London memorial honors Simon Mann, the mercenary behind the Wonga Coup
Negar Yazdani leads mourners at Guards Chapel as family and former colleagues bid farewell to ex-SAS officer, 72.
A memorial service for Simon Mann, the former SAS officer and mercenary behind the 2004 Wonga Coup, was held at the Guards Chapel in central London. Mann, 72, died on May 8, 2025, from a cardiac arrest, in the arms of his fiancée Negar Yazdani, who led mourners at the ceremony.
Amanda, Mann's third wife and the mother of four of his seven children, attended alongside his polo-playing son Jack, from his first marriage. Jack, who has in earlier media reporting been linked to Prince Harry as his 'real best man,' carried an order of service as he stood with family.
Mann's life began in privilege. An Old Etonian and scion of a brewing family, he trained at Sandhurst, served in the Scots Guards and the SAS, and later helped found the private military company Sandline with Tim Spicer in 1996. His career abroad included private-security operations in Angola and Sierra Leone. The most infamous chapter came in 2004, when Mann and about 70 other ex-soldiers were arrested at Harare Airport while preparing to secure weapons and equipment for what they described as security work in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but which authorities said aimed to topple Equatorial Guinea’s government.
During a high-profile Zimbabwe trial, Mann was jailed in the country’s Black Beach Prison and received a seven-year sentence for attempting to buy arms for an alleged coup. He was later extradited to Equatorial Guinea and, after a lengthy legal and political saga, was pardoned in 2009 on humanitarian grounds by President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. He ultimately settled in the New Forest area of southern England with Amanda, though they reportedly split in 2024.
In the years that followed, Mann began a relationship with Negar Yazdani and, after a decree absolute was granted in due course, planned to marry. He died in May before the wedding could take place. Yazdani described the memorial as a reflection of a life lived with energy, loyalty and a certain recklessness that had defined much of Mann's years abroad but, she said, was tempered by love and family in his later days.
"Simon's memorial was a beautiful celebration of a remarkable life. I am grateful to his friends, family, and former colleagues who travelled from across the world to honour him — a true testament to the deep respect and love he inspired," Yazdani said. "Simon was not only a great man, but a legend and a hero whose legacy will continue to live on in the hearts of all who knew him. I will miss his zest for life, mischievous humour, boundless energy, unwavering loyalty, love, and kindness — qualities that defined him and touched everyone around him."
Mann’s life story, intertwined with his military career and controversial private-security work, continued to draw attention at the memorial. His father, George Mann, captained the England cricket team in the 1940s and was an heir to the Watney Mann brewing empire, underscoring a lineage tied to privilege and public life. After Sandhurst, Mann served in the Scots Guards, then the SAS, with postings in Cyprus, Germany, Norway and Northern Ireland, and he later volunteered during the first Gulf War in 1991. His post-military ventures included forming Sandline in 1996, a move that helped shape the era of modern private military contractors.
The episode most closely linked to his name—the 2004 Equatorial Guinea coup attempt—was financed by Lebanese fixer Eli Calil and involved a plan to overthrow President Teodoro Obiang. Mann and others claimed the mission was for security work in the Congo, but the Harare arrest and subsequent trials cemented Mann’s notoriety in the annals of mercenary history. He remained a controversial figure in both the United Kingdom and Africa for years, even as some of his supporters argued that he had grown more measured in later life.
The memorial drew relatives and former colleagues from across the globe, reflecting the breadth of Mann’s personal and professional network. The event also highlighted the enduring personal toll of a life spent alternately in the field and in private life, with Yazdani and Amanda representing the ties that remained after years of public attention to his career.