Flags rustled at half staff as a convoy of ambulances slowly made their way through the streets of Kuwait City on Wednesday, carrying the body of the late Emir, Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah, to funeral prayers and his resting place.
Sheikh Sabah died in the US on Tuesday, where he had been in hospital since July.
His body arrived home on a Kuwaiti government Airbus A340 on Wednesday, where his brother and new Emir, Sheikh Nawaf, and other officials carried it to a waiting convoy of cars.
The authorities blocked roads to allow passage of the convoy to the Bilal bin Rabah Mosque for funeral prayers before the burial.
Video footage showed Kuwait’s City's empty streets, with the silence only rippled by the cars that accompanied his casket.
Members of the royal family and Parliamentary Speaker Mazrouq Al Ghanim followed the vehicle carrying late Emir’s body, wrapped in the Kuwaiti flag, in an orderly passage of a convoy.
On arrival at the mosque, Sheikh Nawaf kissed the head of Sheikh Sabah before prayers were conducted.
Sheikh Sabah’s adviser, former Awqaf Minister Abdullah Al Maatouq, led the burial prayers.
A funeral for a member of the royal family would normally draw tens of thousands of Kuwaiti mourners and scores of foreign leaders and dignitaries, but because of the coronavirus pandemic the burial was restricted to relatives.
Sheikh Sabah, known as the "prince of diplomacy and humanity", ruled Kuwait for 14 years and steered its foreign policy for more than 50.
He was buried in the Sulaibikhat cemetery, after prayers where mourners all wore face masks.
Sheikh Saif bin Zayed, UAE Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior, and Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak, Minister of Tolerance and Coexistence, visited Kuwait to convey the country's respects.
