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Mandela Memorial Held At Westminster Abbey

The life of Nelson Mandela has been celebrated by 2,000 people led by politicians and religious leaders in a special ceremony at Westminster Abbey.

Addressing the congregation, the anti-apartheid campaigner Desmond Tutu thanked those in Britain who had supported Mr Mandela's cause and his fight for freedom.

"What would have happened had Mandela died in prison as was the intention and hope of the upholders of apartheid," he said.

"I suppose most would have regarded him as no better than a terrorist - after all, persons in high positions in Britain and the US did dismiss him as such."

The Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town added: "Thank you, you who regularly picketed South Africa House, thank you elegant ladies who boycotted South African goods, thank you to all those who followed the long-haired Peter Hain to stop South African sports, thank you all those incredible young people in other parts of the world."

Among those at the ceremony were Prince Harry, representing the Queen; David Cameron, who gave a reading from the Gospel according to St John; the Labour leader Ed Miliband, and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg

Former prime ministers Gordon Brown and Sir John Major also attended to pay tributes to South Africa's first black leader, who died on December 5 aged 95, as did the former Labour leader Neil Kinnock.

Mr Hain, the former Labour Northern Ireland secretary, spoke to say Mr Mandela never forgot his connection with Britain and said it was a "great privilege" to have known him.

Other celebrities at the service included actors Joanna Lumley and Richard E Grant.

The service heard a reading from the Robben Island Bible, a collected works of Shakespeare smuggled into the prison where Mandela was held in 1977.

Mandela will be further honoured with a memorial ledger stone to be laid at the abbey later this year.

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