Mazishi ya Michael Jackson kufuru

Jeneza la Michael muda mfupi kabla ya kuzikwa leo asubuhi

Paris na Prince wakishuhudia baba yao akizikwa mapema leo asubuhi

Wazazi wa Michael Jackson, Catherine na Joe wakishuhudia mtoto wao akizikwa leo

Familia na Michael ikiwa kwenye eneo la makaburi ya watu mashuhuri jijini Los Angeles mapema leo asubuhi

Buriani Michael Jackson, pumzika kwa amani.

HATIMAYE Mfalme wa muziki wa mahadhi ya Pop, Michael Jackson amezikwa leo.

Inadaiwa kuwa mazishi na maziko hayo yamegharimu zaidi ya dola milioni moja za Marekani.

Soma zaidi hapo chini

Reverend Al Sharpton spoke during the 45 minute service, while soul singer Gladys Knight performed.

The programmes for the service contained pictures of the Thriller singer alongside some of his quotes. They opened with words taken from Jackson's book Dancing The Dream:

'If you enter the world knowing you are loved and leave the world knowing the same, then everything that happens in between can be dealt with.'

Others guests took to tweeting about the experience.

As he waited for the family Mr Sharpton wrote on his Twitter page: 'What MJ went through was so unfair yet he succeeded. In the end, he was the biggest artist ever.

'He faced the headwinds but he made it.'

After the service, mourners retreated to the nearby Villa Sorriso Italian restaurant in Pasadena for the wake.

The interment comes more than two months after Jackson died aged 50 at his rented LA apartment as a result of acute intoxication with the anaesthetic Propofol.

Last week, the LA county coroner revealed that the death had been ruled as homicide, a move that could lead to criminal charges against his personal physician.

Dr Conrad Murray is known to have administered the powerful sedative hours before the pop star collapsed.

Jackson was originally due to be laid to rest on August 29 - the date he was due to celebrate his 51st birthday.

But this was put back to allow the family more time to plan the ceremony.

Forest Lawn's Glendale site, eight miles north of central Los Angeles, boasts a mausoleum with replicas of the work of Renaissance greats, including Michelangelo's David and Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper recreated in stained glass.

Other stars buried at Glendale, which opened in 1906, include Hollywood actors Humphrey Bogart, Errol Flynn and Clark Gable.

The cost of the funeral - described as 'extraordinary' - is being shouldered by the Michael Jackson estate, lawyers and a judge confirmed on Wednesday.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff authorised the estate to pay for the burial after lawyers for Jackson's mother Katherine asked the court to sign off the expenses.

Jeryll Cohen, an attorney for the administrators of the Jackson estate, said part of the high cost of the funeral was because 12 burial spaces were being bought.

He added: 'The expenses are extraordinary. However, Michael Jackson was extraordinary.'