Anna Nicole funeral finally under way in Bahamas

NASSAU, Mar 2 (Reuters) The funeral for former Playboy pin-up Anna Nicole Smith finally got under way in the Bahamas today after a three-week fight for her corpse and amid continuing legal skirmishing over her 5-month-old baby.

The body of Smith, a tabloid media fixture whose sudden death in Florida at age 39 on February 8 touched off a media frenzy, was taken in a hearse under police escort, carloads of paparazzi in tow and television helicopters buzzing overhead, from a morgue to the Miami airport as dawn broke.

A few hours later, the coffin reached Nassau's Mount Horeb Church, a white new building with an aluminum roof next to an upmarket seaside development of shops and apartments, where 300 people attended her funeral.

The main players in the furor surrounding the death of the former topless dancer and billionaire's widow arrived at the church in white stretch limousines, accompanied by police motorbikes.

Smith's former boyfriend, Larry Birkhead, who is fighting to prove that he is the father of her baby daughter and heiress, Dannielynn, waved briefly at a crowd of onlookers.

The sightseers, including both local residents and tourists clad in sandals and shorts, were held at bay by barricades.

Only a few select reporters were allowed inside the church.

'INTRIGUING LIFE' ''She has lived an intriguing life that's for sure,'' said Heather McCarthy, on holiday with her family from Boston, who said she came to the church because she was sure friends and family back home would ask her about the funeral.

The guests were to be given pink and red roses in remembrance of Smith and her son Daniel, who died in the Bahamas in September, aged 20, as well as heart-shaped cards to write messages and place in her grave, according to TV reports.

Smith was to be buried after the church ceremony in Nassau's Lakeview Cemetery, next to the unmarked grave where Daniel is buried. The guest list for that was expected to be much shorter than for the church ceremony and the tomb was covered with a tent to keep out prying eyes.

Howard K Stern, Smith's longtime companion, who is listed as Dannielynn's father on the birth certificate, had insisted that she wanted to be laid to rest in the Bahamas.

Smith's mother, Virgie Arthur, wanted to bury her daughter in their native Texas, even though the two had been estranged for a decade.

It is still not clear what caused Smith's death.

But her estate could ultimately be worth millions if it wins a decade-long legal battle to inherit from her late husband, billionaire oil tycoon J Howard Marshall, whom Smith married when she was 26 and he was 89. They had met at a strip club where she danced.

Popular Bahamian talk show host Darold Miller broadcast live from outside the church funeral service.

''This is a chapter we want closed so that we can move on and deal with the real issues in this country. This odyssey has distracted us from our national goals,'' Miller said, referring to a general election that is expected to be held in the Atlantic island chain in May.

REUTERS SI MIR BST2228