The family of Swedish actress Greta Garbo respected her wish to be alone to the very end when they secretly buried an urn containing her ashes in a Stockholm cemetery a day ahead of yesterday's public memorial service.
Garbo's niece and heir Gray Reisfield had procrastinated since her death in New York nine years ago over the timing and location of the film star's burial, seeking to avoid the media spotlight.
She finally decided last year to bury Garbo's remains at Skogskyrkogarden cemetery in the actress' home city, and organised a memorial service for yesterday.
However, Reisfield and 12 other family members from the United States gathered at the cemetery a day earlier to bury Garbo's ashes and say their own farewells in peace.
'It was very dignified, nice and simple, and a long way from the hustle and bustle of the world,' cemetery spokesman Borje Olsson said. 'The only sound was the birds singing.' A few press photographers and camera crews were invited to film the burial from a distance but otherwise the service remained a secret.
'Gray Reisfield was worried that the family would not have a ceremony for themselves,' her spokesman Gunnar Olin said.