3 November, 2011 – A portion of Nelson Mandela’s archive was viewed today by the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall when they visited the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory in Johannesburg.
They were accompanied by Mr Mandela’s wife Mrs Graca Machel, South Africa’s High Commissioner to the Court of St James His Excellency Zola Skweyiya, and Achmat Dangor, the Chief Executive of the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory.
The head of the Memory Programme at the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory, Verne Harris, told their Royal Highnesses that his staff had put together a display of some of the “gems” in the Mandela archive.
They were shown the oldest items in the archive, Mr Mandela’s Methodist Church membership cards dated from 1929; the warrant of committal from when he was sentenced to five years in prison on 7 November 1962, as well as a selection of his prison desk calendars and notebooks.
His Royal Highness pointed to a young Mr Mandela in the earliest photograph of him, in a group of his classmates at Healdtown College taken in the late-1930s.
The couple were then introduced to a group of children, Nosipho Zwane, 13, Thandeka Zwane, 8, Lesogo Mahlangu, 12, Phelo Jongizulu, 15 and Shayna Parbhoo.
The Duchess of Cornwall and the Prince of Wales with the Centre of Memory’s Verne Harris.
(Image: Nelson Mandela Foundation)
The Duchess of Cornwall and the Prince of Wales with Nelson Mandela’s grandchildren, Kweku Mandela-Amuah and Mbuso Mandela.
The Foundation's Verne Harris shows the Duchess of Cornwall and the Prince of Wales Mandela’s early photos.
The Duchess of Cornwall, the Prince of Wales and Graça Machel, Mandela's wife.
The Foundation's Verne Harris with the Duchess of Cornwall and the Prince of Wales.
Shayna Parbhoo of Shree Bharat Sharda Mandhir Pre-primary, the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, Nosipho Zwane (13) of Ikusasa Comprehensive School, Phelo Jongizulu of Tertia King School and Lesego Mahlangu (12) of Ingqayizivele Secondary School.
(Image: Nelson Mandela Foundation)