Germany bids farewell to former first lady

Helmut Kohl follows his wife's coffin

Thousands of ordinary people have joined Germany's former Chancellor, Helmut Kohl, at the funeral of his wife, Hannelore, who committed suicide last week at the age of 68.

Thousands of people turned out for the service

About 1,500 mourners attended mass at Speyer cathedral while some 2,000 more followed the service on loudspeakers outside.

A private burial was due to take place at the family grave in the Kohls' home town of Ludwigshafen later in the day.

Mrs Kohl committed suicide on Thursday after suffering from a debilitating allergy to sunlight for many years.

Her condition was incurable and had become increasingly painful in recent months, keeping her a virtual prisoner in her own home.

Media criticised

The current Chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder, was among the many dignitaries from German public life to attend the service.

Mr Kohl arrived with his son and daughter-in-law

Tributes have poured in from around the world since Mrs Kohl's death, honouring her charitable work and her dignified presence by her husband's side during his 16 years as chancellor.

Father Erich Ramstetter, a close family friend who led the mass, sharply criticised the media in his address.

He said that their reporting of the party financing scandal which has dogged Mr Kohl in recent years contributed to Mrs Kohl's death.

Mrs Kohl stood by him though she said she wished for a quieter life.

"We survived World War II. We will also cope with this... I stand by my man," she told a newspaper.

Childhood sweethearts

The couple met when she was just 15 and he 18. They wed 12 years later, in 1960, after Mr Kohl wooed Hannelore, with, she said, more than 2,000 love letters.

In her final years, she was rarely seen in public and had withdrawn from political life. Her skin disease prevented her from attending her younger son Peter's marriage in Turkey at the end of May.

Mrs Kohl was born in the Palatinate region of western Germany, and grew up in Leipzig, where she lived until the end of WWII.

She worked as an interpreter in French and English.