Paddington Bear given UK passport by Home Office

‘How much marmalade did he give to Number 10?’

The UK’s favourite anthropomorphic bear, Paddington, has been granted a British passport.

The character, full name Paddington Brown, was born and orphaned in Peru as a cub and arrived in London stowed away on a lifeboat.

The co-producer of the forthcoming third Paddington movie said the Home Office issued the specimen document to the character when the film’s production team asked for a replica for the movie.

“We wrote to the Home Office asking if we could get a replica, and they actually issued Paddington with an official passport – there’s only one of these,” Rob Silva told the Radio Times.

“You wouldn’t think the Home Office would have a sense of humour, but under official observations, they’ve just listed him as Bear.”

Paddington’s passport was issued for the forthcoming third Paddington film, Paddington in Peru, which sees the bear – voiced by Ben Whishaw –given official documents meaning he is now allowed to travel abroad to visit his Aunt Lucy (Imelda Staunton) in his homeland.

The film sees Paddington’s adoptive family Henry Brown (Hugh Bonneville) and his wife Mary (Emily Mortimer, who takes over the role from Sally Hawkins), plus their children and housekeeper, travel with the bear to Peru. But when they arrive, Aunt Lucy is missing from where she’s been living at the Home for Retired Bears. This prompts Paddington and his pals to set off into the Amazon to track her down.

Paddington in ‘Paddington in Peru’ (StudioCanal)

While fans of the fictional bear have welcomed the news of the Home Office gesture, others have been critical of the move given the furore surrounding the government’s treatment of asylum seekers coming to the UK.

“If only the Home Office showed similar compassion to others forced to flee their country as it has done to Paddington,” wrote The Guardian’s Simon Hattenstone on X/Twitter.

Another person added, “I promised myself I wouldn’t beef a cartoon bear, but what do you mean the Home Office has the time to make citizen documents for Paddington?”

“Paddington’s been in the UK since 1958, so this is uncharacteristically speedy work by the Home Office,” said another, as one person joked, “How much marmalade did he give to Number 10?”

Paddington and Hugh Bonneville in ‘Paddington’ (StudioCanal)

In 2022, false deportation notices for Paddington Bear were put up by staff on internal Home Office noticeboards in protest of refugees being deported to Rwanda under the Conservative government’s divisive plan.

The spoof notices said that the fictional bear was wanted for a pending relocation flight to Rwanda and added that he arrived illegally in the UK via boat and without a visa.

The group of staff who made the flyers, called ‘Our Home Office’ on X/Twitter, said at the time the bear arrived in the UK via a “clandestine irregular route, using a small boat”.

They added that Paddington “may have infiltrated important establishment networks including Buckingham Palace”, accompanied by an image of Queen Elizabeth sharing tea with the bear, as depicted in the late monarch’s platinum jubilee film.