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Edward Kennedy was to be buried Saturday following a funeral Mass where President Barack Obama delivered a eulogy for the patriarch of America's most famous political family.
Although the Mass in Boston was private, crowds were expected to brave stormy weather to watch the historic occasion, after which Kennedy's body was to be taken to Washington for burial at Arlington National Cemetery.
Boston police said heavy security was in place around the Catholic church of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, where Obama was to join Kennedy's widow Vicki and other members of the extended Kennedy clan.
Former US presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter were also expected to attend.
Kennedy died Tuesday, aged 77, after suffering for more than a year from brain cancer.
Although many Americans disliked his leftist politics, Kennedy's passing was a national event, signaling the end of a half-century era in which the family dominated the Democratic Party.
Tens of thousands of people queued to view his coffin on Thursday and Friday when it lay in state at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston.
The breadth of that respect was also reflected in the eclectic mix of guests at a pre-funeral wake Friday, including Republicans who had overcome ideological differences to form a bond with the Senate's leading liberal.
Speakers at the wake praised Kennedy as a patriot, legendary legislator, and a man who knew huge privilege, but also terrible tragedy in the assassinations in the 1960s of his two elder brothers John and Robert.
"Some people born with a famous name live off it. Others enrich names. Teddy enriched his," Democratic Senator Chris Dodd said.
Orrin Hatch, a Republican senator, spoke of his "love" for Kennedy, even if "there are few men with whom I've had less in common."
"I miss fighting with him in public and joking in the background," he said.
The Kennedys' astonishing success in politics, as well as their frequent misfortunes, lend them a unique status -- the equivalent, some say, of a US royal family.
John Kennedy was murdered in 1963 while president and Robert Kennedy was gunned down five years later while running for the White House. Many expected the younger brother, popularly known as Teddy, to seize the mantle.
But his White House hopes were dashed after his name was tainted by scandal, drinking problems and a messy divorce.
He lost the Democratic Party nomination to incumbent Jimmy Carter in the 1980 election.
But he came back as a senator of renowned political skills and determination, earning the admiration of even his critics by the end.
In Washington, the cortege carrying Kennedy's coffin was to stop briefly for a prayer at the Senate steps, before proceeding to Arlington National Cemetery, just outside the capital.
There, Kennedy was to be laid to rest alongside his slain brothers.
