Mandela was very self-conscious about being a man and regularly made references to manhood.

Mandela was married three times, fathered six children, and had seventeen grandchildren and at least seventeen great-grandchildren.

One biographer said that he was easily tempted by women. Another biographer said he was romantic by nature and that he had relationships with various women.

Widely regarded as an icon of democracy and social justice, Mandela received more than 250 honours – including the Nobel Peace Prize – and became the subject of a cult of personality.

Mandela held a conviction that inclusivity, accountability and freedom of speech were the fundamentals of democracy, and was driven by a belief in natural and human rights.

Over the course of his life, Mandela began by advocating a path of non-violence, later embracing violence, and then adopting a non-violent approach to negotiation and reconciliation.

When endorsing violence, Mandela did so because he saw no alternative. This willingness to use violence distinguishes Mandela from the ideology of Gandhism with which some commentators have sought to associate him.

Since the late 1980’s, Mandela’s image began to appear on a proliferation of items, among them photographs, paintings, drawings, statues, public murals, buttons, t-shirts, refrigerator magnets, and more, items that have been characterised as Mandela kitsch.

He was the subject of several songs, such as Free Nelson Mandela and Bring Him Back Home (Nelson Mandela), which helped to bring Awareness of his imprisonment to an international audience.