Prince Harry breaks cover after 'peace summit' with solo trip following Diana's footsteps

Prince Harry has landed in Angola for a poignant trip that echoes a similar journey made by his mother, the late Princess Diana, in the name of charity. The Duke of Sussex landed in the African country today with his charity Halo Trust, as he plans to walk across explosive landmines.

The trip marks the first time he has been seen since peace talks with King Charles began, with senior aides for both the royals meeting in London, sparking rumours that a royal reconciliation could be on the horizon. While Harry has yet to address the meeting, he has made the surprise trip to Angola solo, just as Princess Diana did 28 years ago.

A source told the Daily Mail that the Duke of Sussex was taking the trip alone, after he decided it was too dangerous for Meghan Markle to join him. The source told the publication: “The duke won’t let his wife go to England over security concerns, so there was no chance he’d allow her to go to Angola to walk across landmines.”

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The source added: "Halo is really his thing, it means so much to him to be patron and he just wants to keep his work with them to himself."

Harry’s solo trip saw him land at Luanda airport, in the capital city of Angola, where he took a series of photos with small two-person planes to the site of the mines he intends to walk across.

He is hoping the publicity surrounding his surprise visit will encourage more donations from the Angolan government, as a source said: “Usually these trips help to drive a bit more money from the government.”

When Prince Harry came on board as a patron for Halo Trust in 2019, the Angolan government pledged £46million to create safe wildlife corridors and protect endangered species in conservation areas.

It set a target of clearing all landmines by 2025 and Harry is said to hope that his presence there will boost efforts to meet the target. Since 1994, Halo has cleared more than 123,000 landmines, and works to transform former war zones into farmland, national parks and ‘safe’ villages.

During his trip, Harry will be focusing on Halo's ground-breaking use of artificial intelligence and drone technology to speed up clearance of the landmines, hopefully completing the decades-long clear-up before the 2025 target.

While on his trip to Africa, Harry is hoping to recreate the iconic images his mother, the late Princess Diana, created in 1997 when she took a walk through a minefield wearing a Halo Trust flak jacket and helmet.

The images of Diana, taken just months before she died, were copied by Harry during his walkthrough of Angola to continue his late mother’s work in 2019.

Angola was ravaged by a brutal 27-year civil war that ended in 2002, but the country is still trying to uncover the millions of landmines buried across the countryside that still pose a threat to locals and wildlife.

The Mirror has contacted Prince Harry's representatives for comment.