Nancy Reagan leaves Santa Monica For the Last Time.

Three days of formal mourning for American former first lady Nancy Reagan began with a private service in Santa Monica at the Little Chapel, before her coffin was taken in a police-escorted motorcade along an empty freeway for a public viewing at the Ronald Reagan presidential library in Simi valley, California, 40 miles north.

Patti Davis, daughter of Ronald and Nancy Reagan, greeted family members and close friends upon arrival at the Santa Monica mortuary, which held a 20-minute service. When Pallbearers removed the body, our intrepid reporter snapped these photos.

In attendance were the children of Ronald Reagan's son Michael, and Dennis Revell, the widower of the Reagans' late daughter, Maureen.

The coffin was taken by pallbearers – including members of the deceased's secret service detail – to a hearse to begin its journey to the library. Two days of public viewing will precede the funeral.

The procession's route included a lengthy stretch of the Ronald Reagan freeway, named in her husband's honour in the 1990s.