The Polish President's funeral looked set yesterday to go ahead as planned this weekend at his family's insistence despite a cloud of volcanic ash that has shut Europe's airports and may prevent world leaders attending.
US President Barack Obama is among dozens of leaders scheduled to travel to Krakow in southern Poland for tomorrow's funeral of President Lech Kaczynski and his wife Maria, killed with 94 others in a plane crash in Russia last Saturday.
Tens of thousands of mourners continued to file past the Kaczynskis' coffins in Warsaw's presidential palace yesterday.
Some had been waiting up to 18 hours to view the coffins, a measure of the grief felt by many Poles over the worst single disaster to strike their country since World War II.
The heads of Poland's armed forces, its central bank governor and opposition lawmakers also perished when the ageing Tupolev plane crashed in thick fog while trying to land near Smolensk in western Russia.
Warsaw's picturesque Old Town, where the palace is located, has been transformed into a shrine, festooned with flowers, candles, crucifixes and white and red national flags.
The funeral plans hit an unexpected snag yesterday when the volcanic ash cloud drifting over Europe from Iceland forced the closure of airports, including in Poland, stranding hundreds of thousands of travellers.
"I wish to say that the (Kaczynski) family's will is that the date of the funeral should not be postponed under any circumstances," presidential aide Jacek Sasin told reporters.
Poland's meteorology institute said in a statement posted on its web page yesterday evening that the ash cloud would cover Poland by midnight, and partially disperse by today in the evening.
As well as Mr Obama, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Britain's Prince Charles are among dignitaries from an estimated 96 countries expected to attend the funeral.
Krakow's Balice airport, due to handle most arrivals, shut down yesterday because of the ash cloud.
Volcanic ash contains tiny particles of glass and pulverised rock that can damage engines and airframes.
The decision to bury the Kaczynskis at Wawel, usually reserved for Poland's kings and national heroes, was controversial. Some Poles believe Mr Kaczynski does not deserve such an honour and have staged noisy protests against the move. Public support for Mr Kaczynski, a polarising nationalist and eurosceptic, had dwindled to just 20 per cent before his death.
Polls showed he would have lost to Bronislaw Komorowski, the candidate of Prime Minister Donald Tusk's centrist Civic Platform (PO), in a forthcoming presidential vote.