Former US President Bill Clinton and Russias Vladimir Putin are among dozens of past and present world leaders attending a memorial service for Frances Jacques Chirac. A choir sang as the late presidents former security guards carried his coffin, which was draped in the tricolore flag, into Saint-Sulpice church in Paris. Chirac died last week at the age of 86. He served two terms as president and twice as prime minister. Monday was declared a day of national mourning. Among the mourners at Mondays service were all three living former presidents of France - Giscard dEstaing, Nicolas Sarkozy and Francois Hollande. Also present was President Emmanuel Macron, who last week hailed Chirac as a great Frenchman. But the far-right leader Marine Le Pen - whose party won the biggest share of votes in France at the last European elections - was a notable absence from the funeral after the Chirac family made it clear she was not welcome. During his first presidential term (1995-2002), Jacques Chirac took France into the single European currency. At the start of his second term (2002-2007), he spearheaded international opposition to the US-led invasion of Iraq. His later years were blighted by corruption scandals, including a conviction related to his time as mayor of Paris and allegations he was given briefcases of cash by African leaders - which he strenuously denied. At the weekend, thousands of people queued in Paris to see the coffin of the late president as it lay in state. The queue of well-wishers stretched around the Hôtel des Invalides.
