Joy: The 28-year-old celebrates his triumph at a polo match to raise money for his charity, Sentebale. he will arrive in Africa on a tour on behalf of the charity today
Prince Harry is set to arrive in Africa today on a three day tour on behalf of his charity Sentebale.
The Prince, who only arrived back in the UK from a four month tour of Afghanistan last month is due to stop in Lesotho and South Africa this week where he will tour some of the charity's projects.
On his last visit to the continent in 2010, the Prince told reporters thathe can 'be himself' when he is Africa.
After a private two day tour of Lesotho, 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 HIV.
But Harry will not stay on in South Africa for the wedding of Cressida Bonas's sister Isabella to Sir Richard Branson's son Sam.
The pair are to marry at Sir Richard's private game reserve in the country next week.
The Prince had been widely tipped to accompany Cressida whom he was spotted kissing at a Swiss ski resort last week.
He 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 Wednesday in Maseru, the capital city.
At home: Prince Harry said that he feels he can 'be himself' on his last visit to Lesotho in 2010 with brother Prince William
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
The Prince last visited Lesotho in 2010 along with his brother William.
On that tour he evoked memories of his mother Diana's visit to a charity that helps clear landmines by undertaking a similar visit.
During an interview on that tour, the Prince said that he would one day like to live in Africa adding: 'When I am here in Africa, I can be myself.'
Despite being in Africa, it is believed that the Prince will not be staying on in Africa to attend the wedding of Cressida Bonas's sister next week despite reports that the pair's relationship is 'serious'.
It had been rumoured that Harry would accompany Miss Bonas to her half sister Isabella's wedding to Sam Branson at Sir Richard Branson's private game reserve near Kruger National Park.
But according to the Evening Standard he will not be combining the trip with a visit to meet Cressida.
Harry was pictured kissing the 24-year-old student at the Verbier ski resort in Switzerland where the pair were both part of a party that included Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie and their parents Prince Andrew and the Duchess of York.
A source told the Evening Standard: 'I am told Harry is not going at all.
'He is there on a charity mission. His relationship is going well, but after the skiing pictures I think some in the media are getting a bit ahead of themselves.'
'Romance': Prince Harry, left, was spotted kissing Cressida Bonas, right, at a Swiss ski resort last week but will not be accompanying her to her sister Isabella's wedding in South Africa next week
The pair are said to have met last summer at a music festival.
Close friends of the pair say that they are 'smitten' with one another.
Cressida is the daughter entrepreneur Jeffrey Bonas and lady Mary-Gaye Curzon, the daughter of the 6th Earl Howe.
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-2284296/Prince-Harry-work-children-HIV-travels-Africa-charity-end-month.html#ixzz2LvqTxr6t
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