What was the name of Nelson Mandela’s eldest son?

Nelson Mandela’s eldest son was Thembekile Mandela.

Thembekile, also known as Thembi, was born in 1945 to Nelson Mandela and his first wife, Evelyn Mase. He was Mandela’s first child and grew up while his father’s political activity increasingly separated him from his family.

Thembekile died in a car accident in 1969, while Mandela was imprisoned on Robben Island. Prison authorities did not allow Mandela to attend the funeral, adding a painful personal loss to the years of isolation imposed on him.

He is sometimes confused with Makgatho Mandela, another of Mandela’s sons, or Mandla Mandela, his grandson and a later political figure. Thembekile was Mandela’s eldest child and died decades before Mandela’s release from prison.