Final farewell to Nelson Mandela South Africans and world leaders have said their last goodbyes to former president Nelson Mandela at his state funeral in his ancestral village of Qunu. Thousands of ruling African National Congress (ANC) and Mandela family members, government officials, friends and foreign dignitaries attended the service in a marquee at Mandela's home in Eastern Cape province, where he will be buried on Sunday amid the grazing fields of his youth, next to his parents and three of his children. ANC deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa told the gathering that the father of the nation was to be interred at noon (2100 AEDT), in keeping with his Xhosa culture, which dictates that "a person of his stature is meant to be laid to rest when the sun is at its highest and the shadow at its shortest." But with the service running behind schedule, that deadline was set to be missed. The funeral ends 10 days of official mourning for the anti-apartheid icon, who died on December 5 at the age of 95 after a lengthy illness. Britain's Prince Charles and talk show host Oprah Winfrey were among the celebrities who attended the service, where Mandela's life and legacy were eulogised by a tribal chief, a former cellmate, a host of African leaders, and a granddaughter. "Madiba, we will miss your smile, your laughter, your love and your leadership," President Jacob Zuma said. "While your long walk to freedom has ended in a physical sense, our own journey continues," he said, vowing South Africa would "continue to rise." One of Mandela's fellow former prisoners, Ahmed Kathrada, who spent 26 years behind bars with him for resisting white minority rule, delivered one of the most moving tributes. Kathrada, 84, who was released from prison in 1989, a year before Mandela, recalled "the tall healthy strong man, the boxer, the prisoner who easily wielded the pick and shovel when we couldn't do so." "We walked side by side through the valley of death," Kathrada said, his voice breaking. My life is in a void. And I don't know who to turn to. Mandela's coffin, which was draped in the rainbow-coloured national flag, was taken from his home to the marquee on a gun carriage, followed by hundreds of marching troops. Inside the venue, 95 candles flickered beneath a giant portrait of the Nobel peace laureate. The service began with a Xhosa hymn, Lizalis' Idinga Lakho (Fulfil your Promise). Chief Ngangomhlaba Matanzima of the Thembu people, of which Mandela was a minor royal, said the statesman had been a unifier, not just of the country, but of his tribe. Nandi Mandela told one of her grandfather's favourite self-deprecating stories, about his first time trying to eat with a knife and fork as a young man, trying to impress a woman. "Gee whizz man, every time I stabbed that chicken it jumped," she quoted him as saying. Malawian President Joyce Banda said that Mandela had been an inspiration to her in becoming her country's first female leader. Members of Malawi's government had attempted to block Banda occupying the position in 2012. I found myself in the situation where I had to work with people who tried to prevent me from becoming president. I had to forgive, but without any effort, because Madiba had prepared me," she said, calling Mandela by his clan name. Mandela's death triggered an outpouring of mourning in South Africa and across the world, where he has been heralded as one of the greatest leaders in modern times for overseeing a peaceful transition to democracy after 27 years in prison. His body was returned to his beloved Qunu on Saturday, where thousands of people lined the road to watch his cortege pass. During the week, nearly 100,000 people had waited in line for hours to view his body during three days of lying in state in the capital Pretoria. Zuma said the kilometre-long queues showed that "when people see goodness in a person they respond by reflecting goodness back at that person."