Political leaders have joined hundreds of mourners to pay their last respects to former Scottish Conservative Party leader David McLetchie at his funeral.

The Lothian MSP died from cancer last week at the age of 61.

He died at St Columba's Hospice in Edinburgh last Monday with his family by his side.

The funeral service at Blackhall St Columba's Parish Church in the capital was attended by people from across the political spectrum.

First Minister Alex Salmond, current Tory leader Ruth Davidson, Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont and Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie joined family, friends and colleagues of the politician at the service.

Former chancellor Alistair Darling, chair of the Better Together campaign to keep Scotland in the UK, and Foreign Secretary William Hague were also in the congregation.

The 700-capacity church was said to be full.

Mr McLetchie's son, James, and former Holyrood presiding officer Alex Fergusson, who was a close friend of the MSP, were expected to pay tribute to him during the ceremony.

Mr McLetchie, who was a lawyer before being elected to the Scottish Parliament in 1999, was the Scottish Tories' first leader of the devolution era.

He took on the leadership of the Scottish Conservatives in 1998, the year after the party was wiped out with no Tory MPs returned from Scotland in the 1997 general election. He headed the party for seven years but quit as leader amid controversy about his taxi expenses.

As well as a son from his first marriage, Mr McLetchie had two stepchildren with his second wife, Sheila, and four grandchildren.

He was involved with the Scottish Conservatives since he was a teenager in 1968 and his death came just two months after he received a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours list.

Prime Minister David Cameron paid tribute to him after his death, describing him as "one of Scottish politics' most formidable intellects and finest debaters".

He said: "David has been an immense figure in Scottish politics and a towering strength to our party in Scotland. He will be sorely missed."

Mr Salmond described Mr McLetchie as a ''very considerable politician of the devolution era'', while Ms Davidson hailed him as a "ferocious debater'' and said "his passing leaves a large hole in Scottish public life".

The hearse carrying the coffin and several floral wreaths made its final journey to the church at walking pace with a funeral director leading the cortege along the road on foot.

The hymns Praise My Soul The King Of Heaven, The Lord Is My Shepherd and Lord Of All Hopefulness were due to be sung during the service led by Reverend Stewart McGregor.

The congregation was also expected to hear readings from Ecclesiastes and Matthew.

A collection for Cancer Research UK was being taken at the end of the service.

During the service, James McLetchie paid tribute to his "brilliant father" who was also a "brilliant friend".

He told mourners: "The thing that I am most proud of my dad has nothing whatsoever to do with his political career. I am most proud of the simple fact that I genuinely regarded my father as one of my best friends.

"What I'll remember most about my dad is the sheer size of his personality and the positive effect that he had on other people. He was a big man in stature but even bigger in presence. If he walked into any room you knew about it, and there are very few people in the world who have that ability.

"He could never have been classed as cool in the traditional sense, but the fact that he didn't care if the little hair he had was all over the place, he never owned a pair of jeans in his life and he sang his heart out to Beach Boys and Tina Turner songs in the car at full volume with the window down for anyone to hear made him exactly that.

"He was a brilliant father and a great man but, above everything else, he was a brilliant father and I feel immensely proud to have known him."

He and his father shared a love of golf and Heart of Midlothian Football Club.

"Not being able to play golf with my dad will leave a huge hole in my life and will undoubtedly be one of the biggest things I miss about him," he said.

While his father's career in politics gave him a "fairly high public profile", he said: "If I ever thought he might be getting a bit too big for his boots, I would jokingly remind him that, as far as I was concerned, his level of celebrity could best be described as Z-list to bring him back down to earth. I think he quite liked that."

When the Prime Minister paid tribute to the former Tory leader, describing him as an "immense figure", he did think his description of him as Z-list "was perhaps a touch harsh".

Mr McLetchie said his father "effectively reached the top of his profession in Scotland" when he became Conservative leader.

He also paid tribute to the "remarkable" way he rebuilt his life after the death of his first wife, Barbara.

"He simply refused to let the tragedy of my mum's death destroy our family, and for that alone I owe him everything."

During the service Tory MSP Alex Fergusson, a former Holyrood Presiding Officer, paid tribute to Mr McLetchie.

He described the ex-Conservative leader as having been "warm, humorous, engaging, hospitable and immensely entertaining".

But Mr McLetchie also "possessed a steely determination to do what he believed was right, whether it was popular or not, whatever difficulties that belief might cause him". He took on a "monumental" task on becoming Scottish Conservative leader.

"He was leading a party with no representative at Westminster, no first-past-the-post seats at Holyrood and which had argued against the establishment of the Scottish Parliament in the first place," Mr Fergusson said.

"David did not have his challenges to seek. Almost single-handedly, he saw off the challenges of those early days and he firmly established his party as one that punched well above its weight in Scottish politics."

Mr McLetchie stood down as leader "in the face of a level of intensity of publicity that one can scarcely begin to imagine".

Mr Fergusson went on: "It is said that a person can be measured by how they face adversity, and if that was the measure of David the politician then I would suggest that it was in some ways the making of David the person.

"Gradually he re-emerged at Holyrood and somehow established a much more personal relationship with many of us than he had time to do as leader.

"His humour, his compassion and sheer humanity came to the fore and, combined with an avuncular wisdom, turned a revered and respected leader into a valued and trusted friend and colleague."

Mr McLetchie served as Tory business manager at Holyrood when the SNP were in minority administration.

Mr Fergusson praised his "common sense and pragmatism" during that period.

"The fact that a minority government, which many pundits predicted wouldn't survive for a year, lasted for the full term was in no small part due to the efforts of David.

"No politician is irreplaceable but some are much harder to replace than others. In the world of Scottish politics, David McLetchie undoubtedly falls into that category."