Jimmy Carter’s six-day farewell to the nation culminates on Thursday as the 39th president receives a state funeral at Washington National Cathedral before returning to his home town of Plains, Georgia, for burial beside his wife, Rosalynn.

The service marks the end of Carter’s lying in state at the US Capitol, where yesterday Vice-President Kamala Harris led tributes to a president whose legacy of humanitarian work and diplomatic achievements stretched far beyond his single term in office.

“He lived his faith, he served the people and he left the world better than he found it,” Harris said in a eulogy that highlighted Carter’s establishment of key federal agencies and diplomatic initiatives, including the Camp David accords.

The procession for America’s longest-lived president will be attended by all five living presidents, including President-elect Donald Trump.

Following the cathedral service, Carter’s remains will make their final journey back to Plains, the small Georgia town where his century-long life began and ended. An invitation-only funeral at Maranatha Baptist church, where Carter taught Sunday school well into his 90s, will precede his burial alongside Rosalynn, his wife of 77 years.

In life, Carter eschewed the traditional elder statesman role in favour of hands-on humanitarian work, including through Habitat for Humanity and his campaign to eradicate Guinea worm disease. He authored over 30 books on politics, faith and poetry, helped to negotiate a nuclear standoff with North Korea in 1994 through H4H, and was awarded the Nobel peace prize in 2002.

Praise for Carter’s character and service came from both sides of the aisle. The House speaker, Mike Johnson, on Wednesday described him as having “modeled the virtues of service and citizenship as well as any other American”.

Carter will return to Plains, his home town, on Thursday, where former Secret Service agents will serve as pallbearers and the National Park Service plans to ring the old farm bell 39 times in tribute.

The former president died at his home on 29 December, aged 100, having spent his final months in hospice care surrounded by family. His passing came just over a year after that of Rosalynn, who died in November 2023 aged 96.