The Long Walk’s Final Step: Nelson Mandela’s State Funeral Underway At His Boyhood Home [PHOTOS]

 

The final home-going of the former president of South Africa and world icon Nelson Mandela is under at his ancestor home, the village of Qunu. In attendance are world leaders and icons such Oprah Winfrey, Bono, Prince Charles, Richard Branson, Kofi Annan, and many more. Photos: Hattip to Daily Mail.

 

 Coming home: A parade of servicemen lead the casket to the funeral 

 

Final goodbye: The flag-draped casket of South Africa's first black president arrives in Mandela's village

Tradition: Mandela's casket, covered in the nation's flag, was placed on a cattle skin as the service combined elements of traditional and state funerals

Traditional: Mandla Mandela right, grandson of former South African president Nelson Mandela, during his grandfather's funeral

Mourners: US talk show host Oprah Winfrey, centre, her husband Stedman Graham, left, and English businessman Richard Branson, right, watching the funeral service

His former wife Winnie Mandela

Mandela's widow Graca Machel,

Dignitaries: Anti-apartheid activist and friend Ahmed Kathrada, right, with former South Africa president Thabo Mbeki

Support: African National Congress supporters chant before the start of the funeral

State funeral: Mandela's coffin is carried into the white tent for the service

Dignitaries: Prince Charles, right, arrives for the state funeral on Sunday

Honor: A gun salute is fired as the funeral procession nears the Mandela family compound

Respect: Candles are lit under a portrait of Nelson Mandela before his funeral. One for every year of his life

Display: The coffin of former South African President Nelson Mandela is seen draped in a South African national flag during his funeral in his ancestral village of Qunu

Full military honours: Fighter jets escort the military plane carrying the coffin of former South African President Nelson Mandela as it is flown to Mandela's home in the village of Qunu, Eastern Cape

A celebration of life: Mourners sing, wave their national flag and hold up posters of Mandela as they wait for his funeral cortège to appear

Crowds of mourners cheer as they await the motorcade: Mandela languished in jail for 27 years for his opposition to the racist apartheid regime. Freed in 1990, he emerged to forge a new democratic South Africa by promoting forgiveness and reconciliation

Figurehead: A South African mourner embraces a poster of Mandela, while waiting with other mourners for the motorcade transporting the body of the former president to pass by in the town of Mthatha. Right, Khanyile Diko cheers while wearing a T-shirt depicting the liberation hero as a scarf around his neck

Figurehead: A South African mourner embraces a poster of Mandela, while waiting with other mourners for the motorcade transporting the body of the former president to pass by in the town of Mthatha. Right, Khanyile Diko cheers while wearing a T-shirt depicting the liberation hero as a scarf around his neck

Paying respects: Thousands of mourners line the streets of Umthatha as the enormous convoy of police, military and other vehicles sweeps through their town

High security: Soldiers in full combat gear, male and female, were stationed on foot on either side of the road from the airport in Mthatha

Patriotism: South African mourners wave and cheer as the hearse transporting the flag-draped casket containing the body of Mandela as it passes through the town of Mthatha

Africa: Young women dance by the roadside in the small village of Queque, near Qunu, as they wait to watch the funeral procession to sweep by

'Long live the spirit of Nelson Mandela': The crowds chanted old songs and slogans from the anti-apartheid struggle as they watched the body of Mandela roll past

Loved by the people: The motorcade transporting Mandela's body passes through crowds of mourners gathered in the town of Mthatha on its way to Qunu

Locals cheers as Mandela arrives: Iit was escorted by an enormous convoy of police, military and other vehicles, many flashing emergency lights, arriving at about 4pm local time after going past cheering crowds who had lined the route to pay their respects

A last look at the father of the nation: Locals take photographs as Mandela's hearse nears Qunu, a small hamlet in South Africa's Eastern Cape province where Mandela grew up

Women hold ANC flags and banners as the long convoy bringing Mandela's body home finally arrives in Qunu

A military guard of honour stands to attention at the Mandela family's homestead in Qunu. Mandela, the revered icon of the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa and one of the towering political figures of the 20th century, died in Johannesburg on December 5 at age 95

Winnie Mandela (left), ex-wife of former South African President, and Graca Macel, widow of Mandela, wipe away tears as his flag-draped coffin arrives at the Mthata airport

Tradition: Mandela's grandson Mandla Mandela, right, watches as local chiefs escort the lion skin draped casket of former South African President as it arrives at the Mandela residence in Qunu

Journey's end: The hearse carrying the coffin of former South African president Nelson Mandela passes by the tent dome set up in Qunu for his funeral

Home at last: Military officers and Nelson Mandela's grandson Mandla Mandela, rear, accompany the casket of the former South African President as it arrives in Qunu