Nelson Mandela will arrive quietly in London on Monday for his last public engagement and his farewell visit to Britain. But his stay will come to a raucous end on Friday at a noisy festival of music and emotion in front of 46,664 people in Hyde Park to celebrate his 90th birthday.

In the week leading up to the concert, the world’s favourite statesman will be granted an audience with the Queen at Buckingham Palace and is expected to meet the Prime Minister and Bill Clinton.

There will be no shortage of others lining up to pay homage to the great South African leader, but precise details of his itinerary are being kept under wraps. Mr Mandela does not want to commit publicly to too much, knowing that increasing frailty may force him to cancel at any time.

Few other 90-year-olds would celebrate their birthday by flying halfway around the world for a pop concert. But the 90th birthday of Nelson Mandela has become an extension of his continuing campaign against Aids and poverty. It will also be a chance for the world to start saying goodbye to a man who is admired universally.

Mr Mandela does not plan to appear in public again. He has said this before, in 2004, but given his age this time there is every chance he will finally be, as he puts it, “retired from retirement”.

Mr Mandela does not plan to appear in public again. He has said this before, in 2004, but given his age this time there is every chance he will finally be, as he puts it, “retired from retirement”.

This month Mr Mandela commented on the deal he has struck: “You all know I am supposed to be retired but my friends and the charitable organisations that bear my name want to use my 90th birthday to raise funds to continue our work so of course I want to help them. So, we have a bargain - I am going to London and they will host a concert in Hyde Park, which will raise awareness of our continuing work and much needed funds.”

His foundations are using his birthday to hold events across Africa, the US and Brazil, a world-spanning series of charity events from March to November to promote his work on social justice and the fight against Aids.

Friday’s concert, with Mr Mandela in attendance, is the high point, and will feature an eclectic mix of pop names, from Annie Lennox and Queen to Leona Lewis, Shirley Bassey, Joan Baez and the Sugababes. Amy Winehouse reaffirmed yesterday her determination to recover from medical problems in time for the event.

All are ambassadors for Mr Mandela’s charities, which work to combat Aids in Africa. Among the acts appearing at the concert will be the Children of Agape, a choir of Aids orphans.

Also featuring will be a African stars, including Johnny Clegg, Sipho Mabuse, Papa Wemba, Loyiso, Kurt Darren and the Soweto Gospel Choir – the organisers have clearly learnt from the criticism directed at the Live8 concert for featuring few African musicians, despite campaigning for an end to poverty in Africa. The event will be compered by Will Smith.

The concert’s oddly precise head count refers to Mr Mandela’s prison number. For 27 years on Robben Island he was known only as “four double six, six, four”, and that is the name his global Aids awareness campaign has chosen, it says, to promote the message that “that people must never be reduced to simple numbers”.

On the agenda

- Audience with the Queen at Buckingham Palace

- Private talks with Gordon Brown

- Meeting with Bill Clinton

- Concert in Hyde Park on Friday in front of 46,664 people, featuring Leona Lewis, Joan Baez, Razorlight

- Lewis Hamilton, Oprah Winfrey, Will Smith and Robert De Niro will also be there

Source: Times Database

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