Prince Harry Celebrates Longstanding Relationship with Lesotho

Prince Harry’s busy trip to New York City continues with an engagement supporting an African country he’s been connected to for 20 years.

The Duke of Sussex joined Queen Masenate Mohato Seeiso of Lesotho at the United Nations on Sept. 24, where he spoke about the work he’s done in the country and his deep appreciation for it. Queen Masenate Mohato Seeiso is the sister-in-law of Prince Seeiso of Lesotho, whom Prince Harry co-founded the charity Sentebale with in 2006 to help children and young people affected by poverty, inequality and HIV/AIDS in both Lesotho and Botswana.

“The beautiful mountain kingdom feels like a home away from home,” Prince Harry said of Lesotho while at the UN.

“I was struck by the strength and courage of your people amidst the immense challenges they faced, and particularly the children,” he continued. “Because of that experience, the people I met and what I was exposed to, two years later we created Sentebale.”

Sentebale translates to “forget-me-not” in Lesotho’s national language, which has a sentimental tie to Harry’s mother Princess Diana — forget-me-nots were her favorite flower.

Continuing his wide-ranging remarks, which touched on HIV awareness and gender-based violence, Prince Harry said, “Good mental health, mental fitness, is not a luxury. It is a necessity. For every single one of us.”

“A safer world is possible, and together we can and will make it happen,” his remarks concluded.

“It’s really focused on ensuring that the younger generation are quite literally not forgotten,” Harry, 40, said of Sentebale during a panel discussion in Miami in April. At the “Potential is Waiting” discussion at the South Beach restaurant Zaytinya in the Ritz Carlton Hotel, Harry also shared that both Prince Seeiso’s mother, Mamohato, and his mother Diana had a strong focus on both HIV/AIDS and improving life for young people.

“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 of Sussex said.

Harry first visited Lesotho 20 years ago in 2004, after a gap year visit to the country, where one in three children have lost a parent to AIDS-related illness. He and Prince Seeiso founded Sentebale two years later, and Harry has done ample work to advance the organization since, including hosting the first-ever concert on the East Lawn of Kensington Palace in 2016, where Coldplay took the stage in front of a crowd of 3,000 people to help Harry raise funds for Sentebale.

“What we know is that HIV is a virus that thrives off silence and feeds on stigma,” Harry told the crowd. “Every single one of us has a responsibility to educate ourselves. To do what we can to speak out and stamp out the silence and fear. We must follow the example of Lesotho and meet one of the great challenges of our generation with optimism, energy and openness.”

He continued, “That’s what tonight is about. When people come together for a purpose, we can achieve extraordinary things.”

Prince Seeiso also spoke at the event, and said of Harry, “You came to Lesotho as a young man, and today you stand tall and proud and are walking among the giants. You are making a difference. That is a testimony to the mother that we so love — that is Princess Diana. You in her footsteps have gone beyond the call of duty and gone to those dark corners and reached out your hand to the most vulnerable children of Africa and, in particular, Lesotho. Harry got up and went to Lesotho and said to the children of Lesotho, ‘I am part of you.’”

Annually, Harry hosts the Sentebale Polo Cup to raise money for the organization, in which he usually participates — tying his charity work to his love of the sport. Harry’s friend and fellow polo player Nacho Figueras previously told PEOPLE that Harry’s passion for the work of Sentebale has made an impression on him since the two met in 2007.

“From day one, I saw how committed he was to his charity,” Figueras said at the Sentebale Polo Cup in Aspen, Colorado in August 2022. “Fast forward 15 years — I’ve been to Lesotho with him a few times, and I’ve seen what great work the charity does and how important it is for a lot of kids, how committed he is, how much he really cares about it.”

Prince Harry has referred to Africa as his “second home,” and said in the April panel discussion in Miami “Africa’s in my heart, and Africa’s in my soul,” he said. “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 community, the people, the wildlife, just the freedom was a huge piece of why I loved Africa so much.”

Africa — specifically Botswana — played an integral role in his courtship with Meghan Markle after the two first began dating in the summer of 2016. The couple, now married for over six years, visited Botswana after just two dates in London.

“I managed to persuade her to come and join me in Botswana,” Harry said after the two became engaged in 2017. “We camped out with each other under the stars. She came and joined me for five days out there, which was absolutely fantastic. So then we were really by ourselves, which was crucial to me to make sure that we had a chance to know each other.”

Can’t get enough of PEOPLE’s Royals coverage? Sign up for our free Royals newsletter to get the latest updates on Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle and more!

Meghan isn’t with Harry on his most recent trip to N.Y.C., which kicked off on Sept. 23 with engagements with The Diana Award and The HALO Trust. On Sept. 24, in addition to undertaking an engagement on behalf of Lesotho, Harry is also scheduled to take part in the Clinton Global Initiative, as well as work on behalf of Travalyst and African Parks.

Harry’s visit to New York City was announced via a spokesperson on Aug. 27, when it was made public that the Duke of Sussex would visit N.Y.C. during UN General Assembly High-level Week and Climate Week. Climate Week kicked off on Sept. 22 and runs until Sept. 29, and High-level Week runs from Sept. 23 to Sept. 27.

Prince Harry is visiting N.Y.C. to “advance a number of his patronages and philanthropic activities,” the spokesperson said, adding he would also “be furthering the work of The Archewell Foundation, the nonprofit organization he co-founded with his wife Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex.”