Malta today bids a sad farewell to Guido de Marco and celebrates a life lived to the full in the service of the nation.

Prof de Marco entered public life when he contested the general election for the first time in 1962 and remained in the limelight even after his term as President ended.

His first political foray was with the Democratic Nationalist Party but he joined the PN before the 1966 general election and was a Nationalist MP for 33 years. He was general secretary and later deputy leader of the party and stood by party leader Eddie Fenech Adami through some of the darkest episodes of Malta's recent political history, including the incidents at Tal-Barrani and the shooting of Raymond Caruana.

In government, he was Minister of Justice and Home Affairs before moving to Palazzo Parisio as Foreign Minister. In that office he submitted Malta's application to join the EU and presided the General Assembly of the United Nations, during which he stoutly supported Kuwait following its invasion by Iraq. He also highlighted the plight of the Palestinian people.

He quickly shed his political role when he became President and was universally acclaimed as the 'people's president' thanks to the warmth of his personality.

Video footage courtesy of TVM, Education 22, DOI and PN.