Prince Harry opens up about Diana on royal tour
Prince Harry has revealed how travelling to Botswana helped him heal after the tragic death of his mother Diana.
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Prince Harry has revealed how travelling to Botswana helped him heal after the tragic death of his mother Diana.
The Duke of Sussex visited the Chobe National Park yesterday on the fourth day of his royal tour of Africa.
He planted a baobab, which are under threat in Africa, that will grow for 1000 years.
But the seeds of his love of Botswana came when he visited there to deal with the death of his mother, according to ITV’s royal reporter Chris Ship.
Prince Charles took him there in 1997 and Harry has called Africa his “second home.”
He also campaigned for protecting the Chobe National Park, which has a 120,000 strong elephant population.
“The people, wildlife and whole area rely on the Chobe River to survive, but many species and indigenous trees are sadly now extinct,” Harry said in an Instagram post.
“There is critical need to secure the forest so wildlife have access to the river.”
Harry caught up with his close friend Dr Mike Chase, founder of Elephants Without Borders, as he fights to protect African wildlife.
He will also visit a project run by his charity Sentebale, which supports young people living with HIV.
Meanwhile, yesterday, his wife Meghan she showed she still had the common touch when she met with mothers living with HIV in Cape Town.
The Duchess of Sussex looked like any other mum at a playgroup when she got down from her chair to play with children on the floor.
And she encouraged the stunned mums and their babies to join her too.
“I can’t be the only one sitting here,” she joked.
“I think if Archie were here and we had all these toys in the middle and I made him sit in a chair it would be so unfair.”
Meghan was visiting the mothers2mothers charity in Cape Town, which has employed 10,000 women living with HIV as frontline health workers since it began in 2001.
Like many other mums, she passed on some hand-me-downs that her baby Archie had outgrown.
She also shared some of the gifts that the public had given to Archie on his birth.
“Here’s a few little things that I thought would be helpful,” she said.
Meghan also heard about the hard realities of life for mothers with HIV in South Africa.
She sat cross-legged on the carpet and held out a finger to one baby girl next to her as Limpho Nteko, one of the charity’s spokeswomen, shared her own story.
Limpho said she was 19, pregnant and married to a man seven years older than her when she was diagnosed with HIV.
“Did you feel scared?” Meghan asked.
“Scared, ashamed and it was just terrifying,” she replied. “One of those moments when you just want to disappear.”
She told Meghan her baby tragically died three weeks after birth.
“I’m so sorry,” Meghan replied, looking visibly moved.
Limpho has since given birth to two healthy children.
Meghan heard how the charity has reached over 11 million women and children under two with life-changing health services and education across Africa.
She said: “Talk about important work. The work that’s being done here is really special. I see how having that shared experience creates a much stronger result.”
Originally published as Prince Harry opens up about Diana on royal tour