Jimmy Carter funeral service to be held at Washington National Cathedral on Jan 9

Former US President Jimmy Carter attends an interview with Reuters in Cairo, Egypt, January 12, 2012. REUTERS

A state funeral for Jimmy Carter, the former US president who died on Sunday at the age of 100, will be held at the Washington National Cathedral on Jan 9, according to the US Army.

US President Joe Biden, who last year said that Carter had asked him to deliver the eulogy at his funeral, has directed that Jan 9 be a national day of mourning for Carter throughout the US.

The official six-day state funeral for Carter begins on Saturday as his remains travel by motorcade through his hometown of Plains, Georgia, the Army said in a statement.

The motorcade carrying Carter will stop at the farm where he grew up. There, the National Park Service will ring the historic farm bell 39 times - Carter was the 39th US President.

Carter's remains will then be carried to Atlanta, where he will lie in repose at the Carter Presidential Center until the morning of Jan 7. His body will then be flown to Washington, DC, where he will lie in state in the rotunda of the US Capitol until his national funeral ceremony.

The family will hold a private funeral and interment in Georgia later on Jan 9, after the ceremony at the Washington National Cathedral.

Carter will be buried in a plot next to his wife, Rosalynn Carter, on the grounds of their longtime home in Plains.

Carter, a Democrat, became president in January 1977 after defeating incumbent Republican President Gerald Ford in the 1976 election. His one-term presidency was marked by the 1978 Camp David accords between Israel and Egypt, bringing some stability to the Middle East.

Carter spent his long post-presidential career devoted to humanitarian work, for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. World leaders and former US presidents have paid tribute to a man they praised as compassionate, humble and committed to peace in the Middle East.