Mourners say goodbye to 'political giant' Alex Salmond

Mourners have remembered a "political giant" and a "friend to many" at the funeral of former first minister Alex Salmond, which took place in Strichen, Aberdeenshire, yesterday.

- Libby Brooks

Salmond's niece Christina Hendry told the private service that in the period after the 69-year-old's sudden death in North Macedonia on 12 October, his family had "felt the grief of a nation, and beyond".

The former SNP leader, who went on to found the pro-independence Alba party after falling out with his successor as first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, had been speaking at a conference on youth leadership when he suffered a heart attack.

His coffin, draped in a saltire flag with a wreath of white roses resting on top, was carried into the church in the bright autumn sunshine.

Delivering the eulogy, acting Alba leader, Kenny MacAskill, who was justice secretary in Salmond's government, hailed him as "a giant of a man, the leader of our country, the leader of our movement".