would treat his father’s presidency well and that he had taught all of his children not only how to live and love but also how to lead.
“He showed me what it means to be a president who serves with integrity, leads with courage and acts with love in his heart for the citizens of our country,” Mr Bush said. “When the history books are written, they will say that George HW Bush was a great president of the United States.
“A diplomat of unmatched skill, a commander-in-chief of formidable accomplishment — and a gentlemen who executed the duties of his office with dignity and honour.”
As he spoke, Donald Trump sat with his wife Melania alongside Barack and Michelle Obama, Bill and Hillary Clinton and Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter.
Mr Trump, a robust critic of each of these former presidents gave a brief handshake to Mr Obama and Mrs Obama upon arrival but ignored the Clintons and the Carters and stared straight ahead for the ceremony.
Mr Bush had the unusual role of giving a eulogy as both a son and a former president himself.
He spoke of how he had a conversation with his father in the final minutes of his life last week.
“Last Friday when I was told he had minutes to live — I called him,” Mr Bush said. “The guy who answered the phone said: ‘I think he can hear you but he hasn’t said anything for most of the day.’ I said: ‘Dad I love you you’ve been a wonderful father,’ and the last words he would ever say on earth were ‘I love you too.’”
But Mr Bush also talked lighter moments, of how his father couldn’t dance, had a bad short game of golf and of how he hated vegetables — most famously broccoli.
As children, Mr Bush said: “We tested his patience — I know I did. But he always responded with the great gift of unconditional love.”
The hand-picked crowd inside the cathedral included the extended Bush family as well as Britain’s Prince Charles and former Prime Minister John Major, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, King Abdullah II and Queen Rania of Jordan, and Poland’s President Andrzej Duda and former President Lech Walesa.
But the Bushes also offered many personal invitations including one to the family’s long-standing electrician.
Also giving eulogies were the former president’s close friends, former Senator Alan Simpson, former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and presidential historian Jon Meacham.
The speakers avoided directly contrasting the dignified style of Mr Bush’s presidency to that of Mr Trump although Mr Meacham described Mr Bush, a World War Two veteran, as ‘the last great soldier-statesman’ who harked from an era when presidents ‘believed in causes larger than themselves.’
The funeral, dripping with pomp and ceremony, began with the presidential hearse driving Mr Bush’s body from the Capitol building to the Cathedral and ended with Mr Bush’s body being driven to the airport to be flown to Houston Texas.
There he will lie in repose at St Martin’s Episcopal Church before being placed on a funeral train to College Station Texas where he will be buried at the George HW Bush Presidential Library and Museum.
Cameron Stewart is also US Contributor for Sky News Australia
Women egged in anti-Semitic attack at Bondi Beach
Three men allegedly set upon a number of women on Saturday night in Sydney's east, throwing eggs at them, with police believing they were targeted because of the clothes they were wearing.
‘Hunted down and locked up’: PM condemns latest anti-Semitic attack
Anthony Albanese has condemned a spate of anti-Semitic hate crimes which has culminated in the discovery of a caravan packed with explosives outside Sydney, declaring the perpetrators 'would not succeed' creating hate and division.