Here are some of the well-known faces no longer with us: the first non-European Pope in more than 1,000 years, the Oscar-winning star of Annie Hall and The Godfather, a soul legend, and one of the world’s most famous designers.

Among those we remember are Hollywood stars Robert Redford, Diane Keaton and Gene Hackman, and theatrical dames Joan Plowright and Patricia Routledge.

Robert Redford’s acting career spanned more than 50 films and won him an Oscar as a director. For many filmgoers though,

He was simply the best-looking cinema star in the world – once described as “a chunk of Mount Rushmore levered into stonewashed jeans.”.

As well as leading roles in hits such as All The President’s Men, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Way We Were, Redford also launched the Sundance Film Festival to champion independent filmmakers

Los-Angeles-born Keaton shot to fame with her role in The Godfather but enjoyed a long creative partnership with Woody Allen.

Annie Hall, a comedy based on their off-screen relationship, earned her a Best Actress Oscar and they collaborated on several other films.

She was nominated for three more Oscars—all in the best actress category—for her work in Something’s Gotta Give, Marvin’s Room, and Reds.

“BASIL!” —The unmistakable sound of Sybil Fawlty admonishing her pompous and incompetent husband is probably how Prunella Scales will best be remembered.

Apart from starring in the sitcom Fawlty Towers, she played many other roles on screen and stage, including Queen Elizabeth II in Alan Bennett’s play,

A Question of Attribution. She also enjoyed an unlikely hit late in life on Channel 4’s Great Canal Journeys, travelling waterways in the UK and elsewhere with her husband, the actor Timothy West.

David Lynch, perhaps the most avant-garde filmmaker to achieve success in Hollywood, brought surrealism to the big screen in films including Mulholland Drive and Blue Velvet.

However, his groundbreaking TV series Twin Peaks remained, for many, his greatest work:

portraying an idyllic American small town encroached upon by a chaotic unconscious world.

Best known for his role as Theo Huxtable on The Cosby Show, Malcolm-Jamal Warner starred in the hugely popular US sitcom from 1984 to 1992.

He had been handpicked for his breakout role on the final day of a nationwide audition – “I was literally the last person they saw,” he recalled in a 2023 interview.

More recently, Warner appeared on several television programs, including Malcolm & Eddie and The Resident.

As New York cop Popeye Doyle in the 1971 film The French Connection, Gene Hackman cemented his reputation as one of Hollywood’s finest tough guys.

That role won him his first acting Oscar (the second was for the 1992 Western, Unforgiven). Hackman also showed a gift for comedy in The Royal Tennenbaums and Young Frankenstein, among others.

Dubbed the “original He-Man of Bollywood,” Dharmendra was one of India’s most famous movie stars, with a career that spanned seven decades and more than 300 films. 

He could excel in romance, action roles, or comedy. One of his most popular films was the 1975 blockbuster, Sholay.

where he played a petty criminal hired by the police to capture a villain. Dharmendra always said he was “embarrassed” by talk of his good looks and attributed them to “nature, my parents, and my genes.”

Born in Lincolnshire, Joan Plowright became a leading lady in London’s West End in the 1950s.

In 1957, she appeared opposite Sir Laurence Olivier—the man she later married—in John Osborne’s The Entertainer at the Royal Court.

Her career lasted more than 60 years, earning her awards for both stage and screen roles. In 2004, she was made a Dame of the British Empire.

“The most unsung leading man of his generation”, according to one movie critic,

Val Kilmer starred as Tom Cruise’s rival in Top Gun, Jim Morrison in The Doors and (less happily) Batman.

taking over the role from Michael Keaton. In the early 2000s, the starring roles dried up, and in 2014, Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer.

Chemotherapy and radiation left him with a tube in his trachea and difficulty breathing – something that was written into his final role, reprising his “Iceman” character in the 2022 Top Gun sequel.

A stalwart of swinging London in the 1960s, Terence Stamp became famous for a string of films.

including Billy Budd, Modesty Blaise and Far From The Madding Crowd – as well as dating icons of that decade,

Julie Christie and Jean Shrimpton. In the 1970s he took a break from acting before returning as Superman villain General Zod and later starring as a transgender woman.

Bernadette Bassenger, in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.

Brigitte Bardot, a French actress, swept away cinema’s staid 1950s’ portrayal of women and personified a new age of sexual liberation.

On screen, Brigitte Bardot was a cocktail of kittenish charm and continental sensuality.

but it was an image she grew to loathe – eventually abandoning her career to campaign for animal welfare. Later,

Bardot’s reputation suffered due to her use of homophobic slurs and repeated fines for inciting racial hatred.

Tunisian-born Claudia Cardinale had a six-decade-long career, rising to fame during the golden age of Italian cinema.

She shot to fame in 1963 when she appeared in Federico Fellini’s Oscar-winning 8 1/2 and Luchino Visconti’s epic period drama The Leopard.

She also worked in Hollywood in the 1960s, starring in The Pink Panther, where co-star David Niven paid her the best compliment she said she ever received: “Claudia, along with spaghetti, you’re Italy’s greatest invention.”

Dame Patricia Routledge was best known as Hyacinth Bucket (pronounced “Bouquet”) in the BBC sitcom Keeping Up Appearances.

She’s a formidable character, and I thoroughly enjoyed portraying her,” the actress expressed. Other comic roles included her monologues as Kitty in Victoria Wood:

As Seen On TV, she said, “I could’ve married, I’ve given gallons of blood, and I can’t stomach whelks, so that’s me for you.”

Success in TV followed a long career on stage, both in the West End and on Broadway.

Canadian actor Graham Greene is best remembered for his role as Kicking Bird in the 1990 Western,

Dances With Wolves. It was a part for which he received an Oscar nomination in the Best Supporting Actor category.

In real life, Greene was a member of the Oneida Nation, part of the Six Nations Reserve in southern Ontario.

Greene had several jobs, including draftsman and steelworker, before becoming an actor in the 1970s. Other films he appeared in included The Green Mile, Die Hard With A Vengeance and Maverick.

As Shirley Valentine, the frustrated Liverpool housewife who finds romance on a Greek island, Pauline Collins achieved international fame and an Oscar nomination.

The Devon-born actress was already a well-known face on British TV before the 1989 film.

starring for several years in the hit ITV series Upstairs Downstairs (and its spin-off, Thomas And Sarah) alongside her real-life husband, John Alderton.

A big star on British TV for several decades, Stanley Baxter starred in a number of hit series between the 1960s and the 1980s.

The Glaswegian comic actor specialised in parodies of television and Hollywood films, where he played most of the parts.

He also appeared in the ITV children’s show Mr Majeika before retiring from television in 1990, but he continued to appear as a panto dame in Scotland for several more years.

Rob Reiner, one of Hollywood’s most renowned filmmakers, has crafted a series of beloved films spanning various genres. Reiner’s work encompassed the classic comedies

This Is Spinal Tap and When Harry Met Sally, the courtroom drama A Few Good Men, and the tense thriller Misery.

His directing career followed a successful spell as a TV star in the 1970s US sitcom, All In The Family.

Actors and performers who also died in 2025 include:

This year saw the deaths of former US Vice-President Dick Cheney, the Conservative politician Norman Tebbit, and the influential political activist Charlie Kirk.

One of the most powerful vice-presidents in US history, Dick Cheney served two terms under George W. Bush, from 2001 to 2009.

After the 9/11 attacks, Dick Cheney was one of the main driving forces behind the “war on terror” that followed and central to the 2003 US invasion of Iraq.

Despite his reputation as a staunch conservative, Dick Cheney fiercely criticised President Donald Trump, asserting in 2024 that no one posed a greater threat to our republic.

As one of Margaret Thatcher’s closest political allies, Norman Tebbit revelled in his combative reputation (he was once described as “a semi-house-trained polecat” by a Labour opponent).

He also gave the 1980s one of its most memorable political soundbites when he described how his father “got on his bike to seek employment.”

In 1987, he resigned from the Conservative Cabinet to tend to his wife’s disability following the Brighton bomb attack three years prior.

Liberal Democrat politician Jenny Randerson became the first female Liberal Democrat minister anywhere when she was appointed Wales’s Minister for Culture.

Sport and the Welsh Language in 2000. She held the position for three years and was also acting Deputy First Minister in the Welsh Assembly (now the Senedd) from July 2001 to June 2002.

A right-wing American activist and influencer who co-founded Turning Point USA, a student organisation focused on spreading conservative ideas on college campuses.

Kirk became known for inviting students to challenge his worldview. Clips from these exchanges built him a huge following—more than five million followers on X and seven million on TikTok.

That helped him mobilise the youth vote for President Donald Trump in the 2024 US presidential election.

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Helen Newlove’s career in politics was driven by the death of her husband, Garry.

Three youths murdered her husband Garry in 2007. She served as Victims’ Commissioner for England and Wales, a role she was appointed to twice.

She was made a Conservative peer in 2010 and also served as deputy speaker in the House of Lo

An unrepentant extremist, Jean-Marie Le Pen succeeded in pushing his far-right views into mainstream French politics. In 1972 he founded the Front National

a party committed to stopping immigration. Le Pen’s attempts to win the presidency foundered, although he finished runner-up in 2002.

In 2015, he was expelled from his party by its new leader—his daughter, Marine Le Pen—after he repeated a claim that the Holocaust was merely “a point of detail” in World War Two.

Political figures who died in 2025 also included:

Our look back includes Beach Boy Brian Wilson, singer Marianne Faithfull, and reggae pioneer Jimmy Cliff.

Marianne Faithfull rose to fame in 1964 at the age of 17, scoring a top-10 UK hit with As Tears Go By, co-written by her then-boyfriend, Mick Jagger.

However, heroin addiction cut short her early success as a singer and actor. Later in her life,

Faithfull enjoyed a second act (and a new, gravelly vocal range) with LPs such as Broken English and collaborations with artists including Nick Cave and

As frontman for Black Sabbath – the Birmingham band many consider to have invented heavy metal – John “Ozzy”

Osbourne gained a reputation as the “wild man of rock” (he once bit a bat’s head off) both on stage and off. In the 2000s,

He became one of the first stars of reality TV in The Osbournes, charting the everyday life of a rock superstar and his family.

One of the first stars of reggae music, Jimmy Cliff, brought the sound of Jamaica to a global audience with hits such as Many Rivers To Cross, Beautiful People, and You Can Get It If You Really Want.

In 1972 he played a gun-toting rebel in The Harder They Come, one of the most successful Jamaican films ever made. Its title song, written and performed by Cliff, became one of his biggest hits.

Mani was the bassist for the Stone Roses, a band that was at the forefront of the “Madchester” music scene in the late 1980s and early 90s.

The Observer and the NME later named their first (self-titled) LP the greatest British album of all time.

It combines influences from rock, dance and funk, all underpinned by Mani’s basslines. After the group disbanded in 1996, he joined Scottish rock band Primal Scream.

Soul singer Roberta Flack trained as a classical pianist.

She scored her first hit when she was in her 30s, and her recording of The First Time Ever I

Saw Your Face spent six weeks at number one in the US and was named the song of the year at the 1973 Grammys. Flack won the same award the following year with Killing Me Softly With His Song.

Combining soul, rock and psychedelia, Sly Stone and his band, the Family Stone, were some of the biggest US acts of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

With hits in their repertoire, including “Dance To The Music” and “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin),”

They performed memorable sets in 1969 at Woodstock and at Harlem’s Summer of Soul. Unfortunately, drug abuse stalled Stone’s career in the mid-1970s, leading to reports of his homelessness at one point.

A founding member of the Beach Boys, Brian Wilson was one of pop music’s greatest composers.

Early songs from the group, like California Girls and I Get Around, depicted the idyllic lifestyle of US west-coast surfers.

while the 1966 LP, Pet Sounds, demonstrated Wilson’s mastery of complex melodies and intricate harmonies.

Fragile mental health led to his withdrawal from the Beach Boys in the 1970s, but he overcame his demons to perform again late in life.

A singer who pioneered neo-soul, a genre blending R&B with other types of music, including hip-hop and jazz, D’Angelo rose to fame in the 1990s with his debut album, Brown Sugar.

He went on to record two more LPs and won four Grammy Awards.

“Voodoo”, which was released in 2000, was placed at 28 in Rolling Stone’s list of the greatest albums of all time.

Famous for her huge vocal range and wide musical repertoire,

Dame Cleo Laine remains the UK’s most famous jazz singer.

She was the first British singer to win a Grammy Award in a jazz category and performed with Ray Charles and Frank Sinatra, among others.

However, her greatest collaborator was her husband, the late musician and composer John Dankworth, with whom she established her career in the 1950s.

Chris Rea’s most famous hit was “Driving Home for Christmas,” written in 1978, released as a single in 1988, and still receiving substantial radio airplay every December since then.

The Middlesbrough-born singer-songwriter also had success in the 1980s and ’90s, with tracks including Auberge, On The Beach, and Let’s Dance.

Musicians who died in 2025 also included:

Pope Francis was the first Latin American leader of the Roman Catholic Church. Born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in the Argentinian capital, Buenos Aires, he became Pope in 2013.

He took “Francis” as his papal name in honour of St. Francis of Assisi, a saint who renounced his wealth and lived among the poor.

From his election onwards, he turned down many privileges traditionally accorded to the Pope.

His early actions in the office included washing the feet of the elderly and prisoners and advocating for the rights of refugees and migrants.

Francis’s papacy introduced several reforms to the Catholic Church; however, he remained a traditionalist regarding many of its teachings. He was at times supportive of some kind of same-sex union for gay couples but did not favour calling it marriage.

He also took part in an anti-abortion march in Rome, calling for rights for the unborn “from the moment of conception.”

He died on Easter Monday, less than 24 hours after his last public appearance, in front of a crowd of worshippers at St Peter’s Square in the Vatican.

Giorgio Armani is an Italian fashion designer who revolutionised the look of men’s and women’s suits in the 1960s.

introducing softer styles for menswear and power suits for women 

“I realised that they needed a dress that was equivalent to that of men.”

he said. He built the Armani brand and business into a multi-billion-pound empire spanning beauty, fragrances, and even luxury hotels.

MI5’s first female director general, Dame Stella, headed the security service from 1992 until 1996 and was widely credited as being the model for Dame Judi Dench’s M in the James Bond films.

Upon her appointment, she became the first director general to receive public recognition.

She later told the BBC she had “thoroughly approved” of the decision but hadn’t guessed how much interest it would generate.

After retiring from the service, she wrote several spy novels.

Katherine Worsley was born to wealthy parents in Yorkshire and, in 1961, married the then-seventh in line to the throne, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent – a cousin of Queen Elizabeth II.

An unconventional and independent member of the Royal Family, the duchess was the first royal in almost three centuries to convert to Catholicism.

She also withdrew from royal life to work as a music teacher at a Hull primary school, where she was known as Mrs Kent.

British animal rights campaigner and primatologist Dr Jane Goodall devoted her life to the study and conservation of chimpanzees and the other great apes.

She discovered that chimps used tools, created complex societies, and were so aggressive they could even kill each other.

US President Biden recently recognised Goodall with a Medal of Freedom, in addition to her damehood in the UK and other international accolades.

Along with his British research partner, Francis Crick,

The American biologist James Watson made one of the most significant scientific discoveries of the 20th century – the structure and function of DNA in the human body.

Demonstrating that DNA has a three-dimensional, double-helix shape allowed Watson and Crick to unlock the secrets of how cells worked and how characteristics were passed down through generations.

The discovery won them a Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1962, although Watson’s controversial opinions on race and intelligence saw him later shunned by the scientific community.

Hogan, whose real name was Terry Bollea, was one of the US’s most famous wrestling stars.

known for his flowing blond hair and handlebar moustache.

He shot to fame after signing for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) – as it was then known – in 1983.

Hogan became one of wrestling’s most prominent characters as its popularity exploded. More recently, he had been a vocal supporter of President Trump.

Public figures who also died in 2025 include:

• Oleg Gordievsky, a Russian double agent, became the UK’s most valuable Cold War spy.
• Betty Webb and Ruth Bourne – decorated codebreakers who spent WW2 deciphering enemy messages at Bletchley Park.
• Aga Khan is a billionaire philanthropist and spiritual leader.
• Frank Gehry was an acclaimed architect whose work included the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.

This year we said farewell to thriller writer Frederick Forsyth, bestselling novelist Jilly Cooper and creator of the “Shopaholic” novels, Sophie Kinsella.

Forsyth’s first and most famous novel, The Day Of The Jackal, portrayed a fictional assassin trying to kill the real-life French president.

Charles de Gaulle; it was a worldwide success in 1971 even though most readers knew how the thriller would end.

Forsyth wrote the book in 35 days, after several years working as a foreign correspondent. He wrote several more bestsellers, including The Odessa Files and The Dogs of War.

For many years, Joanna Trollope has been one of the UK’s bestselling novelists, and her books include

The Rector’s Wife and Daughters-in-Law.

They tackled a range of domestic topics, from affairs, blended families and adoption to parenting and marital breakdowns.

A fellow novelist praised Trollope for her ability to accurately identify contemporary issues.

Sir Tom Stoppard was a British playwright of Czech origin, renowned for his rare blend of erudition and commercial success in his works.

He achieved fame in 1966 with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, a tragi-comic reimagining of two minor characters from Hamlet.

Other works included The Real Thing, The Coast of Utopia, and his final play, Leopoldstadt, which drew on his Jewish ancestry.

Sir Tom was also a successful Hollywood scriptwriter – he won an Oscar for his work on Shakespeare In Love and was an uncredited writer on much of the 1989 blockbuster,

Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade.

The undisputed queen of the British “bonkbuster”, Jilly Cooper’s bestselling novels concentrated on the posh folk of the fictional county of Rutshire, in pursuit of their passions –

These passions included horses, extramarital sex, and wealth, often in that order. Jilly Cooper was rewarded with the DBE in 2024 and found a new audience that year when her 1988 book Rivals was turned into a hit TV series.

Baek Se-hee is a South Korean author whose memoir, I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki, compiles conversations with her psychiatrist about her experiences with depression.

The book was a cultural phenomenon, with its themes of mental health resonating with readers across the world.

Published in 2018, it sold more than a million copies worldwide and was translated in 25 countries.

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o was one of the most important African novelists in recent history.

The Kenyan’s work spanned six decades and two languages – first English, and then his mother tongue, Kikuyu.

He portrayed Kenya’s transformation – from colonial subjects to democracy – in books such as Petals of Blood and Devil on the Cross.

The latter of these books was written while Ngũgĩ was being held in a Nairobi jail as a political prisoner.

Sophie Kinsella, a writer, gained recognition for her 2000 novel, Confessions of a Shopaholic, which chronicled the humorous journey of Becky Bloomwood, a financial journalist and compulsive shopper.

The book spawned several sequels and a 2009 Hollywood film starring Isla Fisher. “

I thought, wait a minute, shopping has become the national pastime, and nobody has written about it,” Kinsella said of her bestselling series.

Peruvian novelist with more than 50 titles to his name, Vargas Llosa won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2010.

His portrayals of authoritarianism, violence and machismo, using rich language and imagery, made him a star of Latin American literature.

In 1990, Vargas Llosa ran for the Peruvian presidency as a centre-right candidate but lost to Alberto Fujimori.

Writers who died in 2025 also included:

We take a look back at the TV producer who spearheaded one of the world’s longest-running children’s TV programmes, as well as the quintessential English photographer.

Joan “Biddy” Baxter was in charge of the BBC children’s TV programme Blue Peter from 1962. She became its editor three years later, a role she held until 1988.

She was responsible for many of the features that defined the program—the Blue Peter badge, the national appeals,

the creative segments (with their copious use of sticky-back plastic) and the program’s pets, most famously the dogs Petra and Shep.

Born in the East End of London, Alan Yentob first made his name as a documentary maker with Cracked Actor, his 1975 profile of David Bowie.

He was given charge of BBC2’s arts program, Arena, where he took a left-field approach to subjects ranging from Orson Welles to the Ford Cortina.

Later on, he became controller of BBC One and Two, as well as the corporation’s creative director and head of music and arts.

Martin Parr is a Bristol-based photographer and documentary maker whose colourful images capture the small details of everyday British life.

Martin Parr first made an impact in the mid-1980s with The Last Resort, his study of working-class people on holiday.

He was known for using a colour-saturated palette that mimicked postcards from the 1950s and 1960s.

Dublin-born TV presenter Henry Kelly began his career as a journalist for The Irish Times.

where he reported on the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

In the 1980s he pivoted to light entertainment, fronting the prank-based gameshow Game For A Laugh on ITV and the long-running BBC quiz show, Going For Gold. He also presented shows on BBC Radio 4, LBC, and Classic FM. Those who died in 2025 include

Scottish football legend Denis Law, the boxer known as the Hitman, and Dickie Bird – cricket’s most famous umpire – all died this year.

Nicknamed “the Hitman,”, Ricky Hatton won world titles at light-welterweight and welterweight and was one of Britain’s most popular fighters.

He earned notable world title wins over Kostya Tszyu and Jose Luis Castillo before defeats by Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao. In 2023,

The boxer was the subject of a documentary, “Hatton”, in which he discussed his personal life and mental health issues.

Former Scotland, Manchester United and Manchester City striker Denis Law was the only Scottish player to have won the Ballon d’Or (at that time, 1964, awarded to the European player of the year).

He spent 11 years at Old Trafford – his 237 goals in 404 appearances placed him third in United’s player history list behind Wayne Rooney and Bobby Charlton.

The Aberdeen-born player was capped 55 times for his country, with his 30 goals making him Scotland’s joint top scorer of all time.

The US boxer won Olympic gold in 1968 and claimed the world heavyweight title twice.

His most famous fight was probably one he lost to Muhammad Ali – the famous “Rumble in the Jungle” in 1974.

However, he notched up 76 wins during his career, including 68 knockouts—almost double Ali’s. In later years,

He became more famous for the bestselling kitchen appliance, the George Foreman Grill – an association that brought him far more money than boxing ever did.

Anne Dunham was one of the UK’s most decorated Paralympians, though she was always quick to credit her horse, Teddy Edwards.

At the age of 27, she received a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis.

She – and often Teddy – appeared in five Paralympic Games, winning 10 medals, including six golds. In Rio in 2016, she was Britain’s oldest Paralympian. She won gold.

As an umpire, Barnsley-born Harold “Dickie” Bird became one of the most famous faces in cricket.

officiating in 66 Tests and 76 one-day internationals, including three World Cup finals, between 1973 and 1996. Prior to his final test,

Both the England and India players presented Bird with a guard of honour on the outfield at Lord’s.

Former England captain David Gower paid tribute, saying Bird would be “remembered as one of the best umpires ever to take the field”.

Australian Paralympic gold medallist Paige Greco started her career as a track-and-field athlete, but it was as a cyclist that she flourished.

Born with cerebral palsy affecting her right side, Greco competed for Australia at world championships and world cups.

She won gold at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, where she broke the record for the women’s C1–3 3,000m individual pursuit.

Diogo Jota was a natural goalscorer who played a pivotal role in Liverpool’s successes in recent years as well as in Portugal’s Nations League triumphs.

He signed for Liverpool in a £45m deal, and his composure in front of goal made him a match-winner on many occasions under Jurgen Klopp and then Arne Slot.

He was in the team that won a domestic cup double of the FA and League Cups in 2022, and despite recently being hampered by injuries, he still made vital contributions in the 2024–25 season.

Billy Bonds captained West Ham to two FA Cup wins, in 1975 and 1980. He played 799 times for the Hammers and spent 21 years at the east London club between 1967 and 1988.

He also managed West Ham from 1990 to 1994. In 2019, the London Stadium, the club’s home ground, named a stand after Bonds.

Sportspeople who died in 2025 also included:

Additional reporting by Sam Horti and Roland Hughes

Thousands of people from across Bangladesh reached the capital, Dhaka, on Wednesday to pay their last respects to former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia.

Zia, the country’s first woman prime minister, died on Tuesday after a prolonged illness. She was 80 years old.

Mourners held hands folded in prayer and carried flags bearing his photographs, and a convoy carrying Zia’s body – including a hearse draped with the national flag – drove through the streets near Parliament House.

Flags are flying at half-mast and thousands of security officers have been deployed.

“I’ve come all this way just to say goodbye. I know I won’t be able to see her face, but at least I can say goodbye. “I am taking him for the last rites,” said Setara Sultana, an activist from Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), in an interview with the BBC.

Sharmina Siraj, a mother of two, called Zia “an inspiration,” noting that the scholarship started by the former leader to improve women’s education had “a huge impact” on her daughters.

“It is difficult to imagine women in leadership positions at any time,” she told AFP news agency.

Those who attended the funeral included India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Pakistan’s National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq and Bhutan’s Foreign Minister Lyonpo DN Dhungyel.

Earlier in the day, Zia’s body was taken to the home of her son Tariq Rehman, who was seen reading the Quran next to his mother’s office.

The state funeral marks the end of Zia’s extraordinary journey from a housewife to the first female Prime Minister of Bangladesh.

Zia will be buried next to her husband, Ziaur Rahman, who was assassinated while serving as president in 1981 – an event that thrust her into the political spotlight.

He led the BNP to the country’s first elections in 20 years. She was labelled an “uncompromising leader” after refusing to run in a controversial election in the 1980s under military ruler General Hussain Muhammad Ershad.

For many years, alongside her bitter political rival Sheikh Hasina, she fought for democracy and against military dictatorship, enduring arrests.

At the time, there was discussion among Bangladesh’s rulers about keeping the two “warring begums”—Zia and Hasina—out of politics, in what was then known as the “minus two” formula.

But Zia eventually became prime minister, first in 1991 and then in 2001.

He was detained in 2007 during the military-backed caretaker government.

Over the past 16 years, under Hasina’s Awami League government, Zia emerged as the most prominent symbol of resistance to Hasina’s rule, which many viewed as increasingly autocratic.

Supporters have praised Zia’s resilience, stating that she never gave up, refused to compromise her principles, and stuck to her convictions despite various personal and political setbacks, years of protests, and convictions under Hasina’s government.

Hundreds of thousands of people, including those who did not vote for his party, attended the funeral, reflecting his popularity among the public.

People who worked with him remembered a leader who used to ask probing questions while making important decisions.

As economist Dr. Debapriya Bhattacharya said, “She made a lasting impression as a political leader who appreciated ideas and valued informed decision-making.”

In his later years, he suffered from several health problems. Despite this, the BNP said it intended to contest elections for parliament in February 2026, when the country will vote for the first time since a popular revolution ousted Hasina from power last year.

According to the party’s candidate list released earlier this month, Zia was to contest from three constituencies.

returned to Bangladesh only last week.

If the party succeeds in regaining power, it anticipates that his son will take on the role of the country’s new leader. Rahman, 60, returned to Bangladesh only last week after 17 years of self-exile in London.

“The nation is mourning the loss of the guiding presence that shaped its democratic aspirations,” Rahman said after his mother’s death on Tuesday.