Nelson Mandela’s granddaughter accuses Harry and Meghan of ‘stealing his words to ‘make millions’
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Nelson Mandela’s granddaughter slammed Harry and Meghan today, accusing them of ‘stealing’ the statesman’s words and using his name to ‘make millions’.
Ndileka Mandela, 57, criticized the Sussexes for their Netflix documentary Live To Lead, where the couple uses footage of the anti-apartheid activist leaving prison in 1990.
Harry says in the trailer for his latest film, part of his $100m (£83m) deal with the streaming giant: “This was inspired by Nelson Mandela.”
Ndileka has said she is angry that the couple seem to compare their own battles in the Royal Family to her grandfather’s long walk to freedom, calling it “annoying and tedious”.
She said: ‘That’s chalk and cheese, there’s no comparison. I know the Nelson Mandela Foundation has supported the initiative, but people have been stealing Grandpa’s quotes for years and using his legacy because they know his name sells – Harry and Meghan are no different than them.”
Harry says in the trailer for his latest film, part of his $100m (£83m) deal with the streaming giant: “This was inspired by Nelson Mandela.”
Ndileka Mandela (left), pictured with Luvuyo Madasa and her sister Nandi Mandela in London last month, has criticized the Sussexes for using Mandela’s name.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex meet Graca Machel, widow of the late Nelson Mandela, on the last day of their tour of Africa in 2019
He added in an interview with the aussie newspaper: ‘I admire Harry for having the confidence to break away from such an iconic institution as the Royal Family. Grandpa rebelled against an arranged marriage to find his own path in life.
“But it comes at a price, then you have to finance your own life. I’ve made my peace with people who use Grandpa’s name, but it’s still deeply annoying and tedious every time it happens.”
In the trailer for Live To Lead, co-produced by the Nelson Mandela Foundation, Harry quotes the activist and says: ‘What counts in life is not the mere fact of having lived.’
Meghan then appears on screen and ends the quote: “It’s the difference we’ve made in the lives of others that will determine the meaning of the life we lead.”
The pair executive produced, per the credits, and introduced each of the episodes, speaking over the opening credits.
Ndileka has said that she doesn’t think Harry properly knew his grandfather.
And with Harry’s book, Spare, due out next week, Ndileka cautioned: “Harry needs to be authentic and stick to his own story, how relevant is his grandfather’s life to his?
“I don’t think he or Meghan knew their grandfather well, maybe when Harry was young at Buckingham Palace, but they are using their quotes in the documentary to attract people and make millions without the Mandela family benefiting. “.
MailOnline has asked a spokesperson for the Sussexes to comment.
It is not the couple’s first encounter with the Mandelas. Doubts were raised in August over the Duchess of Sussex’s suggestion that her wedding to Prince Harry sparked jubilant celebrations in South Africa.
Meghan, 41, told an American magazine that a South African actor had told her that his country had ‘rejoiced in the streets like we did when [Nelson] Mandela was released from prison’.
The interview with Meghan sparked anger in South Africa, where Mandela’s grandson said his release from prison should not be compared to a royal wedding.
South African President Nelson Mandela and Princess Diana at Mandela’s home in Cape Town, South Africa, on March 17, 1997.
Nelson Mandela and his wife Winnie, walking hand in hand, raise their fists as they leave Victor Prison, Cape Town, on Sunday, February 11, 1990.
Zwelivelile Mandela said: ‘Madiba’s (Mandela’s) celebration was based on overcoming 350 years of colonialism with 60 years of a brutal apartheid regime in South Africa. Therefore, it cannot be equated to the same.
The VoetsekMeghan hashtag was trending on social media. Voetsek is an offensive Afrikaans word meaning “to go” or “to get lost”.
Meghan insisted that the encounter took place while she was attending the London premiere of the live-action version of The Lion King in 2019.
But an actor who says he was the only South African cast member in the film told MailOnline he was “baffled” because he never met the Duchess.
Dr John Kani said Meghan’s wedding to Prince Harry “wasn’t a big deal” in South Africa and could not compare to the anti-apartheid activist’s historic release after 27 years in prison.
The former Royal Shakespeare Company actor told MailOnline: ‘That was a global event. Surely Miss Meghan or whatever is marrying royalty can by no means be said in the same breath or even in the same sentence as at that moment.
The Duchess faced international backlash for her interview with The Cut magazine in New York, in which she said she and Prince Harry were treated differently from other royals and felt compelled to leave Britain. She told the interviewer that a South African cast member had pushed her aside at the 2019 London premiere of the live-action version of The Lion King, a year after her lavish royal wedding.
Meghan said the anonymous male actor told her: ‘I just need you to know. When you married into this family, we rejoiced in the streets just like when Mandela was released from prison.
Zwelivelile ‘Mandla’ Mandela told MailOnline he was ‘shocked’ by his comments in The Cut magazine when he claimed that three years ago a cast member of The Lion King told him that ‘we rejoice in the streets just like when Mandela was released from jail’
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex at the premiere of The Lion King at the Odeon Leicester Square in London on July 14, 2019.
Dr Kani, 79, said he was the only South African member of the film’s cast and did not attend the London premiere.
He said that the only other South African who was involved was Lebo M, a composer who was not in the cast.
He said: ‘I never met Meghan Markle. This seems like some kind of misstep on her part.
“I am the only South African member of the cast and I did not attend the London premiere… It may be a memory error on their part.”
Dr. Kani, who voiced the shaman monkey Rafiki in the film, said he was in Hollywood when the film opened in the US and then immediately had to travel to France because he was filming another film in Paris, so he was unable to attend the London premiere. . The actor, a friend of Mandela’s, said the moment the anti-apartheid activist was released from prison could not be compared to a royal wedding.
He said: ‘Live in our memories forever for the world. It’s kind of ‘Where were you when JFK was shot… where were you when Nelson Mandela was released?’
You can’t really tell where you were when Meghan married Harry. I am confused about this. She is an important person in her own life.
I can’t even tell you now what month he got married or what year.
Dr Kani said he was “truly surprised” by Meghan’s account of meeting a South African actor at the London premiere.
He told MailOnline: ‘It’s baffling me. I am the only South African in the cast. I play Rafiki, Seth Rogen plays Pumbaa, Donald Glover plays Simba, and Beyonce plays Nala.
He added: ‘I’m really surprised by this. To me it’s a non-event, the whole thing.’