Hundreds of mourners threw flowers at the slow-moving hearse and clapped solemnly as the funeral cortege of President Emeritus Guido de Marco yesterday made its way from Mater Dei Hospital to the President’s Palace.
Prof. de Marco, who died in his sleep aged 79 last Thursday, is lying in state at the Palace entrance until tomorrow at noon where people can pay their last respects and sign the book of condolences.
He lay in an open wooden casket yesterday looking serene, with a brown scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel – he was a fervent devotee – wrapped around his hands as his extended family had a private moment to themselves, before the adoring crowds were let in at 11 a.m.
His widow Violet, who he had met in 1951, fixed her gaze on her husband, the sadness in her eyes veiled by her black sunglasses. She was surrounded by her children Giannella, Fiorella and Mario, and their families.
Four soldiers stood like statues at each corner of the open coffin, never once sidetracked from their task of guarding the former President.
A gentle breeze swept in through the muslin curtain separating the entrance from the courtyard, as the Palace door creaked open to let in acting Prime Minister Tonio Borg, and his closest friends and political allies – former presidents Eddie Fenech Adami and Ugo Mifsud Bonnici, and former Speaker Louis Galea.
Government MPs and PN officials followed, all stopping for a few moments in front of the coffin before the public was let in.
Mary Zahra, 62, struggled to get out of her wheelchair and stand for a few seconds, sobbing as she said goodbye to the man she knew for 40 years, “who was like a brother to me”.
The queue waiting outside Valletta’s Republic Street thronged inside slowly, some stopping to take the last photo of Prof. de Marco with their mobile phones and others uttering a silent prayer.
Earlier in the day, Prof. de Marco got a warm sending-off at the Nationalist Party headquarters in Pietà, where he had spent so many years working for the party through thick and thin.
A large poster with the words “perseverance and persuasion” welcomed his hearse where a few hundred people greeted the de Marco family with flowers and loud applause.
As they waited, the people shared their memories of Prof. de Marco – among them Pietru Pawl Busuttil, who described him as his saviour.
As a criminal lawyer, Prof. de Marco had defended Mr Busuttil when he was falsely accused of the murder of Nationalist activist Raymond Caruana in 1986. It later transpired he had been framed by the police.
“If it weren’t for him I would have died 24 years ago. Guido was my big brother. I am extremely emotional. How can I ever forget him?”
Dr Fenech Adami, Dr Borg and many other ministers, MPs and members of PN’s administration were also present. They greeted an emotional Mario de Marco with heartfelt hugs and shows of sympathy.
PN supporters cheered the cortege, shouting “Grazzi Guido”, throwing flowers at the hearse and wiping away their tears.
The funeral cortege also passed by Strickland House, the building of Allied Newspapers in St Paul’s Street, before proceeding to the Palace.
Prof. de Marco was legal advisor of Mabel Strickland and later of Allied Newspapers for 40 years, and until he passed away held the post of chairman of the Strickland Foundation.
Foundation council member Ronald Agius said of Prof. de Marco: “There are no words to describe this unique man.”
Later in the afternoon, the Labour Party’s parliamentary group and its administration paid their last respects to someone described by PL leader Joseph Muscat as “a formidable adversary”, and signed the book of condolences at the PN headquarters.
Eulogies and tributes continued pouring in, and by yesterday afternoon more than 7,500 people had joined the group on the social networking site Facebook, called In Loving Memory of Guido de Marco.
European People’s Party group chairman Joseph Daul sent in his condolences to the Maltese and the family and friends of Prof. de Marco.
“Lest not we forget his valid contribution to world peace. His was a proactive, energetic contribution to the Euro-Mediterranean dialogue... He was a European statesman with a very clear vision. Guido de Marco will continue to inspire us,” he said.
President of the People’s Republic of China Hu Jintao wrote to President George Abela expressing his shock and profound grief at the untimely passing away of Prof. de Marco.
The British High Commission also wrote to Dr Borg expressing the condolences of British Foreign Secretary William Hague and saying: “Malta has lost a great statesman and politician, and I am sure he will be sorely missed.”
Condolences were also sent in by Żminijietna.
Meanwhile, Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna, the Malta heritage trust, said it would be firing a 21-gun salute from the battery at the Upper Barakka in Valletta as a final tribute to Prof. de Marco on the day of his funeral tomorrow.
The gun salute will start at 4.45 p.m. at the end of the church service at St John’s Co-Cathedral and will last 21minutes, with one gun being fired every minute.