Paris (dpa) - France on Monday bid farewell to former president Jacques Chirac with a military ceremony followed by a funeral Mass in a Paris church attended by former presidents and world leaders.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Bill Clinton, Chirac's contemporary as US president, were among the mourners as Chirac's coffin was borne into the Left Bank church of Saint Sulpice.

It was a "day of great emotion" in France and beyond, said the Archbishop of Paris, Monseigneur Michel Aupetit.

Earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron presided over military honours in the courtyard of the Invalides military hospital, where the previous day, thousands of citizens had paid their last respects to the 86-year-old conservative statesman.

The cortege, accompanied by a guard of honour, then made its way slowly to Saint Sulpice, where major Catholic ceremonies in Paris have been held since a fire ravaged Notre Dame Cathedral in April.

Aupetit bowed before the coffin, draped in the French flag, before it was borne from the hearse into the church as a large crowd applauded.

Republican Guard troops in full regalia stood sentry outside Saint Sulpice, with French and European flags atop the steps, in a rare meeting of church and state in secular France.

Chirac's daughter Claude was the chief mourner. His elderly widow, Bernadette, was herself too unwell to attend, Aupetit said.

She had attended a private funeral Mass at the cathedral in the Invalides complex earlier, before the military ceremony, newspaper Le Parisien reported.

Also absent from Saint Sulpice was French far-right leader Marine Le Pen. Chirac had been a resolute opponent of Le Pen's National Front - since renamed the National Rally - and his family had indicated that they did not want her to attend.

More surprisingly, Chirac's contemporary as German chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder, who had backed the French president in his stance against the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, was also missing.

In an apparent misunderstanding, his office had been told he was not invited. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier did attend.

The three surviving former presidents of France stood in the front row at Saint Sulpice: Chirac's immediate successor Nicolas Sarkozy, Francois Hollande, and 93-year-old Valery Giscard d'Estaing, who held office from 1974 to 1981.

"Peace is what we ask of God in this day of great emotion, an emotion that touches all of France," Aupetit said.

The prelate recalled Chirac's most famous moment on the world stage, when he opposed the invasion of Iraq, winning admiration in many quarters but causing anger in Washington.

"Finally, when France risked being involved in an unjust war that endangered the world's equilibrium, he was capable of freely standing apart from friendly countries who wanted to drag our homeland into a rash adventure," Aupetit recalled.

But the archbishop also remembered Chirac's human warmth, as well as the personal tragedy that overshadowed his final years with the death in 2016 of his daughter Laurence after years of psychological and physical ill health.

"Farewell and thank you, Monsieur Chirac," the archbishop concluded to applause in the packed church.

The foreign dignitaries headed to the Elysee Palace for a lunch hosted by Macron.

Chirac's remains, meanwhile, were brought to the capital's Montparnasse cemetery, where French media reported that he was buried in private beside Laurence in accordance with his wishes.

Schools, government offices, and the National Assembly observed a minute's silence in Chirac's memory at 3:00 pm (1300 GMT).