Family and friends filled a Cape Cod church on Monday to commemorate the life of 22-year-old Saoirse Kennedy Hill, a granddaughter of the late Robert F. Kennedy.
The extended Kennedy clan came to pay their final respects, with Hill's father, uncle and cousin, US Rep. Joseph Kennedy III, serving as pallbearers. Hill's grandmother Ethel, 91, was also present.
The 22-year-old's funeral was held at Our Lady of Victory Church in Cape Cod, near the family's Hyannis Port compound in Massachusetts. She was later laid to rest in a private burial in Centerville village.
The Boston College communications student was found unresponsive in the Kennedy compound on Thursday (local time). It is suspected she died of a drug overdose. The official cause of death remains unconfirmed as investigators await the results of toxicology reports.
Hill's uncles, Timothy P. Shriver and Robert F. Kennedy Jr, delivered poignant eulogies at the funeral.
RFK Jr, 65, described Hill's final hours as "perfect", reports the Daily Mail.
The young woman had reportedly just completed a 25-page essay for Boston College, watched the Democratic debate and had dinner with her grandmother.
"She went out at 10:30pm to a karaoke bar and then dancing at a drag bar. She came home at 2am and stayed up to go swimming at sunrise," RFK Jr said of his niece's final hours.
The funeral programme included the lyrics to 'When Saoirse's Eyes Are Smiling', an adapted version of 'When Irish Eyes Are Smiling'.
In a statement released by a spokesperson last week, the Kennedy family remembered Hill for her passion for human rights, female empowerment and social activism.
Hill was the only child of Courtney Kennedy Hill, 62, the fifth child of Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Kennedy.
Hill publicly documented her struggles with mental illness in 2016, saying she had attempted suicide as a teenager.
RFK Jr posted a heartbreaking tribute to Hill on his Instagram.
"Saoirse was fierce, both in her love for her family and yearning for justice.
"Her greatest gift was to find humour in everything and to give us all the gift of her laughter. The gaping hole that she leaves in our family is a wound too large to ever heal."
Newshub.
