Prince Harry to visit Diana's Angola landmine project

LONDON: Britain’s Prince Harry will make a poignant visit to Angola this month to visit the landmine clearance project that featured in some of the most famous photographs of his late mother Princess Diana.

The pictures of Diana wearing protective gear as she walked among red skull-and-crossbone signs in 1997 won vital publicity for the Halo Trust which was clearing mines left during Angola’s civil war.

Diana died a few months before the international treaty to ban the weapons was signed later that year.

“(Harry) will visit the location where his mother was photographed. He will see how an area that was a dangerous minefield in 1997 is now a busy street with schools, shops and houses,” Buckingham Palace said on Friday.

 

Harry, his wife Meghan and their baby son Archie will start their 10-day tour in Cape Town, South Africa, while Harry will also go to Malawi and Botswana at the request of the Foreign Office, the palace added.

The trip will be the first official tour as a family for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Meghan, 37, a former U.S. actress, gave birth to Archie, their first child, in May. Archbishop Desmond Tutu will be among the dignitaries the couple will meet during the visit.

Harry, 34, the queen’s grandson and seventh-in-line to the throne, is a frequent visitor to southern Africa for conservation work and holidays.

The trip will take place between September 23 and October 2.