Europe

Foreign dignitaries attend funeral of former Portugal leader

Associated Press
Published | Updated

Soldiers from the Portuguese Air Force, Army and Navy stand by the casket of former prime minister and president of Portugal Mario Soares who lies in state at Lisbon's Jeronimos monastery Monday, Jan. 9 2017. Soares, who helped steer his country toward democracy after a 1974 military coup, died Saturday aged 92. A state funeral will be held Tuesday. (AP Photo/Armando Franca) (The Associated Press)

The casket of former prime minister and president of Portugal Mario Soares is carried on a horse-drawn carriage during a funeral procession along the Tagus river bank in Lisbon, Monday, Jan. 9 2017. Soares, who helped steer his country toward democracy after a 1974 military coup, died Saturday aged 92. A state funeral will be held Tuesday. (AP Photo/Armando Franca) (The Associated Press)

The honor guard stands outside Lisbon's Jeronimos monastery on Monday, Jan. 9 2017, as the casket of former prime minister and president of Portugal Mario Soares arrives to lie in state. Soares, who helped steer his country toward democracy after a 1974 military coup, died Saturday aged 92. A state funeral will be held Tuesday. (AP Photo/Armando Franca) (The Associated Press)

Spain's King Felipe VI and Brazilian President Michel Temer are among the dignitaries in Lisbon to attend the state funeral of Mario Soares, a former Portuguese leader who steered his country to democracy after a 1974 army coup toppled Portugal's four-decade dictatorship.

Soares is to be buried Tuesday at a cemetery in the capital after lying in state at the 16th-century Jeronimos monastery, a national monument. Several thousand people filed past his open coffin.

The 92-year-old Soares died in a hospital Saturday after two weeks in a coma.

Portugal is observing three days of national mourning. Soares was elected Portugal's first post-coup prime minister and later became Portugal's first civilian president in 60 years.

Soares grew into a global statesman through his work with the Socialist International movement.