Prince Harry to visit Angola minefield Princess Diana walked through in 1997

Danielle Stacey
·Royal Correspondent
Updated
Harry, pictured at the Chatham House event and his mother Princess Diana in Angola in 1997. [Photos: PA]
Harry, pictured at the Chatham House event and his mother Princess Diana in Angola in 1997. [Photos: PA]

The Duke of Sussex is to visit the same minefield in Angola his mother Princess Diana walked through in 1997, according to ITV.

Harry and Meghan are set to travel to country as part of their Africa tour this autumn.

The duke, 34, attended the Chatham House Africa Programme event on ‘Mine Clearance, Conservation, and Economic Development in Angola’ on Monday morning.

During a speech, he said: "I was told just the other day of the positive transformation in Huambo since my mother walked that minefield all those years ago."

Diana famously walked through an active minefield in Angola in January 1997 as part of her work with HALO (Hazardous Areas Life-Support Organisation) Trust, just months before her tragic death.

READ MORE: Harry and Meghan set to travel to Malawi and Angola during Africa autumn tour

PA NEWS : 15/1/97 : DIANA, PRINCESS OF WALES, WEARS A PROTECTIVE JACKET AS SHE WALKS NEXT TO THE EDGE OF A MINEFIELD IN ANGOLA, DURING HER VISIT TO SEE THE WORK OF THE BRITISH RED CROSS. (PHOTO BY JOHN STILLWELL ). 11/07/03 : The future of the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund set up after her death is under threat. It has frozen all its grants to beneficiaries and been forced to approach other charities in a bid to keep its own projects going. The fund s crisis follows a protracted legal battle with the US company, the Franklin Mint. In June 2000 the Memorial Fund lost a court battle in the US against the firm in which they failed to stop the company making products bearing the Princess s image. The battle led to a 4 million legal bill for the fund.
Princess Diana walks on the edge of a minefield in Angola in 1997 [Photo: PA]

Harry, who was patron of the HALO Trust’s 25th anniversary, is said to want to continue his mother’s legacy.

In 2013, he visited the Cuando Cubango region in southeast Angola with the charity, where he saw first-hand the impact of landmines on communities and the human suffering they cause.

He also visited Chatham House in June 2017 to take part in a scenario planning exercise, which explored how to respond to a humanitarian emergency that required landmine clearance.

In Monday’s speech he recalled that visit, saying: “That exercise showed me the importance of landmine clearance within a humanitarian emergency because, let’s not forget, land mines are a humanitarian issue NOT a political one.”

READ MORE: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle release new photo of baby Archie to mark the Duke’s first Father’s Day

**Editorial use only, mandatory credit HALO Trust** Previously unreleased handout photo issued by HALO Trust of Prince Harry on a recent visit to Angola. (Left to right) Gerhard Zank; deminer Mateus Canhanga; section leader Maria Ilda da Piedade; Prince Harry. HALO team and Prince Harry discuss future mine clearance priorities while villagers await their land being returned safe and demined.
Harry visiting the Cuando Cubango region in 2015. [Photo: HALO Trust/PA]

Angola has some of the world’s most important remaining wilderness, however, the presence of landmines and remnants of the civil war render large areas of the country unsafe for both animals, and the local people who depend on deriving a sustainable livelihood from their natural environment.

The Angolan Government is about to provide £47 million of funding to clear landmines in two national parks, a major opportunity for the conservation of southern Africa’s last great wilderness.

Harry and Meghan will also reportedly visit Malawi, South Africa and possibly Botswana during their tour.

It’s not known whether their newborn son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor will join them on the trip.

The Sussexes released a new photo of Archie to mark Harry’s first Father’s Day.