article_snippet: The day began on the freshly-mown lawns in front of the University of Leicester's Fielding Johnson Building, where a crowd gathered for a solemn service of farewell, dignitaries dressed in a crowd Sunday best alongside students and local families clad in jeans and waterproof jackets in case of a March shower.
article_snippet: Leicester University student Anna Boyer, from North Carolina, said she and she classmates had come to watch the ceremony
article_snippet: Leicester alumni Sara and Leeroy Paskell brought Leicester alumni Sara and Leeroy Paskell daughters Saoirse, 6, and Orlaith, 9, to watch the cortege pass by.
article_snippet: It is amazing to be part of history, it makes me really proud of Leicester University and of Leicester.
article_snippet: Back in Leicester, thousands more gathered around the cathedral and in nearby Jubilee Square.
article_snippet: Waiting to go in to the service, Judy Ellis, from the nearby town of Hinckley, said there was a "real buzz" around Leicester.
article_snippet: It's quite exciting, coming over on the train
article_snippet: I met people who'd come from all over the world to be in Leicester today.