Although Prince Harry is currently focusing on his military career, he also wants to show his support for a few organisations that reflect issues he cares about both in the UK and abroad.
These include the main themes of the Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry: helping young people in society; raising awareness and support for the Armed Forces; and supporting communities to protect and conserve their natural resources for future generations.
The Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry was legally established in September 2009 and became fully operational in 2011.
The Duke and Duchess and Prince Harry are joint Patrons and intend to use the Foundation as the main vehicle for their philanthropic activities.
The organisation mainly focuses on three areas:
- Armed Forces - Promoting the welfare of those who are serving or who have served their country in the Armed Forces
- Young People - Helping children and young people to build their skills, confidence and aspirations.
- Conservation - Supporting communities to protect and conserve their natural resources for future generations.
Prince Harry is also keen to continue the work of his mother, the late Diana, Princess of Wales, who worked to support people suffering from HIV and AIDS in the UK and overseas.
Sentebale
In 2006, Prince Harry jointly founded Sentebale, a charity to help orphans in Lesotho.
Together with his great friend Prince Seeiso of Lesotho - the younger brother of King Letsie III - Prince Harry set up Sentebale to offer long-term support to community organisations working with children and young people, and in particular to those working with orphans.
Prince Harry has visited the small African nation several times and was moved by the plight of children orphaned by the AIDS pandemic which has devastated the country.
Sentebale is the Sotho word for “forget-me-not' and is used by people when they bid farewell to each other. It was chosen as the name of the charity because the two Princes see its work as a memorial to the charity work of their own mothers, and because Sentebale's aim as an organisation is to ensure that Lesotho, and the current plight of its children, is not forgotten.
During his gap year in 2004 Prince Harry spent time working with various charities and organisations in the country and made a documentary to raise awareness of the country's problems: access to education, AIDS and poverty.
Entitled 'The Forgotten Kingdom – Prince Harry in Lesotho', the film covers some of the projects with which His Royal Highness was involved, including the Mants’ase Orphanage near Mohale’s Hoek. The programme includes interviews with Prince Harry, Prince Seeiso as well as doctors and aid workers.
The documentary also includes footage shot by Harry himself on his personal video camera.
At the same time as the documentary was made, the Red Cross Lesotho Fund was launched by the British Red Cross to help support HIV/AIDS and community projects in Lesotho.
International sales from the documentary and donations raised around £1 million and the funds were put into 18 different community-based projects working with disadvantaged children.
Sentebale has taken over from the Red Cross Lesotho Fund to continue this work.
In July 2008, Prince Harry joined an army expedition to Lesotho to provide practical support for community projects.
His Royal Highness returned for a visit to Lesotho with Prince William in June 2010, as part of their first official joint overseas trip. The Princes were able to see first-hand the progress Sentebale was making to help some of the country’s orphaned and vulnerable children.
Other charities
In 2007 Prince Harry became the first Royal Patron of Dolen Cymru, which been working for over 20 years to promote friendship and understanding between the people of Wales and her twinned nation of Lesotho.
Also working with an international focus, MapAction helps aid agencies by providing crucial situational mapping in the event of natural and humanitarian disasters. MapAction teams have worked all over the world, including in Lesotho and in Sri Lanka following the Tsunami in 2005 and Haiti following the earthquake in 2010.
Prince Harry became Patron of MapAction in March 2007.
In March 2007, Prince Harry also became the first Royal Patron of WellChild, the national charity caring for the individual needs of sick children as they deal with the consequences of serious illness and complex conditions.
In January 2008, The Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry became Joint Patrons of the Henry Van Straubenzee Memorial Fund in memory of their friend, Henry Van Straubenzee.
Prince Harry is Vice Patron of the Rugby Football Union (RFU) and Patron of the RFU’s Injured Players Foundation, which supports players who have been injured playing rugby at any level of the game in England.
The Prince’s vice patronage builds on his regular attendance at Twickenham as a supporter and on his gap year experience spent working with the RFU in its community rugby programme.
Patronages
Dolen Cymru
Patron (from 28/03/2007)
www.dolencymru.org
Henry Van Straubenzee Memorial Fund
Joint Patron (with The Duke of Cambridge, from 08/01/2009)
www.henryvanstraubenzeemf.org.uk
London Marathon Charitable Trust
Patron (from 2012)
MapAction
Royal Patron (from 28/03/2007)
www.mapaction.org
Rugby Football Union
Vice Patron (from 06/02/2010)
www.rfu.com
Rugby Football Union Injured Players Foundation
Patron (from 6/2/2010)
www.rfuipf.org.uk
Rugby Football Union All Schools Programme
Patron (from 7/3/2013)
www.rfu.com
Sentebale
Patron (from 25/04/2006)
www.sentebale.org
Walking with the Wounded
Patron (from 14/03/2010)
www.walkingwiththewounded.org.uk
The Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry
Patron (from 9/11/2009)
www.royalfoundation.com
WellChild
Patron (from 28/03/2007)
www.wellchild.org.uk
The HALO Trust
Patron, 25th Anniversary Appeal (from 7/3/2013)
www.halotrust.org
