Prince Harry to channel his mother with Diana-inspired events

When he was 18, the Duke of Sussex vowed to finish the work started by his mother, Princess Diana.

More than two decades on, he remains true to his word. On Monday, he will take to the stage before a global audience to champion two causes intrinsically linked to her legacy: landmines and young people.

Prince Harry, 40, will be the star guest at five high-profile events held over two days in New York during UN General Assembly High-Level Week and Climate Week, which will also see him focus on conservation, sustainable travel and the many crises facing the tiny African country of Lesotho.

But it will be his first two appearances that honour that birthday pledge; when he steps out on behalf of the Diana Award, which works to create positive change for young people, and the Halo Trust, the charity for which the late Princess famously issued a clarion call for action by walking through an Angolan minefield in 1997.

Tessy Ojo, the chief executive of the Diana Award, hailed the Duke’s continuing support as “truly priceless”, while the Halo Trust said that in a time of “unprecedented conflict” the Duke’s voice was needed “more than ever”.

The appearances will come amid a flurry of activity for the Duke, marking something of a shift in his public profile as he takes centre stage, solo, to further his own charitable causes.

Travelling without the Duchess of Sussex, he will undertake a busy schedule somewhat evocative of his days as a working royal, with back-to-back charity engagements in place of glitzy award ceremonies and television interviews.

It comes after his 40th birthday celebrations, when he said that his mission was “continue showing up and doing good in the world”, and before a return to London, where he will appear at the annual WellChild Awards.

His involvement will also help to position the Duke and Duchess’s relatively nascent Archewell Foundation, alongside big philanthropic big-hitters such as the Clinton Global Initiative on the international stage.

In an interview to mark his 18th birthday in 2002, the Duke said that his mother had inspired him to carve a future role for himself in championing lesser-known causes.

“I want to carry on the things that she didn’t quite finish,” he said.

In 2016, he expanded on the same subject. “All I want to do is make my mother proud. That’s all I’ve ever wanted to do,” he said.

When he steps out at the Sheraton Hotel in Times Square on Monday morning, he may well cast his mind back to that pledge.

The Duke’s first engagement of the week will be on behalf of the Diana Award, a charity set up to reflect the late Princess’s belief that young people can change the world – and the only one to bear her name.

He will take part in a panel discussion with Christina Williams and Chiara Riyanti Hutapea Zhang, two young recipients of the Diana Award, and Dr Ojo on the current mental health crisis engulfing young people.

The event coincides with the award’s 25th anniversary celebrations, and Dr Ojo said that the continuing support of both the Duke and the Prince of Wales was critical.

“It’s incredibly helpful to have people in positions of power, especially a non-political position, and especially in a system when young people are feeling more and more unheard and unseen, speak up for us,” she said.

“To have people who have that platform, who have that power, not only to listen to young people but help amplify their voices, is truly priceless and we are deeply honoured and grateful to have both of them involved in our work, lending their voices to the challenges that young people face.”

As the Diana Award celebrates its 25th anniversary, it is particularly keen to address the mental health struggles faced by young people.

Dr Ojo acknowledged that the topic had been a long running thread through both of the brothers’ work, highlighting the “pivotal” and “groundshifting” Heads Together campaign, which was launched in 2016 and is spearheaded by the Royal Foundation of the Prince and Princess of Wales.

While his brother took up the issue of homelessness, the Duke has followed in their mother’s footsteps in championing the anti-landmine Halo Trust.

In 2010, he travelled to Mozambique to tour a minefield with the charity, dressed in a visor and protective vest.

The Halo Trust’s New York event is being held in partnership with the Angolan government and comes almost five years to the day since the Duke retraced his late mother’s footsteps through a former minefield in Huambo, in 2019.

He also visited a minefield near the south-eastern town of Dirico, calling for an international effort to clear landmines from the Okavango watershed in the Angolan highlands.

A spokesman for the Halo Trust said that the Duke was very interested in landmine clearance in that particular area because “he understands that without it, you cannot gain access for conservation”.

She said that the charity had always “really hugely appreciated that special connection he has to Angola”.

She added: “He understands it is a long-term commitment, he has not forgotten the people of Angola, he stays in touch with us, he’s interested, he cares about our work and is in regular contact with us.”

The Duke was particularly interested when the charity had to move from the front line in Ukraine, expressing great concern for staff welfare. He spoke to two employees caught up in the siege of Mariupol on Zoom.

“We are living in an unprecedented age of conflict and are grateful to the Duke for his support as we need it more than ever,” the spokesman said.