Family and friends of Joan Rivers attend funeral

 
Tributes: family and friends attended Joan Rivers' funeral in New York (Picture: Getty)
Standard Reporter7 September 2014

Family and friends of Joan Rivers said goodbye to the American comedian at a funeral service held today.

Tributes have poured out for the 81-year-old star from celebrities as well as the Prince of Wales, whose wedding she attended in 2005.

The funeral is taking place at the world's largest synagogue Temple Emanu-El in New York but no further details have been released.

In the past the comedian joked she warned her daughter Melissa about her death by telling her: “It’s comi-i-i-ing! It’s inevitable.”
Rivers, who died on August 28 having been taken to hospital less than a week earlier after suffering a cardiac arrest during a routine medical procedure, was an outspoken fan of the Royal Family.

Joan Rivers

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She described attending the Prince's wedding to the Duchess of Cornwall where, the Queen "did a very witty speech about how happy she was about his marriage to Camilla".

"Prince Charles is so funny. So, so funny," she added.

The comic, who became almost as well known for her many cosmetic surgery procedures as for her acerbic wit, said she had "no regrets" about going under the knife so many times.

Synagogue: Temple Emanu-El, New York, where the funeral is taking place (Picture: Google StreetView)

Shortly before her death, the outspoken star got herself into hot water when she was quoted as saying that the Palestinian victims of the Gaza conflict deserved to be dead.

But she told the magazine: "For God's sake, for God's sake. I probably said, 'If you don't listen and if you don't get out when they warn you, then you're going to die.' You deserve to die if you're that stupid."

Rivers was reportedly introduced to Charles by a mutual friend while on holiday in the south of France in 2003.

Their friendship quickly developed and she was invited to the Prince's wedding two years later before going on to perform for him, the Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry at a comedy gala to celebrate his 60th birthday in 2008.

Paying tribute after her death, Charles said: "Joan Rivers was an extraordinary woman with an original and indefatigable spirit, an unstoppable sense of humour and an enormous zest for life. She will be hugely missed and utterly irreplaceable."

The New York City medical examiner said more tests are required to find out the cause of the mother-of-one's death.

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