Mourners will start paying tribute to Jimmy Carter on Saturday, marking the beginning of a meticulously planned six-day farewell for the longest-lived president in American history.
According to The PUNCH, flags have been flying at half-mast around the country since Carter died on December 29 at the age of 100 in his hometown of Plains, Georgia.
Carter’s state funeral officially begins on Saturday with Secret Service agents from his current and former protective detail carrying his casket to a hearse for a tour through Plains.
The motorcade bearing his remains is to pause at Carter’s boyhood family peanut farm while a farm bell rings 39 times in honour of America’s 39th president.
His body will then be taken to Atlanta for a brief stop at the Georgia Capitol, where Carter served as a state senator before becoming governor, and a moment of silence.
From there, Carter will be escorted to the Carter Presidential Center where he will lie in repose from 7:00 pm on Saturday (0000 GMT Sunday) to 6:00 am (1100 GMT) on Tuesday to allow the public to pay their respects.
Carter’s remains will be flown on Tuesday morning from a military base in Georgia to Joint Base Andrews outside Washington on a US Air Force plane dubbed Special Air Mission 39.
