Prince Harry Returns to Southern Africa for 1st Time in 5 Years

Prince Harry touched down in Southern Africa for the first time in five years after a whirlwind week that included trips to London and New York City.

The Duke of Sussex, 40, posed for photographs with Prince Seeiso of Lesotho on Tuesday, October 1, during a welcome event for innovative funders and business leaders at his nonprofit organization Sentebale’s Mamohato Children’s Centre in Maseru, Lesotho. Over the next few days, the invited guests will see Sentebale’s work in action.

Back in 2006, Harry and Prince Seeiso launched Sentebale to help young people in the region affected by HIV and AIDS. Today, the nonprofit organization supports young people to tackle issues such as climate change, wealth inequity and health challenges.

During Tuesday’s welcome event, Harry met with advocates from Sentebale’s Let Youth Lead program and took in a special performance from Mohobelo dancers.

“What I’ve learned in more than two decades is that the younger generation have solutions and if we continue to grow platforms and share their stories while also breaking stigmas, real change happens,” Harry told the gathering of local and global dignitaries.

“We are creating a force of young advocates, and once they are empowered to use their voices, the strength of their impact will be formidable. You guys sharing on the radio, you may never know how big your impact is, but if it changes the life of even one person, it’s worth it,” he continued.

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Harry last visited the region in 2019, according to the official Sentable Instagram account.

Harry, who turned 40 on September 15, has had a busy couple of weeks as he also addressed the United Nations in New York City on September 24 at the Clinton Global Initiative. Harry introduced the Parents’ Network, a new program set up by his and his wife Meghan Markle’s The Archewell Foundation.

During the event, Harry spoke about the dangers of social media for children, telling UN leaders, “If we allow the status quo to remain in an age where our lives are intertwined with technology, we cannot afford to only see the online world as a space for profitability, competition and rapid growth instead.”

“I never grew up with a phone, but children today are natives to technology, technology that we might not always be able to understand,” he continued. “Young people are kept there by mindless, endless, numbing, scrolling, force-fed content that no child should ever be exposed to. We and shareholders need to hold CEOs accountable.”

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Days after addressing the UN, the Clinton Global Initiative and additional philanthropic groups in NYC, Harry flew to London to attend the annual WellChild Awards on Monday, September 30. The Duke of Sussex has been a patron of WellChild — an organization that raises money for children and young people with exceptional health needs to be cared for at home instead of hospitals — for the past 16 years. The awards celebrate the inspirational qualities of the U.K.’s seriously ill children and young people, along with those who make a difference in their lives.

“Harry was so warm and charismatic on stage,” an observer at the 2024 WellChild Awards exclusively shared with Us Weekly on Tuesday, October 1. “The reaction to him was very good.”