Harry and Meghan on official visit to Southern Africa

The Duke of Sussex has to travel to South Africa, Botswana, Angola and Malawi. His wife and his 4 month old son, Archie, are traveling.

Time to Reading 3 min.

Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, at the European premiere of The Lion King, London, July 14, 2019. Henry Nicholls / REUTERS

Prince Harry, his wife, Meghan, and their baby, Archie, 4 months old, are making their first official family visit since September 23 in southern Africa since the birth of their son. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will begin their ten-day trip to the South African city of Cape Town (South West), a popular tourist destination for its huge beaches and vineyards, but riddled with gang violence in the townships .

Read also Harry and Meghan in Morocco, last official trip before the birth of their first child

For some in South Africa, the presence of Meghan – a Métis American descendant of slaves on her mother's side – could make this visit a particularly special event. "Our family will make their first official trip to Africa, a region of the world that, in the last two decades, has been my second home"Harry, 35, recently wrote to his Instagram account. "I can not wait to introduce my wife and son to South Africa", he added.

The highlight of their stay in Cape Town will be Wednesday's meeting with Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu, one of the key figures in the fight against apartheid and close friend of the first black South African president, Nelson Mandela .

In the footsteps of his mother

Starting Thursday, the prince will continue his solo tour of Botswana, Angola and Malawi. His wife will stay with Archie in South Africa for other engagements. In Botswana, home to one-third of the continent's wild elephants, Harry will be interested in wildlife protection, a subject close to his heart. The country, famous for its luxury safaris, is also a place dear to the young couple. In 2016 "I managed to persuade her (Meghan) to join me in Botswana. And we camped under the stars "Harry had told the BBC during the formalization of their engagement.

Read also Prince Charles touring Africa to prepare the post-Brexit era

The prince will then travel to Angola, where he will walk in the footsteps of his mother, Diana, who was engaged against landmines in that country in 1997, a few months before his death in a car accident in Paris. Harry was then 12 years old, his older brother William (second in the order of succession to the throne) 15 years old. In Angola, Prince Harry is scheduled to visit a mine clearance program in Huambo (West Central) and an orthopedic hospital. More than one million antipersonnel mines were laid during the twenty-seven years of the 1975-2002 civil war in that country.

After an interview with Angolan President Joao Lourenço on 28 September, Prince Harry will continue his tour with a stopover in Malawi to visit health and anti-poaching programs. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex conclude their tour on 2 October in South Africa with a meeting with Graça Machel, wife of the late Nelson Mandela, and an interview with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Airline travel

Three of the four countries visited by Harry – South Africa, Botswana and Malawi – are members of the Commonwealth. Angola, a Portuguese-speaking country, is a candidate to join the organization, which to date includes 53 countries formerly colonized by the United Kingdom.

After their wedding in May 2018, Harry and Meghan, who had made an official trip to the Pacific last year, have kept a low profile since the birth of their son in May of this year, anxious to preserve their privacy. The photos of Archie, seventh in the order of succession to the British throne, are very rare. Photographers will therefore be hard at work to immortalize family portraits on African soil.

Harry and Meghan have recently been singled out for making private jet trips and have been doing expensive work, in the order of 2.7 million euros, in their new residence, at taxpayer expense. According to the magazine Vogue, they will take an airliner to South Africa.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here