UK chancellor's baby buried

The Browns leave St Bryce Church after the funeral of their baby

EDINBURGH, Scotland -- The baby daughter of UK Chancellor Gordon Brown and his wife Sarah has been buried.

Jennifer Jane, the couple's first child, died in the arms of her parents on Monday, three days after suffering a brain haemorrhage.

Brown and his wife held hands as they arrived for the funeral of their infant daughter Jennifer Jane on Friday.

The tiny baby was delivered by Caesarean section on December 28 seven weeks early weighing just 2lb 4oz after a routine scan raised cause for concern.

The chancellor looked exhausted as he and Sarah made their way slowly towards the church, near Fife, Scotland.

Among the 400 mourners attending the service at the 19th century St Bryce Church, Kircaldy, was British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his wife Cherie as well as Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott and leading Scottish politicians.

About 100 local people lined the edge of the road outside to pay their last respects.

The chancellor's elder brother John Brown describe how Jennifer Jane had "transformed the lives of her parents and all her family".

In an address to the mourners, he said: "Her life was to be counted in days and hours and moments, its dawn to be followed so quickly by its twilight.

"But for every moment of it, Jennifer was surrounded by love."

The printed order of service for the thanksgiving service carried on its cover a picture of the child taken soon after she was born in the Forth Park Maternity Hospital about a mile from the church.

It bore the caption: "Jennifer, the first picture -- sleeping, one-hour-old."

The hymns "All People That On Earth Do Dwell" and "Jerusalem" were sung during the service.

The Rev Sheila Munro, who baptised Jennifer in the Simpson Memorial Hospital in Edinburgh last Sunday, conducted the service.

Munro, a close friend of the chancellor and his wife, married the couple at their home in North Queensferry, Fife, in August 2000. The service was to followed by a private burial, attended only by family members.