Seraphim honours for Mandela in Stockholm

While Nelson Mandela was laid to rest in Qunu in South Africa yesterday, I happened to be in Stockholm, where I got the chance to observe the ceremonial which accompanies the death of a Knight of the Royal Seraphim Order, Sweden’s highest order, which nowadays is only awarded to royals and heads of state.
While a knight of the order is alive, his or her armorial shield is kept at the Royal Palace, where a selection is displayed in the Seraphim Hall next to the Hall of State. After the death of a knight, the shield is hung in the former royal burial church at Riddarholmen.
At 11.15 a.m. yesterday, Nelson Mandela’s shield was carried from the Royal Palace to the Riddarholmen Church, accompanied by a guard of honour made up of four grenadiers, while the soldiers guarding the Royal Palace paraded in the Outer Courtyard.
In the Riddarholmen Church, the shield was displayed on an easel at the entrance to the chancel, next to a table with a photo of Mandela, two white candles and a bouquet of flowers, guarded by two grenadiers. The bells of the church tolled from noon to 1 p.m.
The so-called Seraphim tolling is done on the day of the funeral of a knight of the order, as long as the Swedish court is aware of the knight’s passing and the date of his or her funeral (it has happened that the tolling has not taken place because the court has not received news of the death of a knight).
As the bells fell silent at the end of the Seraphim tolling, the easel with Mandela’s shield was carried to the northern side nave of the church and placed in front of the wall where it will be hung with the shields of other late knights.
Nelson Mandela received the Seraphim Order when he, as president, hosted King Carl Gustaf’s and Queen Silvia’s state visit to South Africa in 1997. Crown Princess Victoria represented the Swedish royal family (and Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt the government) at the memorial service held in Johannesburg on 10 December, while no Swedish representative was present at the actual funeral yesterday.

President Zuma honours victims of terrorism on state visit to Norway

President Jacob Zuma of South Africa and his most recent wife, Tobeka Zuma (who seems to be the flavour of the month among his wives), today began a two-day state visit to Norway. The ties between Norway and South Africa are particularly close thanks to Norway being one of the few countries which stood by the ANC throughout the fight against apartheid (and not only through the last few years like Britain, the USA and many other countries did).
Between the usual events of the state visit’s first day – ceremonial, political talks and museum visits, the President and his wife found time to stop outside Oslo Cathedral, where they each laid a bouquet of flowers in honour of the 77 victims of the right-wing extremist terrorist attacks on Oslo and Utøya on 22 July. In the days following the attacks Oslo was literally covered in flowers and the largest sea of flowers was to be found outside the Cathedral, where people still continue to place their tributes. The King and Queen, who have been justly praised for their conduct after the attacks, accompanied their guests to the Cathedral.
Right now the King and Queen are hosting a state banquet at the Royal Palace. The state visit will conclude tomorrow afternoon, but the King and Queen will receive another head of state already on Friday, when the Queen of Denmark comes to Oslo to take part in the celebrations of the bicentenary of the University of Oslo, which was founded by King Frederik VI of Denmark-Norway on 2 September 1811 (the University carried his name until 1939).

South African state visit to Norway

President Jacob Zuma of South Africa and one of his wives, Nompumelelo Ntuli Zuma, will make a state visit to Norway on 31 August and 1 September.
Norway was one of the countries most closely involved in the struggle against apartheid and King Harald and Queen Sonja paid a state visit to President Nelson Mandela in February 1998, a visit President Mandela returned in March 1999. President Zuma hosted the King and Queen for a state visit in November 2009.

On this date: Mandela released

Twenty years ago today, Nelson Mandela was released after 27 years in prison. Today he was scheduled to take part in a symbolic walk from the prison gates accompanied by, among others, his ex-wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, President Jacob Zuma and members of his own family, but only yesterday the increasingly frail ex-President cancelled his attendance.
Recently Frederik Willem de Klerk gave an interview to the Guardian about his decision twenty years ago to free Mandela:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jan/31/nelson-mandela-de-klerk-apartheid

The statue picture above stands in Parliament Square in London.

Norwegian State Visit to South Africa in November

It has now been confirmed by the Royal Court that the King and Queen of Norway will pay a State Visit to South Africa this autumn (as I mentioned in April). The visit will take place between 24 and 26 November. The King and Queen last paid a State Visit to South Africa in 1998, when they were received by President Nelson Mandela. This time their host will be President Jacob Zuma, who was sworn in on 9 May following the ANC’s election victory in April. The Royal Court’s press annoucement:

http://www.kongehuset.no/c26950/artikkel/vis.html?tid=80522&strukt_tid=26950

Jacob Zuma sworn in as president

Yesterday Jacob Zuma was sworn in as President of South Africa in front of a crowd of 30,000 in Pretoria which included his predecessors Thabo Mbeki and Nelson Mandela as well as many foreign heads of state. Jacob Zuma was formally elected president by the country’s Parliament on Wednesday.

ANC wins election, but looses majority

Final results from South Africa's general election show that the ANC received 65.9 % of the votes. This is nevertheless the party's weakest result in elections after the end of apartheid fifteen years ago. It means that the ANC looses its 2/3 majority in Parliament, which it has held since 2004 and which gave the party the possibility to change the constitution without support of other parties. The result also means that the ANC's controversial presidential candidate, Jacob Zuma, will be elected President of South Africa when Parliament convenes. The turnout for the election was 77 %. More in The Guardian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/25/south-africa-elections-anc-zuma