Former first minister Alex Salmond has been honoured and remembered with tears and laughter at his funeral as a leader who took Scotland ‘so close to his dream of independence’.

Among the mourners were Mr Salmond’s widow, Moira, and House of Commons speaker John Bercow, who gathered to pay tribute to the 69-year-old after he died suddenly in Macedonia earlier this month during lunch at a conference.

The former SNP leader, who later went on to set up the Alba Party, had been speaking at the event when he suffered a heart attack.

At the funeral in Strichen, Aberdeenshire, where Mr Salmond lived, he was hailed by a number of giants in Scottish politics.

Kenny MacAskill, justice secretary in Mr Salmond’s government, called him ‘a giant of a man, the leader of our country, the leader of our movement’, before describing him as ‘an inspiration, a political genius, an orator, debater and communicator without parallel’.

Pall bearers with the coffin, draped in a Saltire, arrive for the funeral service of former first minister of Scotland Alex Salmond, at Strichen Parish Church in Strichen, Fraserburgh

John Bercow, former Speaker of the House of Commons arrives at Strichen Parish Church in Aberdeenshire for the funeral of Alex Salmond

Mr Bercow, former speaker of the house, arrives for the funeral for former First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond

Alex Salmond’s widow Moira (left) arrives for the funeral service of her late husband at Strichen Parish Church 

Mr Salmond’s widow Moira enters the church ahead of the service for her late husband

Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh, chair of Mr Salmond’s Alba party, arrives with her husband Zulfiqar Sheikh for his funeral in Strichen, Aberdeenshire

Jim Sillars (centre), the former SNP deputy leader, arrives for the funeral service of former First Minister Alex Salmond

He said Mr Salmond was ‘the outstanding political figure in Scotland not just of his generation but for generations past and likely for generations to come’.

Mr MacAskill added: ‘The legacy he bequeathed is all around. From roads and bridges to rights such as free prescriptions and no tuition fees.’

Mr Salmond’s niece Christina Hendry told the service that in the period since his death, ‘we have felt the grief of a nation, and beyond’.

Speaking at the service at Strichen Parish Church, which was attended only by family and close friends, she added: ‘For everyone in this room we have felt the loss differently.

‘Uncle Alex was an important person to many, but to us he was a husband, a brother, an uncle, a colleague and a dear friend.’

Mr Salmond took the SNP from a party of opposition into government in Scotland with a narrow victory over Labour in the 2007 Holyrood election.

Flowers arrive for the funeral for former First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond

The coffin of former First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond is draped with a Saltire as it arrives for his funeral

Joanna Cherry KC arrives at Strichen Parish Church ahead of Mr Salmond’s funeral 

After his SNP won an unprecedented overall majority in the Scottish Parliament in 2011, then-prime minister David Cameron agreed to its demands for an independence referendum.

While Scots voted to stay in the UK in the 2014 vote, Mr MacAskill remembered Mr Salmond as ‘a man who through his lifetime’s efforts restored pride in our nation and took us so close to his dream of independence’.

Speaking about Mr Salmond, who is survived by his wife Moira, he added: ‘Politics wasn’t a career for him even if he excelled in its arts. He was committed to Scotland and independence, spurning overtures to join other parties.

‘But he rejected them all.’

He said the former first minister ‘had a dream of what Scotland could be, and a strategy to achieve it’, as he recalled him ‘building a party which then took office, and which so nearly won the referendum’.

Former MSP Alex Salmond kicks off the Alba Lothian campaign at Calton Hill, Edinburgh

Mr Salmond, a titan of Scottish politics, collapsed during lunch at a conference in Ohrid, North Macedonia

Jim Sillars (second left) arrives for the funeral service of former first minister of Scotland Alex Salmond, at Strichen Parish Church in Strichen

He recalled his time in office after the SNP won the Holyrood election in 2007, saying while Mr Salmond led a team of ministers with no previous experience in government in a minority administration in Holyrood, his ‘vision and deft handling’ had ensured that his government was ‘recognised even by opponents as credible, capable and competent’.

Mr MacAskill went on to say that under Mr Salmond the SNP had enjoyed ‘unprecedented electoral success in 2011’ with its Holyrood majority ‘something unlikely ever to be repeated’.

While a ‘a very public figure’, Mr MacAskill said Mr Salmond had been ‘fiercely protective of his private life and Moira and the family’, and was a ‘cherished and loving husband, brother, uncle’, as well as a ‘friend to many’. 

The minister conducting Mr Salmond’s funeral said it was an ‘incredibly difficult day for the family’.

Speaking ahead of the service, Rev Dr Ian McEwan added: ‘I am a longstanding friend of Alex’s siblings, they are a very tight-knit family and over the decades I got to know Alex at family gatherings like birthdays.

Mr Salmond led the Scottish National Party between 1990 and 2000, and then again between 2004 and 2014. Pictured: With wife Moira in 2020

‘I conducted his niece’s wedding and took his dad’s funeral.

‘These are desperately sad circumstances and anyone who has been through grief will understand that this is an incredibly difficult day for the family.

‘There is palpable shock over Alex’s passing and folk can well imagine the distress and sorrow within the family.

‘He was the life and soul of the party and played a leading role in his family, and the privacy of the funeral is to give them space to grieve and say farewell to a husband, a brother and an uncle whom they loved dearly.’

After the funeral, piper Fergus Mutch, who previously worked for Mr Salmond, led a procession to the cemetery at Strichen for a private service.

A public memorial service to remember Mr Salmond will be held at a later date, while tributes will also be paid to him in Holyrood on Wednesday, when a motion of condolence is expected to be held.

The Scottish Cabinet, which met on Tuesday morning, ‘reflected on (his) sudden death’.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘The First Minister and Cabinet recorded their sympathies to Mr Salmond’s wife Moira and their wider family.’