US President Barack Obama will deliver the eulogy at Edward Kennedy's funeral, memorialising the last political elder of the family that has fascinated Americans with its ambition, style, idealism and tragedies for decades.
Senator Kennedy died on Wednesday at his Cape Cod home at the age of 77.
The longtime senator was an ardent supporter of Mr Obama, giving the first black United States president a boost in his campaign for the presidency last year.
The funeral will take place on Sunday at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica in the Mission Hill neighbourhood of Boston. Senator Kennedy will be buried the same day at Arlington National Cemetery, near his brothers.
Senator Kennedy was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumour in May, 2008 and underwent surgery, radiation and chemotherapy.
A stalwart of the Democratic Party, it was Senator Kennedy who jumped into a fractious party presidential nomination fight last year to side with Mr Obama over early favourite Hillary Rodham Clinton.
He lit up the Democratic base with his comparisons between young contender Mr Obama and his late brother, former president John F.Kennedy.
''For his family, he was a guardian,'' Mr Obama said yesterday.
''For America, he was a defender of a dream.''
The Massachusetts senator's extended political family of fellow Democrats and rival Republicans were united in mourning.
Senator Kennedy was the Senate's dominant liberal and one of its legendary dealmakers.
He was first elected to the Senate in 1962, taking the seat his brother John had occupied before winning the White House, and he served longer than all but two senators in history.
A black shroud and vase of white roses sat yesterday on his Senate desk, which John Kennedy had used before him. So dropped the final curtain on ''Camelot'', the already distant era of the Kennedy dynasty.
A family spokesman said yesterday Senator Kennedy's body would pass through sites that were significant to him for at least two hours, including the John F.Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston, today.
Senator Kennedy will lie in repose at Smith Hall, ringed by an honour guard including representatives from each of the four military branches. A memorial service is scheduled to be held there tomorrow.
Mr Obama, who has ordered flags flown at half-mast on all federal buildings, will deliver a eulogy at a funeral mass at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica on Saturday. Also buried at Arlington, the military cemetery overlooking the capital city, are John and Robert Kennedy; John Kennedy's wife, Jacqueline; their baby son, Patrick, who died after two days, and their stillborn child.
To Americans and much of the world, Senator Kennedy was best known as the last surviving son of the nation's most glamorous political family.
Of nine children born to Joseph and Rose Kennedy, Jean Kennedy Smith is the only one alive.
Senator Kennedy was the last of the famous brothers: John, the assassinated president; Robert, the assassinated senator and presidential candidate, and Joseph, the aviator killed in action in World War II when Edward Kennedy was 12.
He lost his sister, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, less than two weeks ago, saw the bright promise of nephew John F.Kennedy Jr end in a plane crash in 1999 and struggled with excesses of his own until he became a settled elder statesman.
In his later years, Senator Kennedy cut a barrel-chested profile, with a swath of white hair, a booming voice and a thick, widely imitated Boston accent. He coupled fist-pumping floor speeches with charm and formidable negotiating skills.
Fellow Democrat Patrick Leahy said, ''I think that once he realised he was never going to be president that was not the legacy he had to follow he really worked at becoming the best senator he possibly could. And he did.''
In the Senate, Republicans respected and often befriended him. But his essential liberalism marked him as a lightning rod, too.
He proved a handy fund-raising foil, motivating Republicans to open their wallets to fight anything he stood for.
His illness had sidelined him from an intense debate on health care that would have found him at the core any other time.
Politicians were calculating the consequences for Mr Obama's push for expanded health coverage. For several months, at least, Senator Kennedy's death will deprive the Democrats of a vote that could prove crucial for his signature cause of health reform.
Conservative senator Orrin Hatch, his improbable Republican partner on children's health insurance, volunteerism, student aid and more, said the Senate probably would have had a health-care deal by now if Senator Kennedy had been healthy enough to work with him.
Senator Kennedy's legislative legacy includes health insurance for children of the working poor, the landmark 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act, family leave and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. He was also key to passage of the No Child Left Behind Education law. AP