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Saturday, 9 February 2008

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Heath Ledger cremated in Fremantle, Australia

Michelle Williams read Shakespeare during an intimate service at a local cemetery

Heath Ledger's remains were cremated Saturday afternoon, local time, PEOPLE has confirmed.

Following a memorial at Penrhos College for hundreds of mourners, Michelle Williams, escorted by police, arrived with a small entourage of Ledger's closest family for a more intimate service at Fremantle Cemetery, just outside Perth, Australia. The chapel at Fremantle, which was blacked out with sheets and scaffolding, has only eight wooden pews and a lectern.

There, Williams read William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 (“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”).

"It was a very emotional service,” a source tells PEOPLE.

Less than an hour after arriving, the mourners were spotted putting their arms around a clearly distressed Williams and hugging the chaplain in gratitude as they departed.

From there, they headed to the Indiana Tea House on Cottesloe Beach, where attendees from the earlier memorial could be seen smoking and drinking beer and red and white wine on the patio of the establishment, which has a spectacular view of the ocean. Williams was visibly shaken and looked like she had just been crying when she entered the restaurant.

By Brenda Rodriguez and Melenie Ambrose