Prince Harry's 'secret trip' during Africa visit as he 'went off comms for two days'
Harry was in Angola earlier this monthPrince Harry went “off comms” for two days during his recent visit to Africa, it has been reported.
The Duke of Sussex, 40, was in Angola to work with the landmine-clearing Halo Trust charity, before allegedly jetting off to Botswana in secret for a few days.
Prince Harry’s ‘secret trip’ to Botswana during Africa visit
The Duke of Sussex was in Angola recently, continuing his mother, Princess Diana’s work to draw attention to the consequences of landmines.
The prince recreated his mother’s iconic landmine walk during his visit to the country in support of The Halo Trust charity.
During this trip, he visited Cuito Cuanavale, a remote community some 350 miles away from the live minefield Diana walked through in 1997.
However, at the end of his trip, rather than head back to Montecito, California, the duke reportedly jetted even deeper into Africa by making the journey to Botswana.
It’s there that he reportedly met up with Tania ‘TJ’ Jenkins, whom he reportedly called “mom”, and her husband Mike Holding.
Harry first met TJ and Mike during a trip to Botswana shortly after the death of his mother in 1997.
Harry on calling close friend ‘mom’
He wrote about his first meeting with them in his 2023 memoir, Spare.
“Both Teej and Mike were talented, brilliant, and wholly devoted to wildlife. I wanted to spend as much time as possible with these two, not just on this trip but in general. The problem was, would they let me? I’d often catch Teej looking in my direction, sizing me up, a curious smile on her face—as though I were something wild that had unexpectedly wandered into their camp. But instead of shooing me, or using me, as many would’ve done, she reached out and… petted me,” he wrote.
“She and Mike were the first people ever to cherish whatever wildness was still inside me, whatever hadn’t been lost to grief— and paps. They were outraged that others wanted to eliminate this last bit, that others were keen to put me into a cage.”
It was a good moment for Harry to take some time away from everything.
“She could tell how at home I felt with them. She said: ‘I think your body was born in Britain, but your soul was born here in Africa.’ Possibly the highest compliment I’d ever received,” he added.
The duke also wrote about how he accidentally called TJ “mom” when she was “nagging him”. He said that it had surprised them both, and “moved” TJ; however, it had felt “good”, and was something he continued to do.
“Thereafter, I called her Mom all the time. It felt good. For both of us. Though I made a point, always, to call her Mom, rather than Mum. There was only one Mum,” he wrote.
TJ and Mike were so important to Harry that he even flew his wife, Meghan Markle, out to meet them when they first started dating.
Prince Harry went ‘off comms’ in Africa
During his most recent trip to Botswana, Harry reportedly went “off comms” for three days to visit the couple.
“This time he took some more time and space, and made the trip into a week-long visit to reconnect with old friends and get some headspace away from his phone and emails,” a source told The Mail on Sunday.
“He went off comms for two days or so. It was a good moment for Harry to take some time away from everything, enjoying total peace of mind and being somewhere so remote that he couldn’t even get emails or texts or calls,” they then added.
Harry’s representatives declined to comment when approached by Royal Insider.
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