(CNN) President Joe Biden on Wednesday eulogized Madeleine Albright, describing the first female US secretary of state as a "force of nature" and a champion of democracy.
"With her goodness and grace, her humanity and her intellect, she turned the tide of history," Biden said during the funeral service at the Washington National Cathedral.
The President said, "She always had a knack for explaining to the American people why it mattered to them that people everywhere in the world were struggling to breathe free."
The President said he learned of Albright's passing as he was traveling to Europe for an emergency meeting with NATO allies to discuss Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
"It was not lost on me that Madeleine was a big part of the reason NATO was still strong and galvanized, as it is today," Biden said.
The President said Albright remained a "nexus of the foreign policy community" in the decades after she left office.
Albright, Biden said, was "always, and I mean always, on top of the latest developments. Always speaking out for democracy, and always the first to sound the alarm about fascism."
"Presidents and leaders around the world continued to solicit her advice, including me," Biden said.
The President praised Albright's diplomatic skills and said part of the reason he believed she was so effective is that "she understood something I've always believed: That all politics, especially international politics, is personal."
Biden described Albright as an advocate for young women in national security, always ensuring they had a seat at the table, and a mentor to "generations of rising foreign policy experts."
Albright, who died in March from cancer at the age of 84, is expected to be remembered by her friends and family, several current and former US government officials, American presidents, secretaries of state, foreign leaders and diplomats, as well as several Democratic and Republican members of Congress. More than 1,400 people were expected to be in attendance.
Albright was a central figure in former President Bill Clinton's administration, first serving as his US ambassador to the United Nations before he picked her in his second term to be the first female secretary of state. In office, she championed the expansion of NATO, pushed for the alliance to intervene in the Balkans to stop genocide and ethnic cleansing, sought to reduce the spread of nuclear weapons and promoted human rights and democracy across the globe.
Madeleine Albright's life in pictures
Madeleine Albright, seen here in 1997, was the first woman to serve as US secretary of state.
A young Albright sits with her father, Josef Korbel, in this photo circa 1945. Korbel was a Czech diplomat, and the family escaped Czechoslovakia 10 days after the Nazi invasion.
Albright, center, works on the newspaper staff at Wellesley College in Massachusetts. She graduated in 1959 and later received a master's degree and a Ph.D from Columbia University.
In 1988, Albright worked as a senior foreign policy adviser for Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis. She also worked for Walter Mondale's unsuccessful campaign in 1984. During the Jimmy Carter administration, she was a White House staff member and congressional liaison for the National Security Council under Zbigniew Brzezinski.
Albright, as the US ambassador to the United Nations, casts a vote in 1993. She was confirmed shortly after the election of President Bill Clinton, who she also advised during his campaign.
Albright presents a poster from the World Conference on Women as she meets with Myanmar political leader Aung San Suu Kyi in 1995.
Albright reaches out to a Burundian orphan while visiting the country in 1996.
Albright is sworn in as US secretary of state in 1997.
Albright looks over at North Korea during a visit to the border village of Panmunjom in 1997.
Albright puts on a jacket as she visits the US Naval Academy in 1997.
Albright's red outfit stands out in a sea of suits as she poses with other foreign ministers during a NATO meeting in Lisbon, Portugal, in 1997.
Albright has lunch with US troops serving in Bosnia in 1997.
Albright greets well-wishers in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, in 1997. She was the first US secretary of state to visit the city since the Vietnam War.
Albright talks with a member of the FBI while visiting the site where a US embassy was bombed in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in 1998.
Albright wipes away a tear as she and the Clintons attend a memorial ceremony for US citizens who were killed in an embassy bombing in Kenya in 1998.
Albright is interviewed by John F. Kennedy Jr. for George magazine in 1998. Kennedy co-founded the magazine.
Albright talks to US Brig. Gen. John Craddock, commander of the US troops that would be taking part in the Kosovo implementation force in 1999. Albright was crucial in pushing President Clinton to intervene in Kosovo to prevent a genocide against ethnic Muslims by former Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic.
Albright testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1999. The committee was conducting hearings on the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty that the Senate would be voting on.
President Bill Clinton is surrounded by Albright and others in 2000 while signing bipartisan legislation normalizing trade relations with China.
Albright prepares to testify before a House committee in 2000 about how Russian President Vladimir Putin rose to power.
Albright shares a toast with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il at a dinner in Pyongyang, North Korea, in 2000. Albright left office in 2001 after President Clinton's second term ended.
Albright visits a polling station in Abuja, Nigeria, in 2007. She was heading a delegation of election observers from the US-based National Democratic Institute.
Albright speaks to a guest at the unveiling of her official portrait in Washington, DC, in 2008.
Albright and presidential candidate Barack Obama attend a roundtable discussion on foreign affairs in 2008.
Albright visits with students in Chicago in 2012. The city was hosting a NATO summit the next month.
Albright helps plant a tree at a botanical garden in her native city of Prague, Czech Republic, in 2012.
Obama presents Albright with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012. "As the first woman to serve as America's top diplomat, Madeleine's courage and toughness helped bring peace to the Balkans and paved the way for progress in some of the most unstable corners of the world," Obama said in his remarks.
Albright plays the drums while attending the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition in 2012.
Albright, second from left, joins other secretaries of state at the groundbreaking ceremony for the US Diplomacy Center in 2014. From left are Hillary Clinton, Albright, Henry Kissinger, John Kerry, James Baker and Colin Powell.
Albright talks with Ukrainian presidential candidate Petro Poroshenko at a meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, in 2014.
Albright shows off her sneakers with Olympic athlete Angela Ruggiero as they attended an alumni weekend at Wellesley College in 2014.
Albright was known for wearing brooches or decorative pins to convey her foreign policy messages. More than 200 of them were part of the "Read My Pins" collection.
Albright attends the Glamour Women of the Year awards in 2015. She was a past honoree.
Albright speaks at the Democratic National Convention in 2016.
Actor George Clooney embraces Albright at the United Nations headquarters in 2016. They were attending a Leaders Summit for Refugees.
Albright attends the funeral for former US Secretary of State Colin Powell in 2021.
Albright's funeral service also featured tributes from former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Albright's daughters -- Anne Albright, Alice Albright and Katharine Albright -- will speak as well. Episcopal clergy officiated at the service. Musicians Chris Botti and Herbie Hancock will perform tributes.
Several current and former federal officials are included in the lineup of readers and intercessors, including Wendy Sherman, a US deputy secretary of state; Condoleezza Rice, a former secretary of state and a former student of Albright's father; and Susan Rice, who leads the White House Domestic Policy Council.
Several other Biden officials were also in attendance, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough and US climate envoy John Kerry, a former secretary of state.
Former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama, former Vice President Al Gore, and former secretaries of defense Ash Carter, Chuck Hagel and Bill Cohen also attended.
Along with several honorary pallbearers, the pallbearers at Wednesday's service will be comprised of Albright's diplomatic security service and protective detail during her time as an ambassador and as secretary of state.
Born Marie Jana Korbelova, the daughter of a Czechoslovakian diplomat, in Prague in 1937, Albright escaped her home country with her family 10 days after the Nazi invasion. Her experience growing up in communist Yugoslavia and then fleeing to the US made her a lifelong opponent of totalitarianism and fascism.
Albright became a face of US foreign policy in the decade between the end of the Cold War and the war on terror triggered by the September 11, 2001, attacks -- an era heralded by President George H.W. Bush as a "new world order." The US, particularly in Iraq and the Balkans, built international coalitions and occasionally intervened militarily to roll back autocratic regimes. Albright -- a self-identified "pragmatic idealist" who coined the term "assertive multilateralism" to describe the Clinton administration's foreign policy -- drew from her childhood experiences growing up in and fleeing Yugoslavia to shape her worldview.
Following her tenure as secretary of state, Albright served as chairwoman of the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs in Washington from 2001 to her death, and she taught at Georgetown University. Albright was also a prolific author, penning seven New York Times bestsellers.
At Wednesday's service, former teaching assistants who worked in Albright's classes at Georgetown are expected to serve as ushers.
CNN's Devan Cole and Caroline Kelly contributed to to this story.