His body, draped in a brown robe, was carried into the mosque on a wooden stretcher on the shoulders of members of the ruling al-Saud family.

Mourners were led by King Fahd's half-brother and - successor King Abdullah and powerful Defence Minister Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz.

The funeral was the final act in a 23-year reign in which King Fahd steered the oil-rich kingdom through turbulent decades rocked by wars and violence but in the last years was forced by ill health to hand over most powers to the present King Abdullah.

Emphasising the close ties King Fahd forged with the Western world, French President Jacques Chirac and British heir to the throne

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