South Africans will get a second chance on Thursday to pay their last respects to Nelson Mandela, a day after his distraught widow joined thousands of mourners at his open casket.
Graca Machel, clad in a black headdress with her eyes shielded by sunglasses, placed both hands on the raised coffin before turning away disconsolate on Wednesday.
At each end of the casket stood two navy officers clad in white dress uniform, heads bowed, eyes closed and swords pointing downward.
Underneath a perspex screen the anti-apartheid icon Mandela lay, dressed in a printed brown shirt of the type that became his trademark.
Later, presidents, royalty and thousands of South Africans made their own pilgrimage.
Some stopped briefly to pray, some bowed, some brushed against the rope balustrade to get a closer look at the mortal remains of a man who had earned a place in history long before his death.
