Prince Harry Takes Up His Mother's Legacy

Nov. 18, 2004 -- -- A poverty-stricken African mountain kingdom is one of the last places you'd expect a member of the British monarchy to visit -- and stay for two months.

But that is precisely what Prince Harry, the younger of Princess Diana's two sons, did after graduating from secondary school.

It was a bit of a surprise. British students often take a "gap year" before they head to university, and Harry had been partying in Australia -- until he turned his attention to the less fortunate.

It might be called a family trait. His father had raised over $100 million for 17 charities and hosted major concerts for his trust. And his mother famously espoused charity work as a way to awaken not just generosity, but feeling.

So this March, Harry arrived in Lesotho, a kingdom of 2.2 million in southern Africa, to face a place of desperate suffering, where 70 percent of the people die before the age of 40. But he would find dramatic beauty too.

"I've always wanted to do this. It's completely, it's what [my mother] was doing," he said a few weeks after he arrived. "A lot of me that wants to say `Right, it's now time to follow on well as much as I can to try and keep my mother's legacy going'."

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Harry spent his first week at an AIDS orphanage that takes care of children whose parents both died of the disease. In Lesotho, 31 percent of the adults are believed to be HIV-positive, and 20 percent of the children are orphans.

Harry's daily task would be manual labor, like painting walls. But he delighted the children with his carrot-colored hair -- and by offering candy, small toys and an easy smile.

Later, Harry remembered that first encounter fondly: "I love children, but it's probably because I've got an incredibly immature side to me."

He also developed a special relationship with a toddler named Mutsu, whose name means "sharp," who was never far from his side.