Prince Harry leaves Meghan and Archie behind in South Africa to visit schoolchildren in Botswana

The Duke of Sussex hugged a young woman with HIV today as he spoke about escaping to Botswana in the wake of his mother’s death.

In a touching reunion, Harry embraced 20-year-old Tlotlo Moilwa, who lost her mother and father to AIDS when she was four-years-old before testing positive for HIV herself. 

The pair met in London two years ago and the Duke clearly recognised Tlotlo as he threw his arms around her.

Harry has followed in his mother’s footsteps, continuing Princess Diana’s work in de-stigmatising HIV.

Earlier in the day, the Prince also gave an impassioned speech backing teenage activist Greta Thunberg as he declared the world was in a state of ’emergency’ and ‘losing’ the battle against climate change. 

He arrived by the banks of Botswana’s Chobe River in the north of the country this morning to take part in a tree-planting project – straining with dozens of people to get a huge sapling into the ground.

The Duke then stressed saving the environment was a race against time, adding: ‘Led by Greta, the world’s children are striking.’

He said he could not understand why anyone – ‘you, us, children, leaders’ could ignore the facts from the last four decades.

Harry also spoke about how Bostwana offered him a place to escape to following the death of his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.  

He said: ‘Fifteen years I’ve been coming here, it’s a sense of escapism, a real sense of purpose … I have some of my closest friends here over the years.

‘I came here in 1997 or 1998 straight after my mum died, so it was a nice place to get away from it all. I feel deeply connected to this place and to Africa.’  

Harry spoke passionately about the fight against climate change, saying: ‘This last week, led by Greta, the world’s children are striking.

‘There’s an emergency … it’s a race against time and one which we are losing.

‘Everyone knows it. There’s no excuse for not knowing that and the most troubling part of that is that I don’t believe that there’s anybody in this world that can deny science – undeniable science and facts – science and facts that have been around for the last 30, maybe 40, years and it’s only getting stronger and stronger.

‘I don’t understand how anyone in this world, whoever we are, you, us, children, leaders, whoever it is, no-one can deny science, otherwise we live in a very, very troubling world.’

He also high-fived children and got stuck in to help lift a tree into place and fill in the hole on day four of his trip to Africa.

His wife Meghan and son Archie, who enjoyed his first royal engagement yesterday, have chosen not to come to Botswana and stayed behind in Cape Town, South Africa.  

The Duke was welcomed by Dr Mike Chase, the founder of Elephant Without Borders, which is working with a local organisation to develop the site into a nature and cultural reserve.

The land was privately owned but has been pledged to the local community and Dr Chase’s organisation will manage it with the aim of creating a thriving riverbank forest.  

Harry clearly enjoyed the challenge of helping to create a new forest habitat on the banks of Botswana’s Chobe River.

After decades of deforestation from locals gathering firewood and elephant activity, a conservation organisation working with locals is trying to create a nature and cultural park for the community. 

The duke got stuck in trying to plant the 10-metre tall tree and worked with a group of men to push it upright before packing it with soil.

When he saw the huge mound of earth that needed to go into the hole, he smiled and joked: ‘How long do we have?’

Harry later joined young schoolchildren planting mahogany trees, crouching down with one young child to help him pack the sandy soil around the tiny sapling and at the end he high-fived the youngster to celebrate.

Later met young people speaking up for their peers living with HIV on a visit a health centre in Botswana.

The Let Youth Lead advocates, who are chosen and supported by Harry’s Sentebale charity, welcomed their royal guest, who is making a 10-day visit to Africa, to the northern city of Kasane.

Sentebale was co-founded by the duke in Lesotho in 2006 to help young people who have HIV, and three years ago its work expanded into nearby Botswana.

The country has the third highest HIV prevalence in the world and the duke’s charity runs 47 Botswanan clubs supporting 1,300 HIV positive young people each month, through self-confidence building initiatives, practical health advice and peer-to-peer support.

Residential camps are also staged with the same aims and the numbers seeking help are growing.

Sentebale’s Let Youth Lead advocates have lobbied on international platforms and met national figures since the initiative was set up to give young people a voice to debate issues that affect them, such as HIV/AIDS.

The young leaders will re-create a camp activity for Harry in which children are praised to boost their confidence using singing and dancing.

Harry will then join them for a discussion about why they represent their peers, before listening to a live broadcast of Sentebale’s Radio Positive show hosted by two advocates on a popular FM station.