Thousands of mourners will bring the cathedral city of Wells in Somerset to a standstill today for the funeral of Harry Patch, who was the last surviving soldier to fight in the trenches in the first world war.

Visitors from across Europe will line the streets as Patch's coffin is taken from the care home where he spent his final years to the cathedral.

More than 1,000 people successfully applied for tickets to attend the service in the cathedral and others will be able to watch proceedings on a giant screen. The concluding part of the service, the theme of which is peace and reconciliation, will take place outside the cathedral's great west door.

Patch was known for his stance against war, and yesterday Radiohead premiered a song written as a tribute to this, with Patch's own words as lyrics.

He died on Saturday 25 July, aged 111, at the Fletcher House care home. The death of the only man who could talk from experience about the horrors of Passchendaele prompted Gordon Brown to announce a national memorial service at Westminster Abbey for those who served in the first world war.

Today's service is also designed to be not just about Patch but also about those he served alongside and the service personnel who did not make it back from the trenches.

It will begin at 11:30am, when Patch's coffin begins its journey from Fletcher House to the cathedral.

The coffin will be flanked by soldiers of the Rifles, which took in Patch's regiment, the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry. Two soldiers each from the armies of Belgium, France and Germany will also accompany the coffin.

A spokesperson for the cathedral said the idea was to symbolise Patch's desire for reconciliation and his view that: "Irrespective of the uniforms we wore, we were all victims."

Among the mourners will be the Duchess of Cornwall and the Duchess of Gloucester. Members of the public were being encouraged to pay their respects by lining the route of the cortege as it travels through Wells to the cathedral. Silence is requested.

The funeral service will begin at noon and will be relayed on a large screen to people in Cathedral Green.

Afterwards a bugler from the Rifles will sound the Last Post before the bells sound 111 times, one ring for every year of Patch's life.