President Trump has praised Kirk as “a great American hero”.

“His name will live forever in the eternal chronicle of America’s greatest patriots,” he said.

Kirk says her husband kept their marriage alive by writing her little love notes every Saturday.

“He never missed a Saturday,” she tells the crowd. “And in every single one, he told me what his highlight was for the week, how grateful he was for me and our babies. And always he would end it by asking the most beautiful question … He would end it by asking, ‘Please let me know, how I can better serve you as a husband?’”

Erika Kirk says she forgives the “young man” who killed her husband.

“That man, that young man,” she said to a standing ovation, “I forgive him”.

Kirk was ‘ready to die’

“Pray again, read the bible again, go to church next Sunday, and the Sunday after that and break free from the temptations and shackles of this world,” Erika Kirk tells the crowd.

She also compares her husband to a martyr who “was ready to die”, “loved this world without regrets” and died with “uncompleted work but not with unfinished business”.

Erika Kirk describes seeing husband’s body

Erika Kirk wiped away tears as she described seeing her husband’s body. She said she had found comfort in knowing her husband died doing what he loved.

“I saw the wound that ended his life. I felt shock, I felt horror and a level of heartache that I didn’t even know existed,” Kirk said. “But even in death, I could see the man that I loved. I could see the single grey hair on the side of his head. I also saw in his lips the faintest smile. It revealed to me a great mercy from God in this tragedy. When I saw that, it told me Charlie didn’t suffer.”