Prince Harry walks through Angola minefield 22 years after Princess Diana did the same
It's been 22 years since Princess Diana walked through a partially-cleared minefield in Angola.
Two decades on, her son Prince Harry has followed in his mother's footsteps, walking through an Angola minefield to raise awareness of the persistent threat posed by landmines today.
"Today in Angola The Duke of Sussex will retrace his mother’s steps to see the legacy of her work and how her connection with this community helped make the elimination of landmines a reality," reads a post on the official SussexRoyal Instagram.
"During his visit today, The Duke will walk along the street which was once the minefield where his mother was famously pictured," the post continued.
Prince Harry visited a de-mining site in the town of Dirico to support The Halo Trust, an organisation striving to clear the area of landmines to make it safe for the local community.
In 1997, Princess Diana visited the city of Huambo to raise awareness of the landmine crisis that was causing devastation in countries affected by conflict.
According to the BBC, many unexploded landmines — which have been "widely used in conflict" for decades — "were killing and maiming people who stepped or triggered the bombs unintentionally."
Per Landmine Monitor figures, the threat of unexploded landmines still looms today: 120,000 people were killed or injured by devices between 1999 and 2017.
"If an international ban on mines can be secured it means, looking far ahead, that the world may be a safer place for this generation's grandchildren," Diana said in 1997.
Princess Diana's historic visit resulted in the Convention against Anti-Personal Landmines, also referred to as the Ottawa Treaty.
Topics Activism Social Good
Rachel Thompson is the Features Editor at Mashable. Rachel's second non-fiction book The Love Fix: Reclaiming Intimacy in a Disconnected World is out now, published by Penguin Random House in Jan. 2025. The Love Fix explores why dating feels so hard right now, why we experience difficult emotions in the realm of love, and how we can change our dating culture for the better.
A leading sex and dating writer in the UK, Rachel has written for GQ, The Guardian, The Sunday Times Style, The Telegraph, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Stylist, ELLE, The i Paper, Refinery29, and many more.
Rachel's first book Rough: How Violence Has Found Its Way Into the Bedroom And What We Can Do About It, a non-fiction investigation into sexual violence was published by Penguin Random House in 2021.
