Prince Harry honoured his late mother Princess Diana during a surprise Miami appearance this week.
The duke attended an ‘intimate’ panel on Thursday evening before playing in a polo match last night.
The 39-year-old talked about his mother’s HIV work and his love for Africa at an event hosted by his charity Sentebale in Miami Beach.
The panel discussion titled “Potential is Waiting” was held at South Beach restaurant Zaytinya in the Ritz Carlton Hotel.
Prince Harry made a surprise panel appearance on Thursday
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The Duke of Sussex said: “Africa’s in my heart, Africa’s in my soul.
“I first went there when I was 12… 13 years old, and after so many years I wanted to give back to it because it had given me so much.
“The vast open space, the cultures, the communities, the people, the wildlife, just the freedom was a huge piece of why I loved Africa so much.”
The panel focused on strategies for distributing capital to support the next generation in southern Africa.
Prince Harry spoke about his love for Africa and Diana’s HIV work
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Prince Harry co-founded the charity Sentebale with Prince Seeiso of Lesotho in 2006 to help young children in Africa affected by poverty, inequality and HIV/Aids.
The prince continued: “We called [our charity] Sentebale – in Lesotho, the local language, it means ‘forget me not’ and it’s really focused on ensuring the younger generation are quite literally not forgotten.”
Forget-me-nots were also the favourite flower of Harry’s mother, Diana, who also focused much of her work on both HIV and Aids and improving the lives of young people.
Harry explained: “My mother had a strong focus on HIV and AIDS but also of the younger generation because it’s their futures that are being stolen from them.
The panel was hosted by Harry’s charity Sentebale in Miami Beach
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“And at the heart of Sentebale, what we’ve always believed is that every single young person should have a chance at a better future.”
The duke was joined at the event by executives from Sentebale, Google.org, finance and philanthropy firm Lebec and the José Andrés Group, which owns Zaytinya.
A statement from the event said that the discussion focused on how “capital can be creatively dispersed to help youth thrive and address critical global challenges — from Miami to Latin America, to Africa, which has the youngest and fastest growing population in the world.”
Over the years Harry has made both private and public trips to Africa to help with conservation work and to get to know the people and their struggles.
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The continent is also a special place for Harry and Meghan who visited Botswana and “camped out under the stars” early in their relationship.
King Charles’s youngest son also travelled to Miami to attend the Royal Salute Polo Challenge on Friday evening.
The Duke of Sussex captained his Royal Salute Sentebale team to a 3-1 victory over the Grand Champions and Harry scored the opening goal.
The duke and duchess were pictured sharing a romantic kiss after Meghan presented the prince with the winning trophy after the match.
