{{A stone is to be laid in Westminster Abbey in memory of Nelson Mandela, the London royal church said ahead of a memorial service Monday for the former South African president.}}<\/p>\n
Around 2,000 people are expected in the abbey for the service celebrating Mandela’s life and work, including members of the global statesman’s family.<\/p>\n
Among those due to attend were British Prime Minister David Cameron and South African Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe.<\/p>\n
Prince Harry, fourth in line to the throne, will represent Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, the head of the Commonwealth.<\/p>\n
South African peace icon Desmond Tutu, the former archbishop of Cape Town, is to give the address.<\/p>\n
Mandela, who died in December aged 95, was welcomed to Westminster Abbey in 1996 during a state visit.<\/p>\n
Ahead of Monday’s service, the Very Reverend John Hall, the dean of Westminster, announced that a memorial stone would be placed in the abbey later this year.<\/p>\n
“Nelson Mandela was one of the most remarkable world leaders of the last century. His remarkable constancy under suffering stands as an example to everyone,” he said.<\/p>\n
“In addition, his capacity for forgiveness and his generosity of spirit show what humanity at its best can achieve.<\/p>\n
“His memorial in Westminster Abbey, justified in itself, standing amongst memorials to many of the greatest men and women of the world — not all of them British — will also prove to be a focus of contemplation and prayer for the gift of forgiveness and reconciliation in many communities and places in our troubled world.”<\/p>\n
The abbey falls directly under the jurisdiction of Queen Elizabeth — the head of the Church of England — and it is where sovereigns have been crowned since at least 1066. Eighteen British monarchs are also buried inside.<\/p>\n
It is one of Britain’s most significant honours to be buried or commemorated at the abbey.<\/p>\n
Among those commemorated are Winston Churchill, William Shakespeare, John Wesley, Martin Luther King, Francis Drake, Edward Elgar, Oscar Wilde and C. S. Lewis.<\/p>\n
London’s statue of Mandela, unveiled in 2007 in his presence, stands across from the abbey in Parliament Square.<\/p>\n
{wirestory}<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
{{A stone is to be laid in Westminster Abbey in memory of Nelson Mandela, the London royal church said ahead of a memorial service Monday for the former South African president.}} Around 2,000 people are expected in the abbey for the service celebrating Mandela’s life and work, including members of the global statesman’s family. Among […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2000050682,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[100],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-12880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-africa","byline-igihe"],"bylines":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"contributors":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"featured_image":{"id":2000050682,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton12880.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton12880.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton12880.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton12880.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton12880.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton12880.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12880\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000050682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12880"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=12880"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=12880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}