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Mandela becomes first non-Brit honoured at Westminster Abbey

Mandela becomes first non-Brit honoured at Westminster Abbey

Date: 2014-03-14
Nelson Mandela joined a select group of non-Britons who have been honoured by a Service of Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey which includes Archbishop Luwum of Uganda, Sir Alexander Bustamante Prime Minister of Jamaica, Sir Robert Menzies, Prime Minister of Australia and Sir Seretse Khama, President of Botswana.

"Nelson Mandela never claimed glory even when he achieved great things," Deputy President Motlanthe said in his address to the 2,000-strong congregation. "He was shaped by the struggle, which shunned confrontation but held values of compassion and solidarity that went beyond simple opposition to apartheid. Inheritors of his dream have the unenviable challenge to make the dream for which Mandela lived come to pass."

"Posterity will look at the current generation in the light of the Mandela experience," he said. 'If we fail it will not make sense to future generations that while Mandela evolved into a rugged moral force that edged humanity higher on the plane of civilisation, those who followed him either failed to live up to his philosophy or simply destroyed his dream."

A memorial stone is to be laid in the Abbey dedicated to Mandela later this year.No foreign dignitaries have ever been honoured at Westminster Abbey Before, setting a unique precedent for Mandela's service.