Dame Elizabeth Taylor’s funeral began 15 minutes late at Forest Lawn today – at the great star’s request

Elizabeth Taylor was famously late wherever she went and, of course, was always worth waiting for.

Her private funeral today, at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, began 15 minutes late – just as she had planned with a family representative announcing: “She even wanted to be late for her own funeral.”

According to press reports, helicopters buzzed overhead and a handful of fans milled about as black limos carried about four dozen relatives and close friends into the same cemetery as her close friend Michael Jackson whose service Taylor attended in 2009.

The multi-denominational service was officiated by Rabbi Jerry Cutler and lasted about an hour. It included a poetry reading by actor Colin Farrell who recited Gerard Manley Hopkins’ The Leaden Echo and the Golden Echo.

That was followed by more readings by Taylor’s son, Michael Wilding, her grandson, Tarquin Wilding, and her daughter, Liza Todd Tivey. Her grandson Rhys Tivey performed a trumpet solo of “Amazing Grace.”

A larger memorial service is expected in the next two weeks.

Miss Taylor, who turned 79 last month, died early Wednesday of congestive heart failure while surrounded by her four children at Los Angeles’ Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. She had been hospitalized for about six weeks.