Nelson Mandela's grandson Mandla Mandela leads local chiefs as they escort the lion skin draped casket of the former South African President as it arrives at the Mandela residence. Photo / AP
Several thousand guests, some singing and dancing, have gathered for Nelson Mandela's state funeral in a huge tent at the family compound of the anti-apartheid leader.
Guests included senior South African officials, veterans of the fight against white rule and foreign diplomats, including U.S. Ambassador Patrick Gaspard. Britain's Prince Charles,
entrepreneur Richard Branson and former Zimbabwean prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai were also there.
Mandela's portrait was placed behind two rows of candles in the white, dome-shaped marquee.
Outside, South African military honor guards marched and stood at attention on a dirt road. After the funeral ceremony, a smaller group of guests will attend Mandela's burial at a family grave site on the estate in Qunu, a rural village in Eastern Cape province.
The burial will end 10 days of mourning ceremonies that included a massive stadium memorial in Johannesburg and three days during which Mandela's body lay in state in the capital, Pretoria. He died Dec. 5 at the age of 95 in his Johannesburg home.
