Britain marks 50 years since Churchill's funeral

Randolph Churchill, the great-grandson of Winston Churchill, talks to the media after laying flowers at the foot of his statue in Parliament Square in London on Friday.

Britain on Friday marked 50 years since the state funeral of wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill, with the boat which carried his coffin in 1965 retracing its journey down London's River Thames.

British Prime Minister David Cameron began the commemorative events by laying a wreath at a statue of Churchill in Parliament delivering a message that praised him as one of Britain's greatest ever statesmen.

Churchill’s state funeral was the world's largest at the time, attended by leaders from more than 100 countries, as well as Britain's Queen Elizabeth, an unusual honour for a Prime Minister.