Prince Harry took a secret trip abroad for the most heartwarming reason

(Image credit: The HALO Trust/Getty Image/Future)

published 20 August 2022

Prince Harry took a secret trip without Meghan Markle earlier this week ahead of the pairs return to the UK.

Photos have emerged of Prince Harry visiting the beautiful coastal town of Vilankulos in Mozambique
The duke’s spokesperson said Harry was welcoming a group of US officials, conservationists and philanthropists to the town
In other royal news, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are to stay ‘five minutes’ from Prince William and Kate during their surprise UK visit

Earlier this week, Prince Harry visited the African country of Mozambique on a solo trip to visit the country's protected wildlife and nature areas.

The trip only became known thanks to pictures posted to social media which appeared to show Harry in the country without Meghan Markle or his children. In one picture he can be seen standing on a beautiful beach in Vilankulo, a town in Mozambique, chatting to several people.

Prince Harry's spokesperson has since said he was in the town to welcome and co-host a group of US officials, conservationists and philanthropists as they toured protected wildlife and nature areas.

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One of those Harry was pictured chatting to was Yassin Amuji, the president of the Vilankulo tourist board.

Speaking to the Mirror, Amuji said that Harry had spent two nights in the town, Monday and Tuesday, and that he was the one to welcome him to the coastal town.

He told the newspaper that the prince had travelled to Vilankulo in order to carry out conversation work in his role as president of the African Parks Network, a non-profit conservation organisation which manages 20 national parks and protected areas in Africa.

The African Parks Network is one of the select few private patronages that Harry kept after stepping down as a senior working royal in 2020. He has been working with the charity since 2016 when he helped them to complete their relocation of 500 elephants in Malawi.

Mr Amuji added that Harry travels to the area "almost every year" and that Vilankulo is now a destination popular with "public figures, artists and singers" as well as footballers as it is "private and conservative".

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Harry's love of Africa has been well documented and his connection to the continent, the people, and the charities there is helping him to carry on the legacy of his late mother, Princess Diana.

In 2010, Harry went to Mozambique to tour a minefield with the Halo Trust, a scene that mirrored Princess Diana's trip to Angola, also with the Halo Trust. The pictures of the two, both dressed in visors and protective vests, may have been decades apart, but they could not have been more similar.

In his speech at the UN last month, Prince Harry said, "Since I first visited Africa at 13 years old, I've always found hope on the continent. In fact, for most of my life, it has been my lifeline... It's where I've felt closest to my mother and sought solace after she died, and where I knew I had found a soulmate in my wife."

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Charlie Elizabeth Culverhouse is royal news and entertainment writer for Goodto.com. She began her freelance journalism career after graduating from Nottingham Trent University with an MA in Magazine Journalism, receiving an NCTJ diploma, and earning a First Class BA (Hons) in Journalism at the British and Irish Modern Music Institute. She has also worked with BBC Good Food and The Independent.