Some 200 people are attending the private ceremony in Les Invalides on Monday morning for former president Jacques Chirac, including his wife Bernadette, their daughter Claude Chirac told AFP.
Bernadette Chirac, weakened, will not however be present then to the official homage to the Saint-Sulpice Church at noon. She has not appeared publicly since the death of her husband Thursday at their home in Paris, rue de Tournon. At the end of the private ceremony at the Invalides, which will start at 9:30 am, Martin Chirac-Rey, 23, the grandson of the former president, will take the floor to pay tribute to his grandfather.
Close political figures
The family and all the medical staff who took care of Jacques Chirac will be there. Some 200 people are expected in total, including close political figures. The ceremony will be celebrated notably by the Mgr Jean-Yves Riocreux, bishop of Basse-Terre (Guadeloupe), friend of the couple Chirac.
At the Saint-Sulpice Church, Jacques Chirac's security officers (at the Elysée and after) will carry his casket. "It was important to us, and they were our supporting walls in a way" throughout these years, said Claude Chirac.