Prince Harry is ‘thriving without Meghan Markle on world tour – he’s relieved to be without her’, expert says
PRINCE Harry is thriving on his solo “world tour” without Meghan Markle and seems relieved to be without her, a royal expert claims.
The Duke of Sussex, 40, visited the small mountain kingdom of Lesotho in southern Africa, having co-founded a youth charity there in 2006 in honor of his late mother, Princess Diana.
Harry began his visit on Tuesday by meeting with young people and sharing experiences around an evening campfire.
He also paid a visit to the country’s Prime Minister Sam Matekane on Wednesday.
Harry is expected to visit Johannesburg in neighboring South Africa on the four-day trip – which is his first to the region in five years.
His wife, Meghan Markle, and children Archie and Lilibet didn’t travel with him.
Harry co-founded the Sentebale charity with Prince Seeiso of Lesotho initially to help young people affected by HIV/AIDS.
It works in Lesotho and Botswana and has evolved into an organization that supports children and young people as they face various challenges related to health, inequality and climate.
Speaking about Harry’s trip to Lesotho – among other solo engagements without Meghan – royal biographer Hugo Vickers told The Sun he had noticed “a sea change” recently.
He said: “What he seems to be doing now, which is rather wonderful, is doing what he used to do so well, which is engaging with youngsters, and giving them awards rather than receiving an award.
“And, you know, I’ve seen him at work when he was a working Royal in the Caribbean, and they absolutely loved him out there.
“He played cricket with the children, played football with them.
“He really engaged with them, and he seems to be doing that, and he is indeed doing it on his own without Meghan Markle.
“Now, whether that’s simply because she’s at home with the children that could be, or it may be a strategic move.”
He added: “There seems to be quite a positive reaction to Prince Harry, and this new move, whatever it it actually is.”
The Duke, who lives with his wife in California, recently made a fleeting trip to the UK without Meghan to attend the WellChild Awards – where he met seriously ill youngsters and their families.
Meghan has not joined him for any leg of his globetrotting – and hasn’t accompanied him for any of his four UK trips this year either.
Harry's recent solo ventures
EARLIER this week, Prince Harry made a solo trip to attend the WellChild Awards in Britain.
He met seriously ill youngsters and their families, and was somewhat upstaged by six-year-old Noah Nicholson, who threw his soft toys at the prince and laughed as Harry picked them up.
Prince Harry noticed that Noah was carrying a giraffe toy named “Raffy” – the same toy the six-year-old had when they first met in 2019.
He said: “Is this the same one? No way! Every parent has a spare. I’ve got at least six spares.
“My daughter Lili has these Lovies.”
At the annual London event, Harry – who was not accompanied by his wife Meghan Markle – gave an award for an Inspirational Child, aged 4 to 6, and delivered a speech.
He hailed a group of “little legends” honoured at the awards ceremony for “uplifting all those around you” despite serious illnesses.
Late last month, Harry also put in a surprise appearance on America’s longest running late night talk show.
He took a tour of a haunted maze with Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon which aired last Thursday night.
As the frights came to a climax at Fallon’s new Tonightmares attraction at the Rockefeller Center in New York, the royal could be seen shouting “Jesus, f**k!”
In one comedy moment of the skit on NBC, which lasted almost three minutes, an actress playing a zombie failed to recognise Harry.
After he passed her by she was shown asking a colleague: “Who was that?”
It came as Harry has spent some time in New York on a solo trip without wife Meghan.
Mr Vickers said: “I must say I do think that his recent visit to London and his visit to South Africa so far has been very well received, and seems all to be very positive.
“Which is quite a relief after what’s been going on before.”
Mr Vickers said that Harry has “always been very drawn to Africa”, adding: “Because, you remember, he spent some time out there earlier on, and it also relates very much to what his mother used to be doing with her charitable work.
“So I think Africa, Lesotho, Botswana, has a very, very strong place in Prince Harry’s heart.”
Mr Vickers said that Meghan – who was also “very interested in the African countries” – was “sort of lying low recently”, and he was not sure of the reason for that.