Gerhard Schröder, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, former Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, former French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, former Polish President Lech Wałęsa, former Finnish President Mauno Koivisto, Romanian President Ion Iliescu, Latvian President Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga, Lithuanian President Artūras Paulauskas, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, King Abdullah II of Jordan, Governor-General of Australia Michael Jeffery, Turkey Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan as well as interim presidents Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan and Ghazi al-Yawer of Iraq, Czech President Václav Klaus and his predecessor Václav Havel, Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos, South African president Thabo Mbeki and Irish President Mary McAleese. Prodi, Blair, Schröder, Berlusconi, Putin, Karzai, King Abdullah, Erdogan, al-Yawer, Mbeki and many others had been at the G8 summit in Sea Island, Georgia, and later decided to extend their stay in the U.S. to attend the funeral. Schröder said about attending the funeral: "It is appropriate that the German chancellor says, 'Thank you,' and that is what I'm doing.'" For Karzai, the funeral was part of his week-long visit to the U.S. and it was the beginning of his visit to Washington. He scrapped a visit to the West Coast to visit the Afghan community there to attend the funeral. World leaders who attended the summit, but decided not to extend their stay in the U.S. to attend the funeral, paid tribute at the summit, including Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, French President Jacques Chirac and Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, also president of the European Union. McAleese's presence had special significance, as she paid tribute to Reagan's Irish roots, recalling his visit to Ireland in 1984. In addition, Taiwan's President of the Control Yuan Fredrick Chien and Representative Chen Chien-jen attended the funeral. The funeral for Reagan was the largest in the United States since that of John F. Kennedy in 1963. President Kennedy's daughter, Caroline, and her husband, Edwin Schlossberg, both attended. Cathedral events The motorcade arrived at the Cathedral and Reagan's casket was removed. The bearers carrying it paused on the Cathedral steps, and an opening prayer was given by Bishop John Bryson Chane, Dean of the Washington National Cathedral. The casket was then carried down the aisle; the Reagan family followed and Nancy Reagan was escorted to her seat by President Bush. Rabbi Harold Kushner and Supreme Court Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor (the first female Supreme Court justice, whom Reagan appointed),