Former German chancellor Dr Helmut Kohl buried his wife Hannelore yesterday, a week after she took her own life.
A sombre Dr Kohl was surrounded by family and friends, as well as the Chancellor, Mr Gerhard Schroder, for the 90minute service in the Catholic cathedral in the western city of Speyer.
Before the service began, hundreds of Germans gathered outside the church were given a chance to pay their last respects as the coffin lay in state, covered with red roses and large wreaths.
For eight years Mrs Kohl battled a rare skin allergy to daylight which forced her to withdraw from public life. Last week she took an overdose of painkillers, saying in a suicide note that she was unable to bear the suffering from her illness.
In his sermon, the celebrant, Monsignor Erich Ramstetter, said a media campaign against Dr Kohl had contributed to his wife's death.
Mrs Kohl's suicide shocked the country and newspapers and television programmes have been filled with Mrs Kohl's image, stories of her charity work and the familiar footage of Mrs Kohl at her husband's side during the dramatic events of 1989.
Although Mrs Kohl was a Protestant, her husband decided on a Catholic service and burial, reflecting his own faith.
