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Who is entitled to a state funeral ?
They are *usually* reserved for the Head of State, hence the name.
State funerals can be granted, however, with the Monarch’s approval, and this also requires a motion in Parliament as they need public funds to pay for it.
Sir Winston Churchill, William Gladstone, The Duke of Wellington, Lord Nelson & Sir Isaac Newton all had State Funerals at the Monarch’s discretion.
Former President Jimmy Carter, lying in state, January 7, 2024.
A beautiful shot of the empty Lincoln Catafalque in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol awaiting the casket of former President Jimmy Carter, who is about to become the 13th President in American history to lie in state.
Photographs of some past Presidential funeral processions through Washington, D.C.: Abraham Lincoln (1865); William McKinley (1901); William Howard Taft (1930); Warren G. Harding (1923); Franklin D. Roosevelt (1945); John F. Kennedy (1963); Ronald Reagan (2004); and, George H.W. Bush (2018).
Has every president laid (?) in state at the capitol?
No. While every President is eligible to have a state funeral with full military honors (as former Commanders-in-Chief of U.S. Armed Forces), many Presidents have chosen to have less elaborate funerals. Planning for a President's funeral begins almost immediately after they are elected, and the President and his family intricately plan out what they wish to happen, in conjunction with the Military District of Washington, which organizes and executes those plans. Those plans are updated (and rehearsed by the military) throughout the lives of Presidents, up until the time of a President's death.
Jimmy Carter will be just the 13th President to lie in state in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol. Here are the previous Presidents who choose to receive that honor: •Abraham Lincoln (1865) •James Garfield (1881) •William McKinley (1901) •Warren G. Harding (1923) •William Howard Taft (1930) •John F. Kennedy (1963) •Herbert Hoover (1964) •Dwight D. Eisenhower (1969) •Lyndon B. Johnson (1973) •Ronald Reagan (2004) •Gerald Ford (2006-2007) •George H.W. Bush (2018) •Jimmy Carter (2025) Two Vice Presidents (in addition to former Vice Presidents Lyndon Johnson, Gerald Ford, and George H.W. Bush) have also lain in state: Henry Wilson, who died in office in 1875, and Hubert H. Humphrey in 1978.
Since they didn't serve in the military, does that mean that Clinton, Obama, Biden, and Trump won't get state funerals when they die?
All Presidents are the Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Armed Forces, so they are all afforded a state funeral with military honors if they choose to have one. It depends on each individual President's personal choices about how their funerals are celebrated. The plans for their funerals start being made soon after they take office and those plans are regularly updated throughout their terms and life after leaving office.