Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to make family trip to South Africa

The new parents will take baby Archie on their first royal tour as a family to the continent where Harry feels ‘most himself’.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will visit South Africa in a few months, in what will be their first official tour as a family.

The trip announced on Thursday is set to be one of Meghan’s first international trips since the birth of the couple’s son Archie last month.

“The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will undertake an official visit to South Africa this autumn at the request of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office,” Buckingham Palace said in a statement.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, pictured with their baby Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, are making their first official tour as a family to South Africa. Picture: Dominic Lipinski / Pool / AFP

The prince, 34, will also stop off in Angola and Malawi, with a “short working visit” to Botswana on his way to meet his 37-year-old wife and baby son.

The couple’s Instagram account, Sussex Royal, said the pair were “excited” and “really looking forward to meeting so many of you on the ground and continuing to raise awareness of the high impact work local communities are doing across the commonwealth and beyond.”

The post concluded: “This will be their first official tour as a family!”

The exact date of the trip has not been announced.

Harry and his brother Prince William have travelled throughout Africa and are involved in efforts to protect wildlife there. Harry is patron to a charity helping children in Lesotho.

Harry and Meghan reportedly fell in love after he invited her on a five-day camping trip to Botswana.

As Harry put it: “We camped out with each other under the stars, sharing a tent and all that stuff. It was fantastic.”

The trip will be one of Meghan’s first since the baby’s birth last month. Picture: The Duke and Duchess of Sussex/@SussexRoyal

The couple returned for Meghan’s 36th birthday in 2017, not long before they were engaged. They are believed to have spent their ultra-secret honeymoon in East Africa.

A few years ago, Harry admitted the continent is the place “where I feel more like myself than anywhere else in the world”.

There were rumours in April that the Duke and Duchess had been in discussions about moving to Africa to take on a “bespoke” role combining charity work and promoting Britain in a bid to capitalise on their “rock star” status.

But a royal spokesperson said “no decision” had yet been made about any potential overseas postings.