After the lavish, star-studded memorial tribute to Michael Jackson in early July, his family held a private funeral for the singer Thursday. (Kevork Djansezian/AFP/Getty Images)

Michael Jackson was mourned by his family and celebrities at a private funeral service held Thursday night outside the elaborate mausoleum where the King of Pop will be entombed.

The funeral began about an hour and a half late because of the tardy arrival of his parents, Joe and Katherine, and other family members. They included the singer's three children, Prince Michael, 12, Paris Michael, 10, and Prince Michael II, 7, known as Blanket.

Elizabeth Taylor and about 200 other mourners were left waiting in the late summer heat, with the temperature stuck at 32 C just before sunset. Some mourners fanned themselves with programs for the service at Forest Lawn Glendale.

A vivid orange moon, a mark of the devastating wildfire about 16 kilometres distant, hung over the cemetery.

Police had escorted the family's motorcade of 31 cars, including Rolls-Royces and Cadillacs, from Encino to Forest Lawn, with the hearse bearing Jackson's body at the end.

A large, blimp-like inflated light, the type used in film and television production, and a boom camera hovered over the seating area placed in front of the elaborate marble mausoleum. The equipment raised the possibility that the footage would be used for the Jackson concert documentary This Is It.

About 250 seats were arranged for mourners over artificial turf laid roadside at the mausoleum. Nearly double the number of media credentials, 435, were issued to reporters and film crews who remained at a distance from the service and behind barricades.

Rev. Al Sharpton, who gave a rousing eulogy at Jackson's public memorial two months ago, posted on his Twitter account — while the service was underway — that he made a repeat performance Thursday night.

"I just spoke at the conclusion of tributes," Sharpton wrote. "Gladys Knight sang her heart out. Now we prepare to lay him top [sic] rest."

The few clusters of fans who gathered around the secure perimeter at the cemetery entrance struggled to see much. Maria Martinez, 25, a fan from Riverside, Calif., who was joined by a dozen other Jackson admirers at a gas station near the perimeter, gave a handful of pink flowers to a man with an invitation driving into the funeral.

"Can you please put these flowers on his grave?" she told him. Martinez said she picked them from a nearby park.

"They were small and ugly, but I did that with my heart," she said. "I'm not going to be able to get close, so this is as close as I could get to him."

The man consented, adding, "God bless."

Jackson will share eternity at Forest Lawn with the likes of Clark Gable, Jean Harlow and W.C. Fields, entombed alongside them in the mausoleum that will be all but off-limits to adoring fans who might otherwise turn the pop star's grave into a shrine.

The entrance to Forest Lawn Memorial Park cemetery in Glendale, Calif. (Nick Ut/Associated Press)After the burial, the closest the public will be able to get to Jackson's vault is a portion of the mausoleum that displays "The Last Supper Window," a life-size stained-glass re-creation of Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece. Several 10-minute presentations about the window are held regularly 365 days a year, but most of the building is restricted.

The ceremony ends months of speculation that the singer's body would be buried at Neverland Ranch, in part to make the property a Graceland-style attraction. An amended copy of Jackson's death certificate was filed Thursday in Los Angeles County to reflect Forest Lawn as his final resting place.

In court Wednesday, it was disclosed that 12 burial spaces were being purchased by Jackson's estate at Forest Lawn Glendale, about 13 kilometres north of downtown Los Angeles, but no details were offered on how they would be used.

The King of Pop died a drug-induced death June 25 at age 50 as he was about to embark on a comeback attempt. The coroner's office has labelled the death a homicide, and Jackson's death certificate lists "injection by another" as the cause.

Dr. Conrad Murray, Jackson's personal physician, told detectives he gave the singer a series of sedatives and the powerful anesthetic propofol to help him sleep. But prosecutors are still investigating and no charges have been filed.