A funeral service for France's former president Jacques Chirac, who died last week aged 86, was held on Monday at the Saint-Sulpice church in central Paris, while France held a national day of mourning for its president who served from 1995-2007. Hundreds gathered in nearby streets and followed proceedings on televisions in local restaurants and bars, a sign of the public's affection for the president. 

Many current and former world leaders paid their respects alongside French president Emmanuel Macron, including former US president Bill Clinton and Russian president Vladimir Putin. 

Chirac's coffin was draped in the tricolour French flag, and was carried into Saint-Sulpice by by his former bodyguards whilst 1,000 onlookers watched in the square outside. 

Thousands of people queued to view the coffin on Sunday and tributes have poured out across the world for Chirac, whose high-profile political career spanned four decades. He was president for 12 years from 1995 to 2007.

But questions have also resurfaced surrounding how much Chirac actually achieved during his lengthy spell in office, as well as discussion surrounding his 2011 conviction for graft when he was mayor of Paris . 

Despite this, in a recent poll in Le Journal du Dimanche the French voted him the best president of the modern era, alongside Charles de Gaulle, with Chirac's opposition to the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq considered his greatest political achievement.   

National mourning for Chirac will continue throughout Wednesday and stretch as far as Japan, where the French rugby team will don black armbands in a sign of mourning when they play the United States for their World Cup game in Fukuoka. 

There was a private service for family members at Les Invalides and then Chirac's coffin was driven under military escort through the streets of Paris for the final memorial at Saint-Sulpice church. 

The Élysée said 30 heads of state and government were present, including Putin, Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban and German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier. German former chancellor Gerhard Schroeder was also present as well as European Union Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker. 

 Qatar Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani and Morocco's Prince Moulay el-Hassan and Prince Joachim of Denmark also attended.

Marine Le Pen, far-right leader of the National Rally party was not present after the Chirac family opposed her presence. Jean-Luc Melenchon, left-wing National Assembly member was also missing from the ceremony. 

First US statement

US secretary of state Mike Pompeo sent his condolences to France on Sunday, which was the first statement from the US government since Chirac's death. "Having dedicated his life to public service, former president Chirac worked tirelessly to uphold the values and ideals that we share with France," said Pompeo. 

But there was no acknowledgement of his opposition to the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, when Chirac and Putin were united in their opposition. Speaking about Chirac in the UK's Financial Times newspaper in June, Putin said: "He is a true intellectual, a real professor, a very level-headed man as well as very interesting."

Analysts say there is such an outpouring of emotion for Chirac because he was considered a warm politician who was more comfortable mixing with the crowd at the annual Paris agricultural fair than giving speeches in the ornate Élysée Palace. 

Chirac was buried at Montparnasse Cemetery in southern Paris, beside his daughter Laurence who died in 2016 aged 58 due to a battle with anorexia. 

Chirac will also be remembered as the first French president to acknowledge the country's role in the deportation of Jews during World War II and for warning about climate change before it was high on the global political agenda. 

But the majority of tributes today are focusing not on policy achievements but instead on Chirac's charisma, reflecting genuine love for a leader whom Macron said on Thursday "embodied a certain idea of France."

"One cannot say that he really transformed France. It's his personality that made him popular"  said political historian Jean Garrigues to AFP.