Harry and Meghan to travel to Malawi and Angola later this year
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are planning a big tour to Africa later this year which will connect the couple with some of Harry’s greatest passions as well as those of his late mother.
Harry and Meghan plan to visit Malawi to expand the reach of his charity Sentebale into that country.
The couple will also visit Angola to highlight the continuing problems from land mines – an issue about which his mother cared passionately.
The tour will also include a visit to South Africa.
It was in Angola shortly before her death that Princess Diana walked through an active land mine area.
She was famously pictured wearing a visor and detonated a mine in front of a number international reporters.
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It was a turning point in the campaign to introduce a worldwide ban on land mines – which finally happened in the months after her death.
Earlier on Tuesday, Buckingham Palace announced that Harry will attend a conference on land mines in London ahead of the tour.
The conference, next week, will focus on mine clearance in Angola, which the Palace said "the presence of land mines and remnants of the civil war render large areas of the country unsafe".
Princess Diana also helped to focus attention on the issue sitting with Sandra Tigica – who was 13-years-old at the time and had one of her legs blown off by a mine.
The visit will inevitably be a huge security risk for Harry and Meghan but palace officials are determined that it will go ahead.
Sentebale, the charity Prince Harry founded after his gap year in Lesotho, is expanding its Aids prevention programme into Malawi.
It already operates in Lesotho and Botswana and has helped thousands of children and orphans who suffer from – or who have lost parents from – the Aids epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa.
He launched the charity with his good friend Prince Seeiso of Lesotho.
On Tuesday night, Harry attended a gala concert at Hampton Court Palace – with Prince Seeiso - to raise money for Sentebale.
The charity has been looking to move into Malawi for some time.
No decision has yet been made about whether Harry and Meghan will travel with their son Archie.
Given the security and travel difficulties, it will be much discussed by the couple and palace aides before a final decision is made.