Queen Elizabeth had hosted a lot of events throughout her reign. So, she is very used to entertaining multiple guests on these occasions. However, Her Majesty faced an “awkward” situation when an uninvited guest showed up at a dinner she was throwing in 1991.
Queen Elizabeth hosted a gathering in Zimbabwe at the time in honor of Commonwealth leaders. An uninvited Nelson Mandela, who was the President of South Africa, showed up at the dinner party.
Nelson Mandela's African National Congress party was still viewed as a terrorist organization during that time, so his arrival was a complete shock to Queen Elizabeth. Despite that, Her Majesty managed to gather her composure and avoided a major "diplomatic disaster."
"The room full of Commonwealth leaders has an unexpected guest when Nelson Mandela turns up, uninvited, putting the Queen in a very awkward position. The lightness of the words the Queen shared with Mandela that night made light of a tricky diplomatic situation. But these friendly words were actually used to resolve what was nearly a diplomatic disaster,” Andrew Scarborough, who narrated the Channel 5 documentary The Queen: In Her Own Words, said.
Charles Anson, Queen Elizabeth's former press secretary, revealed that, even though she had asked Nelson Mandela to the conference, she did not invite him to the dinner event. He shared that Her Majesty always hosts a dinner on the last night of the Commonwealth Conference. But, since Nelson Mandela was in the conference all day, he may have thought that he was supposed to be in that dinner as well.
Instead of telling the security guards to stop Nelson Mandela from joining the gathering, Queen Elizabeth, reportedly, “immediately said, ‘of course, he’s got to stay for dinner.’” Her Majesty noted that since the president could not be at her table, she ordered that Nelson Mandela should be “somewhere near, at the center.”
Meanwhile, Queen Elizabeth proved, numerous times, that she is an amazing monarch, and she has proven it once again in her coronavirus pandemic message. In a televised speech, Her Majesty thanked frontline NHS staff, care workers, and people who have been helping out during the global health crisis.
Queen Elizabeth’s message was not just to rally against the coronavirus pandemic but also to give hope for the people. The Royal family, especially Her Majesty, are huge inspirations to the public, which is why her speech meant a lot to many.
