Frank's remains exhumed from the mausoleum

The remains of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco were taken out of the basilica in the grandiose "Valley of the Fallen" mausoleum after the exhumation, according to footage broadcast by national television.

The coffin was carried by eight members of his family, including his great-grandson Luis de Bourbon, a distant relative of the Spanish King Felipe VI.

The transfer of Frank's remains is broadcast live on national television.

Franco's body is now to be flown by helicopter to the Mingorubio cemetery north of Madrid, 57 kilometers away, where his wife is also buried.

The Franco family has repeatedly asked the court not to allow the removal of the former dictator's body from the mausoleum.

In an effort to guarantee privacy and avoid the exhumation itself being videotaped and published on social media, the government has banned the 22 members of Franco's family, government officials and workers allowed inside the mausoleum from carrying cameras and cellphones.

The government banned Franco supporters from demonstrating against the exhumation at the Mingorubio cemetery, although about 400 people, some waving flags and Franco-era symbols and chanting "long live Franco" gathered near the cemetery as police looked on.

On September 25, Spain's Supreme Court rejected the family's appeal and approved the government's decision to exhume Franco.

The Roman Catholic Church in Spain has announced that it does not oppose the exhumation of Franco, who was buried in 1975 in a basilica he ordered to be built. It was built, among others, by thousands of imprisoned republicans.

Francisco Franco ruled Spain with an iron fist from victory in the civil war in 1939 until his death in 1975.