Gold-standard Whitney reaches final resting place

Mourners throw flowers on the hearse carrying Whitney Houston (Reuters)

The gold hearse that has ferried Whitney Houston's body across New Jersey took her coffin on its final journey yesterday, to the cemetery in Westfield where she was laid to rest in a private ceremony.

Onlookers gathered along the route to her grave as the hearse carrying her coffin entered the cemetery, flanked by police cars and following a pick-up truck brimming with flowers.

The singer, who died on 11 February, aged just 48, was buried in the same cemetery where her father was interred in 2003.

Houston was mourned at an invitation-only funeral service on Saturday at the church in Newark where she sang in the choir as a child. The service featured tributes by some of the biggest names in music, including Stevie Wonder and Alicia Keys.

AP