Prince Harry Honors Princess Diana Through Charity Close to His Heart

Prince Harry has honored the memory of his mother, Princess Diana, by directing funds to a very special place he hopes will not be forgotten.

Before he stepped back from royal duties, the Duke of Sussex was part of a charity, The Royal Foundation, with his brother Prince William.

One source of income was from the inactive Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund, which was set up after her death to allow people to offer money to continue the good she did in her life.

When Harry split from The Royal Foundation to launch the now defunct Sussex Royal with Meghan Markle, a deal was agreed to split the Diana fund money between the two brothers.

Harry's half will go to Sentebale, an AIDS charity he co-founded whose name means "forget-me-not," in part a reference to the memory of his mother.

Princess Diana was a passionate AIDS campaigner before her death in 1997 in a car crash in Paris.

Sentebale operates in Lesotho and Botswana, where Harry took Meghan for a romantic holiday for her 36th birthday, in August 2017.

At the time, the trip was seen as a significant show of commitment from the prince, before the couple married, and set rumors of an engagement swirling within the British media.

A Sussex source told Newsweek: "The money from the memorial fund (which doesn't actively fundraise, but accumulates money from legacies and historical donations etc) has gone to The Royal Foundation for the last 10 years, to be split between projects for the two brothers.

"Since The Duke of Sussex no longer has a role within The Royal Foundation, he asked for the money to go to Sentebale, especially as it's the charity that he set up to honor his mother and her work."

Sentebale is the same charity Prince Harry chose to highlight in a speech for the AIDS 2020 Conference yesterday.

He said: "At Sentebale we see the resilience of young people every single day, which is why I've been inspired each day, since founding the non-profit organisation with Prince Seeiso of Lesotho in 2006."

The money still coming into the fund is not insignificant, $26,700 in 2019 and $27,000 in 2018.

The Royal Foundation annual report reads: "On 18 December 2019, an agreement was signed with the Sussex Royal Foundation by which The Royal Foundation intended to grant half of the net future proceeds received by the Diana Fund to Sussex Royal.

"In March 2020 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced that they would no longer be operating Sussex Royal as their primary philanthropic vehicle in the UK and accordingly their share of the net income will instead be donated to another charity of The Duke of Sussex's choosing."

The Royal Family's website reads: "The word Sentebale was chosen as the name of the charity and means 'forget-me-not' in Sesotho, the official language of Lesotho.

"The word not only represents the continuation of both of The Princes' late mothers' work to help those affected by AIDS and poverty, but also that Lesotho and the plight of its children are not forgotten."

Last year, Prince Harry used his former Sussex Royal official Instagram account to express his love for the continent of Africa ahead of an Autumn tour with Meghan and baby Archie.

He said: "In just a few weeks, our family will be taking its first official tour to Africa, a region of the world that over the past two decades has been a second home to me."