Tears as Anna Nicole finally laid to rest

Tragic Anna Nicole Smith was finally laid to rest today alongside her son Daniel, but reportedly only after a failed last-ditch attempt by her estranged mother to halt her burial in the Bahamas.

The voluptuous blonde, whose sudden death three weeks ago aged just 39 echoed that of her lifelong idol Marilyn Monroe, went to her grave wearing a pink beaded gown and tiara worthy of the Hollywood starlet – and apparently clutching an urn containing her dead oil tycoon husband’s ashes.

But a high-drama soap opera atmosphere followed her in death as in life and her funeral only took place after a judge denied Virgie Arthur’s 11th hour request to take Smith’s body to Texas, Island FM radio reported.

Arthur was booed by the crowd outside as she arrived late for the former Playboy model’s typically flamboyant send-off dominated by her favourite colour.

Nassau’s Mount Horeb Church was festooned with pink peonies, roses, stargazers and white calla lilies, and Smith’s mahogany casket was covered with a rhinestone-studded pink blanket trimmed with flowing marabou tassels and ribbons.

The hundred or so mourners, many of whom wore black and pink ribbons, included Guns N’ Roses rocker Slash and Alex Goen, the chief executive of diet company TrimSpa, which Smith endorsed.

Her close friends Patrik Simpson and Pol Atteu, who designed her handcrafted dress, were also present, but the star’s five-month-old daughter Dannielynn stayed at home.

Country singer Joe Nichols sang I’ll Wait For You and Dolly Parton’s On the Wings of a Dove, said to have been Smith’s favourite country song.

Around 30 close friends and family members attended the intimate graveside service that followed.

Each reportedly laid a pink and a red rose on the coffin to symbolise Smith and 20-year-old Daniel, who died in September just three days after Dannielynn was born.

They had also been asked to write a personal note to the star on pink heart-shaped paper and drop it into the grave.

Although both ceremonies were private, they were being filmed by TV show Entertainment Tonight, which posted updates on its website.

Smith’s partner Howard Stern and her ex-boyfriend Larry Birkhead, who are embroiled in a legal battle over who fathered her daughter, apparently shook hands and both wept before the funeral started.

Birkhead sat behind Stern in the second row. A picture of Smith was looking her most glamorous was displayed next to the coffin.

The service began after the coffin arrived in a white hearse and was carried down the red carpet leading to the church.

Hundreds of islanders and tourists crowded behind barricades as police stood guard.

While some admired the spectacle, others were amazed at the frenzy afforded to someone who was neither royalty nor an important politician.