Joy: The 28-year-old celebrates his triumph at a polo match to raise money for his charity, Sentebale
He said he wanted to get more involved in charity work and royal duties on his return from Afghanistan.
Now Prince Harry has announced he is to travel to Africa at the end of the month to support the work being undertaken with children suffering from HIV and Aids by his charity, Sentebale.
St James's Palace revealed this morning that the 28-year-old royal will visit Lesotho, a tiny land-locked kingdom in the centre of South Africa, from February 25 to 27.
He will then fly on to Johannesburg for a gala dinner raising funds to build the first permanent centre for children and young people suffering from the disease.
The prince will spend the first two days of his visit to Lesotho privately, travelling the kingdom with close friend and charity co-founder, Prince Seeiso, to learn more about his charity’s initiatives in the region.
The pair first met when the prince undertook a gap year trip to the region and in 2006 set up Sentebale, which in Sesotho, the language of Lesotho, means ‘forget me not’.
The name was deliberately chosen in memory of both of the princes’ late mothers.
Harry, in particular, believed that in setting up a project in one of the most poverty-stricken and marginalised areas of the world, he would be continuing Diana, Princess of Wales’s legacy.
Following the private part of the trip, the prince will undertake several public engagements on February 27 in Maseru, the capital city.
Among the projects he will visit are the Kananelo Centre for the Deaf and the Reitumetse Church Project, which care for children with disabilities and orphans.
Harry will then fly onto Johannesburg for The Sentebale Gala Dinner, marking the launch of a major capital fundraising programme to build Lesotho’s first permanent centre for children and young people infected with, or affected by, HIV and Aids.
The centre, which will be named after Prince Seeiso’s late mother, Queen Mamohato Bereng Seeiso, will be built on a sacred plot known as Thabu-Bosiu, ‘the birthplace of the nation’.
Just like their mother: Harry and brother William on a 2010 visit to the African charities they support. Harry's organisation Sentebale means 'forget me not' in memory of Diana
Just 11,500 square miles in size and with a population of just over two million, of which around 40 per cent live under the international poverty line, Lesotho is severely afflicted by HVI/Aids.
According to 2009 figures, more than 23 per cent of people aged over 15 in the country are infected, one of the highest rates in the world.
In urban areas around 50 per cent of women under 40 have HIV.
Life expectancy in the country is just 42 years for both men and women, which has in turn had a catastrophic effect on the country’s children.
Harry is currently on leave after spending four months on the frontline in Afghanistan as an Apache attack helicopter co-pilot gunner.
In an interview to mark his arrival back home last month, the third in line to the throne made clear that his military commitment came first but insisted that he did want to schedule in more charitable work and official engagements over the coming months.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2273265/Prince-Harry-work-children-HIV-travels-Africa-charity-end-month.html#ixzz2JwtbuHcz
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