turn to pay their respects to the president. About 5,000 per hour passed the casket, after waiting up to seven hours. In all, 104,684 paid their respects when Reagan lay in state. After returning to Washington following the G8 summit in Sea Island, Georgia, President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush visited the rotunda to pay their respects. Many world leaders did the same, including interim Iraqi President Ghazi al-Yawer, former Polish president Lech Wałęsa, Gorbachev, and Thatcher, Reagan's good friend and associate. While Reagan's casket lay in state, Nancy Reagan and her family took up temporary residence in Blair House, the official residence of guests of the president of the United States. There, she was greeted by additional dignitaries and public figures. During a visit from Thatcher, the former Prime Minister wrote in the Blair House condolence book, "To Ronnie, Well done, thou good and faithful servant." State funeral service After 34 hours of lying in state, the doors of the Capitol were closed to the public and Nancy Reagan was escorted in, where she had a moment alone with the casket. A military honor guard entered and carried it down the west steps of the Capitol to a 21-gun salute where Nancy, holding her hand over her heart, met it. After it was placed in a hearse, the motorcade departed on the five-mile-trip (8 km) to the Washington National Cathedral, where the state funeral service was to be held; crowds lined the route of the cortege as the hearse made its way. Dignitaries About 4,000 people gathered at the cathedral for the service, including President and Mrs. Bush, former presidents George H. W. and Barbara Bush, Gerald and Betty Ford, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, and Bill and Hillary Clinton. Members of Congress and past and present governors were also present. Foreign dignitaries attended as well, coming from 167 nations. The dignitaries included more than 40 past and present heads of state and government, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and President of the European Commission, Romano Prodi. Leading the dignitaries were former President of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Margaret Thatcher, former Prime Minister of Canada, Brian Mulroney, and the Prince of Wales, Prince Charles (representing Queen Elizabeth II). Other notable world leaders included: Canadian Governor General Adrienne Clarkson, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his wife Cherie, German Chancellor