US First Lady Michelle Obama and representatives from nine former presidential families have led a gathering of politicians and celebrities in paying memorial tribute to Nancy Reagan, whose love for her late husband, Ronald Reagan, was hailed as a romance "for the ages".
In an invitation-only funeral for about 1000 guests at her husband's presidential library in Southern California, the one-time Hollywood actress-turned-first lady was remembered for the fierce devotion she accorded her spouse during their White House years and his long struggle with Alzheimer's disease.
"Theirs was a love story for the ages," former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney said of the couple, during a service that organisers say Nancy Reagan helped plan in advance. "They had style, they had grace and they had class."
Former White House chief of staff James Baker called Nancy Reagan the "consummate political wife and first lady", and a figure whose support, encouragement and political savvy were indispensable to her husband's political success.
The funeral brought together prominent Republicans and Democrats alike in salute of a woman especially admired by political conservatives at a time when deep partisan rancour has reverberated through Washington and the 2016 presidential campaign.
President Barack Obama's wife sat beside former president George W. Bush and his spouse, Laura, and two fellow former first ladies - Jimmy Carter's wife, Rosalynn, and the Democratic frontrunner in the 2016 presidential race, Hillary Clinton.
Seated nearby were the Reagans' daughter Patti Davis and son Ron jnr - who both eulogised their mother - along with Caroline Kennedy, daughter of the late president John Kennedy, and children of his three immediate successors - Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.
ADVISER IN CHIEF
Davis described her mother and father as "two halves of a circle, closed tight" while her brother, Ron, said that "as a couple, they were more than the sum of their parts".
She was to the president, Baker recalled, "absolutely without a doubt his closest adviser", adding she was particularly adept at knowing who was truly loyal to her spouse and who was not.
She could be "tough as a Marine drill sergeant ... when things weren't going well", Baker said, recounting he saw Nancy Reagan lose her cool only once - the day in March 1980 when her husband was wounded by gunfire from a would-be assassin.
"She was devastated, and in fact, she fell apart," he said.
Veteran NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw recalled his long and "unlikely" friendship with Nancy Reagan, including the "best gossip from both coasts" they shared over lunch with mutual friend and actor Warren Beatty.
Nancy Reagan, who died on Sunday of congestive heart failure at age 94, was to be buried beside her husband later on Friday in a private service for close family. Ronald Reagan died in 2004. He was 93.
Others dignitaries among the funeral guests were broadcast journalist Diane Sawyer, California Governor Jerry Brown, former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, US House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, former Republican House speaker Newt Gingrich, as well as such showbiz figures as Oscar-winning actress Anjelica Huston and singer Wayne Newton.
