Britain’s Harry, Meghan visit South Africa on first tour

Britain’s Prince Harry and his wife Meghan begin first overseas tour on Monday since the birth of their first child, starting in South Africa, with Harry then rekindling memories of their courtship in Botswana and of his mother Diana in Angola.

Meghan, a former U.S. actress, has had only one official engagement since giving birth to Archie in May.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are expected to meet anti-apartheid cleric Archbishop Desmond Tutu and other dignitaries in South Africa, but chose to begin their tour in a township known as the country’s “murder capital”.

Nyanga, about 20 km (12 miles) from Cape Town, recorded more murders – 289 – than any other police precinct in 2018/19.

The royal couple will visit The Justice Desk, a group that teaches self-defence and empowerment to vulnerable children, many of whom have suffered trauma – crucial skills in a place where thousands live cheek-by-jowl in a squalid sea of tin and wood shacks, and violence is a daily reality.

The Justice Desk’s founder, Jessie Dewhurst, received the Queen’s Young Leaders Award in 2016 for helping thousands of youngsters in 17 projects across South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Harry, Queen Elizabeth’s grandson and seventh in line to the throne, has been visiting southern Africa for two decades for holidays and conservation work.

He will travel on alone for a working visit to Botswana, where the couple went shortly after they began dating in July 2016 and returned in 2017 for a romantic getaway to celebrate Meghan’s 36th birthday.
Harry, 34, then heads to Angola, visiting the landmine clearance project that featured in some of the most famous photographs of his late mother, Princess Diana.
He ends the solo section of his tour in Malawi, where he will meet President Peter Mutharika, before rejoining Meghan and Archie in South Africa for another township visit, this time near Johannesburg.

Zainab Sa’id