News Digest

Prince Harry ends South Africa trip with endangered animals plea

Prince Harry has ended his tour of South Africa by reinforcing his commitment to helping vulnerable young people and supporting his brother’s crusade to protect endangered animals. In a series of speeches throughout his Royal tour this week he talked about his great love of the country, and on his final day he told an audience at the Nelson Mandela Foundation centre that he looked forward to seeing them again soon. He said: “I know that President Mandela worked tirelessly to protect everything that is special about this beautiful country for all future generations.”

To that end, I was pleased on this trip to lend my support to the conservationists who are fighting to protect South Africa’s natural heritage, especially its critically endangered animals.

Prince Harry

The Prince has visited South Africa privately on a number of occasions, and certainly seemed relaxed during the four-day visit, but this was his first official tour there on behalf of his grandmother the Queen. The success of these visits is often judged on the picture-perfect moments that will help promote his favoured causes at home and abroad. There was no shortage of photo opportunities with Harry playing football and rugby with children in Cape Town and Durban, as well as falling off his pony twice in a charity polo match. The standout moment of the trip was during his visit to Kruger when he was flown into the centre of the national park to see the carcass of a white rhino, recently killed along with her calf by poachers.