George Lucas paid tribute to "princess" Carrie Fisher as he made an appearance at a Star Wars celebration

He said: "She really is a modern woman. She was a princess. She was a senator. She was having to hold her own against these two big lugs [Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford]. There really wasn't much of a question; there aren't very many people like her. They're one in a billion. She could hold her own through anything.

"She wore a dress through the whole thing, but she was the toughest one in the group. At the same time, she was fun to be with. She'll always be the princess who took command and never backed down, never was in jeopardy. We'll all love her forever and ever."

Carrie's daughter Billie Lourd also made an appearance at the event in Orlando, Florida, where she spoke of the similarities between Carrie's 'Star Wars' character Princess Leia and her late mother.

She said: "My mom used to say she never knew where Princess Leia ended and Carrie Fisher began. She was imperfect in many ways but her imperfections and willingness to speak about them are what made her more than perfect.

"My mom, like Leia, wasn't ever afraid to speak her mind and say things that might have made most people uncomfortable. [She was] the strong soldier of a woman who often openly fought her own dark side, knowing early on that we all have a dark side to fight, whatever it may be. But she knew that it wasn't about the fight you were fighting but how you fought it - the way you resisted.

"She taught me by her own example, that the most evolved person is seemingly a contradiction - they are both the strongest and the most vulnerable person in the room. And that was her. That is Leia."