By Alistair Leithead BBC correspondent in South Africa

Mandela celebrated with wives, past and present, and other friends

He recently announced he would be cutting down his public activities.

It is much more of a low-profile birthday for Nelson Mandela, or "Madiba", as he is affectionately known in South Africa.

There were no celebrities or star-studded parties like last year, just a quiet day at the family home.

And there is no doubt the old man is cutting back on the punishing schedule of visits and speeches that he has taken on since stepping down from the presidency.

Thank you for being an inspiration to all of us Zelda Le Grange Mandela's personal assistant

His recent efforts undoubtedly helped South Africa to secure the football World Cup finals for 2010.

This was expected to be one of his last major public engagements, but only this week in Bangkok he was back stealing the show at the international Aids conference.

Tributes have been paid to the Nobel Peace Laureate all weekend.

But one that stood out was that of his Afrikaans-speaking personal assistant, Zelda Le Grange, quoted in a Sunday newspaper as saying: