Harry honours Princess Diana

2006-04-28 17:48

Maseru - Prince Harry, third in line to the British throne, on Friday launched a charity in memory of his late mother Princess Diana to help Aids orphans in Lesotho.

"As I said...two years ago, I wanted to carry on as best as I could what she started and what better place than to do it here?" the 21-year-old Harry said at the charity's launch in the small and poor mountain kingdom.

The young prince returned to Lesotho to launch his "Sentebale" charity - which means "forget me not" in the local seSotho language - in memory of Diana, a campaigner for the poor and AIDS activist until her death in 1997.

Harry told reporters that Diana was a "massive" inspiration to the project while he also paid tribute to the mother of his royal Basotho friend and charity co-founder, Prince Seeiso.

Queen Mamohato - a much-loved figure in Lesotho - died in 2003.

Remembering the mothers

"Sentebale means 'forget me not' and it's a way both me and Prince Seeiso can relate to our mothers, who were both in sort of the same jobs working with orphaned children," Harry said.

"Both our mothers were hugely connected with Aids, especially the orphaned children," he said in the country were 30% of adults are estimated to be living with HIV, one of the highest rates in the world.

Making his fourth visit to Lesotho, Harry visited the Mants'ase Children's Home at Mohale's Hoek south of the capital Maseru, where he did charity work two years ago during a private visit.

Asked on Friday if he thought Diana would be proud, Harry said: "I hope so."

The new organisation, to be run by Clarence House, is the next step in Harry's pledge to continue Diana's legacy in the fight against Aids.

There are more than 10 000 children orphaned by Aids in Lesotho, a small southern African country of 1.9 million people.

- AFP