Prince Harry follows in Princess Diana’s footsteps walking through minefield in Angola
Meghan Markle has told women she won’t “fade away” during life as a royal as Prince Harry has an “emotional” moment retracing his mother’s footsteps.
The Duchess of Sussex said she intends to keep fulfilling her “hearts desires” as a royal and mother without letting herself “fade away”, an entrepreuner has revealed.
Meghan, 38, met women working in technology in Cape Town at a Ladies who Launch event in her first solo engagement on the royal tour.
Matsi Modise, founder of skills training company Simodisa, told People: “She talked about being a mother and having duties as a duchess and fulfilling what her heart desires — and that it can’t just fade away now that you’re a duchess,” Modise said.
“That you have to be true to who you are.”
The women also discussed how to be role models to boys as well as young girls
“We both have sons, and we were bearing in mind that we are not just role models for girls but boys — and not just our sons, but generally in public too.”
“I was awe-struck, a bit nervous,” Modise said about meeting the American-born royal. “But she radiates grace and she is taking this task that she has with such grace. A lot of us have done amazing things as founders, but meeting a royal is quite daunting. She made it easy. She is an easygoing royal!”
The insights come as Prince Harry opened up on the emotional enormity of retracing his mother’s footsteps in Angola, 22 years after she made global headlines visiting a minefield in the same area.
On Friday the Duke of Sussex visited a minefield outside Dirico with The Halo Trust, who his late mother also worked with, and remotely detonated a mine.
Poignant images from the scene echo those of the late Princess Diana who visited a de-mining site and meet mine victims in 1997.
The images became powerful symbols of her support to create a global ban on landmines and helped build the image of her as a “people’s princess”.
He later visited the area she walked, which has since been transformed into Princess Diana Street filled with shops, schools and houses.
He took a moment to sit under a special tree named for his mum and said it had been “emotional” to see the transformation of the area.
“It has been emotional retracing my mother’s steps along this street 22 years on, and to see the transformation that has taken place, from an unsafe and desolate place into a vibrant community of local businesses and colleges,” he said.
“I am incredibly proud as I know my mother would’ve been, of the role that the United Kingdom has played in this transformation through funding and the expertise brought by UK specialist organisations such as the HALO Trust and Mines Advisory Group.”
“Being here on this transformed and bustling street — the site where my mother once walked through a live minefield — shows the tremendous impact that clearing landmines has on communities and their futures.”
“Twenty two years after my mother visited Angola, there are still more than 1,000 minefields in this beautiful country that remain to be cleared. I wonder if she was still alive whether that would still be the case. I’m pretty sure she would have seen it through.”
The Prince also visited the Huambo Orthopaedic Centre to unveil its new name after Princess Diana.
Speaking after his walk through the minefield earlier in the day, Harry described landmines as an “unhealed scar of war”.
“By clearing the landmines, we can help this community find peace, and with peace comes opportunity,” he said.
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“Just as these rivers extend for miles, so must this project extend far beyond Dirico. Outside the national parks, large parts of this crucial watershed also need to be cleared of landmines.”
“Tourism, which is already bringing investment, economic growth, and fostering worldwide appreciation for Southern Africa’s unique natural and cultural treasures, will continue to grow. Eco-tourism will bring more jobs to Angola in the future than its oil and gas industry.”
In the days ahead, Prince Harry will visit a maternity hospital and travel to Malawi before returning to South Africa to reunite with Meghan and his five-month old son Archie.
The Duke and Duchess’ tour of South Africa has focused on highlighting challenges on climate, female empowerment and fighting HIV.
Baby Archie also made headlines around the world in a rare public appearance when he met Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
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