Jimmy Carter, the former US president who died aged 100 on Sunday, will be honored with a state funeral before being laid to rest in his home town of Plains, Georgia, next to his wife, Rosalynn.
The proceedings to honor the 29th president of the United States will start on Saturday, when a motorcade accompanying Carter will travel through Plains to his boyhood home. The procession will briefly pause in front of his family’s farm.
From there, Carter’s remains will be taken to Atlanta, where the motorcade will stop at at Georgia’s state capitol for a moment of silence led by Georgia political leaders. Carter’s remains will then be transported to the Carter Presidential Center, where he will lie in repose until the early morning of next Tuesday, 7 January.
From there, the remains of the late president will be brought to Washington, where he will lie in state at the US Capitol.
Next Thursday, Carter will be honored at a state funeral in Washington national cathedral, with many world leaders and other former presidents expected in attendance. Joe Biden will deliver a eulogy.
The date, 9 January, has also been declared a national day of mourning in the United States.
After the state funeral, Carter’s casket will return to Georgia, where a service will be held at Maranatha Baptist church in Plains, followed by a private funeral service and an internment later in the afternoon.
Carter, the longest-lived president, died on Sunday, two years after entering hospice care. Most of the nation saw the former president for the last time at Rosalynn Carter’s funeral last year.
The Carter family said on Monday it had accepted the invitation from Congress for Carter to lie in state at the US Capitol.
Congressional lawmakers extended the invitation to the late former president’s family “in recognition of his long and distinguished service to the nation”, the Carter Center said in a statement posted on X.
The invitation was “respectfully and gratefully accepted”, the statement said.
Flags were flying at half-staff on federal buildings and grounds across the US in tribute to Carter on Monday, and they will continue to do so for the next 30 days.
It is tradition after deaths of acting presidents or former presidents for the US government to order American flags to fly at half-staff, or half-mast, on all federal buildings, grounds and naval vessels, across the US and its territories worldwide.
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The tradition is carried out for 30 days, which means flags will be at half-staff when Donald Trump is inaugurated in Washington on 20 January.
Joe Biden gave a short public address paying tribute to Carter, in which he delivered official praise and personal anecdotes.
“It’s a sad day but it brings back an incredible amount of good memories,” Biden said.
“Today, America – and the world, in my view – lost a remarkable leader. He was a statesman and a humanitarian and Jill [first lady Jill Biden] and I have lost a dear friend.”
Biden said Carter had told him in the past that he was the first official figure to endorse Carter for the presidency in 1976. Biden was a Democratic US senator for Delaware at the time.
Biden said it “dawned on him” that he and Carter “have been hanging out for 50 years”, and he recalled that Carter used to tease him affectionately.
Biden has issued an executive order directing the closure of US government agencies and executive departments on 9 January. US stock exchanges will be closed as well.
