Nelson Mandela, Queen Elizabeth II, five American presidents: the register of visitors welcomed over several decades to Downing Street, the official residence and workplace of the British Prime Minister, is revealed on Tuesday for the first time. The three volumes, held by the National Archives after the auction of one of them was suspended at the last minute earlier this year, cover a period from 1970, when the Conservative Edward Heath was Prime Minister, until ‘to 2003 at the time of Labor Tony Blair’s second term.
The names of visitors to 10 Downing Street are not systematically made public, and the register therefore lifts part of the veil on these prestigious guests. The late Queen Elizabeth II signed “Elizabeth R” (Elizabeth Regina) when she came there. The current King Charles III and his former wife Princess Diana simply initialed “Charles and Diana”. “Visiting No. 10 Downing Street is always an unforgettable experience,” wrote South African president and anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela in 1996, while in 1990 Czech leader Vaclav Havel drew a heart beneath his name.
US Presidents Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George HW Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush all signed the register. “With respect, friendship, and gratitude for this relationship which means so much,” wrote George Bush senior in 1989. To celebrate the 250th anniversary of the prestigious address in the heart of London in 1985, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her five predecessors alive at the time – Harold Macmillan, Alec Douglas-Home, Harold Wilson, Edward Heath and James Callaghan – all signed on the same page.
Other notable signatures include those of Ethiopia’s Emperor Haile Selassie, the last leader of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev and Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
These three volumes resurfaced at the beginning of the year when one of them was about to be sold at auction, for a price estimated at 15,000 pounds (around 18,000 euros). According to the auction house, the owner was a retired civil servant who found it in a damaged box that he was asked to throw away after a flood. The sale had been suspended by the government, under a public records law that allowed it to claim ownership over the three volumes.
Are you already following us on WhatsApp?
Subscribe to our channel, activate the little ???? and you will receive a news recap every day in early evening.
