Yesterday was a poignant day in Angola for the Duke of Sussex as he took part in projects close to his late mother’s heart, including visiting the exact same patch of land that Diana, Princess of Wales, had walked through in 1997.
Harry retraced his mother’s footsteps from 22 years ago when he walked through the same patch of land in Huambo that had once been littered with landmines.
“It has been quite emotional retracing my mother’s steps through these streets 22 years ago and to see the transformation that has taken place from an unsafe and desolate area into a vibrant community with local businesses and colleges,” Harry said afterwards.
[getty src=”1177530425″ width=”594″ height=”396″ tld=”ca”]Diana famously visited Angola in 1997 on behalf of the HALO Trust, a charity organisation that helps remove landmines in conflict zones to help restore the livelihoods of the people who live in those areas.
“The work of de-mining is dangerous, expensive and laborious and I have the utmost admiration and respect for all who do this hazardous work and risk their lives in service for their country,” Harry said.
The Duke’s day began at a de-mining field outside Dirico with the HALO Trust, where he remotely detonated a landmine. In a speech after meeting some of the people involved in the de-mining process, Harry said, “Landmines are an unhealed scar of war. By clearing the landmines, we can help this community find peace, and with peace comes opportunity.”
He said that with international support, Dirico can become like the city of Huambo, “a landmine-free, diverse, dynamic, and thriving community, connected to and benefiting from all that it has to offer.”
When he was told that Angola still has more than 1,000 minefields, Harry wondered if his mother would have been able to have helped decrease that number.
[getty src=”1177530394″ width=”594″ height=”396″ tld=”ca”]“I wonder if she were still alive today if that would be the case? I’m pretty sure she would have seen it through.”
He also said that Diana would have been proud “of the role that the UK has played in [de-mining] through the…expertise brought by UK specialist organisations such as the HALO Trust and Mine Advisory Group.”
During his visit to Dirico, Jose Antonio, a regional manager of the HALO Trust took Prince Harry through a patch of land in the Luengue-Luiana National Park that his team had been working on since August to de-mine.
Antonio said that the Duke of Sussex “was very interested in the work that my team are doing in clearing the mines. He was very impressed; he knows it’s hard and very slow and dangerous, and that you need to be very patient.”
In an Instagram post to commemorate his visit, the caption read “The Duke is humbled to be visiting a place and a community that was so special to his mother, and to recognise her tireless mission as an advocate for all those she felt needed her voice the most, even if the issue was not universally popular.”
[getty src=”1177529982″ width=”594″ height=”364″ tld=”ca”]In a speech, Lucio Goncalves Amaral, the deputy minister for social integration, said that Diana’s work on behalf of de-mining was priceless. “The Angolan people will be eternally grateful for her performance in the demining process of our country.
“This humanistic heritage left by the late Princess of Wales is the motivation for the Angolan executive to proceed with the demining program to free the country of mines by the year 2025.”
After his de-mining work in Dirico, Harry unveiled a new project for the Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy that straddles three countries: the site of the de-mining work in the Luengue-Luiana National Park, which includes representation from Botswana and Namibia.
According to the press briefing, the Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy project will provide “additional protection for National Parks abutting the Okavango Delta, with the objective of creating safe and green corridors for wildlife, and, importantly, communities.”
In Huambo, in addition to walking the same area his mother had, Harry met with the Governor of Huambo – who’d also hosted Diana – and met with representatives from three de-mining organisations working under the UKAid Global Mine Action Programme.
He then paid a visit to the Huambo Orthopaedic Centre, another facility his mother had visited in 1997, to rename it in her honour.
Felisberto Cambonguele, Chief of Prosthetics at the facility, was working there when Diana paid a visit and he told CNN, “She had contact with our patients, touched our children who were also receiving treatment…it was an unimaginable joy. So many of us only became aware much later that she was a princess because she presented herself with so much humility.”
[getty src=”1171491982″ width=”594″ height=”420″ tld=”ca”]Harry met with a young lady named Justina Cesar, who’d met Diana when she was 15-years-old. She’d lost a limb when she stepped on a landmine. Harry asked if she remembered meeting his mother, and she said that the organisers didn’t tell any of the young people in 1997 that Diana was important, just that she was a princess.
“She greeted us and laid her hand on my brow. I was so happy about that. She was very special,” Cesar told reporters afterwards.
“But I was very happy that Diana’s son had come to continue the work that she had started. I am so happy. This is a very special day. I had so much to say to him, but I could barely speak.”
[getty src=”1171521424″ width=”396″ height=”594″ tld=”ca”]Harry gave a speech, saying, “This visit is obviously deeply personal and meaningful to me. Since my mother’s visit to Huambo so many years ago, this city has undergone such a visible transformation.”
He continued, saying that “I am humbled and honoured that my mother’s work and commitment to de-mining continues to inspire and that her legacy is being recognized and celebrated today with the naming of the centre in her honour.
“It has been an honour to retrace my mother’s steps today. I lost her twenty-two years ago, but the memory of her is with me daily and her legacy lives on which is why I am so happy to name the centre – ‘The Princess Diana Orthopaedic Centre.’ “
Later, he flew to Luanda to attend a reception at the British Ambassador’s residence that included business representatives so that they could discuss Angola’s economic and business landscape.
[getty src=”1171550536″ width=”594″ height=”396″ tld=”ca”]Meanwhile, the Duchess of Sussex made a private visit to the post office where South African student Uyinene Mryetyana was brutally murdered a week ago.
Later today, Harry will complete a few engagements in Angola before departing for Malawi.
