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Prince Harrywas perfectly relaxed as he chatted with to young leaders from around the world ata palace party on Tuesday, but he still had his guard up when it came to the location of hissecret honeymoonwithMeghan Markle.
When Mavis Elias, a young philanthropist from Namibia, asked Harry if he could confirm that he and Meghan had headed to her African country, ashad been widely reported, he told her “No, we didn’t go to Namibia.”
Elias was among the 61 recipients of theQueen’s Young Leadersaward — a project set up to reward change-makers and influencers across the Commonwealth of 53 nations linked to the U.K.
The couple appeared particularly delighted to see one winner pick up her award fromQueen Elizabeth:Reekelitsoe Molapo, 23, who founded the Educate Your Peer Foundation in Lesotho.
Harry had only just returned aprivate visit to Lesotho, Africa,that morning after a weekend helping his charitySentebaleand attending a board meeting for Africa Parks, a conservation charity he supports.
Molapo, whose organization encourages African people working or studying abroad to fund a student back home, told reporters of the memorable evening, “It has been an amazing experience. At some point I got really emotional. This is the most amazing, awesome experience I have had in my life.
“To have the Queen honor your work like that at an event to celebrate us is amazing,” said Molapo. “She said, ‘You are from Lesotho, Harry just came back from there this morning.’ Meghan said the same to me afterward. He arrived this morning at 6 a.m.”
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The new Duke and Duchess of Sussex will takea leading role in Commonwealth affairsin the future, and Harry had joked in his speech that the young leaders are “stuck with me.”
The honorees “were just talking about how relatable [Harry and Meghan] are,” said Molapo. “They are not generations away from us; they know the challenges we are going through. They seem very real.
“I feel like they are the right people to continue this work in the Commonwealth. Most young people can relate to them — they are part of our generation.”
RELATED VIDEO:Prince HarryTakes Heartwarming Solo Trip to Africa for Opening of New School in Lesotho
Meghan, 36, chatted to Martina Caruana, who is training to be a human rights lawyer and who founded the Network of Young Women Leaders in her home country of Malta.
“As young people, we can really relate to both of them, so that’s really important from our point of view. We can have someone to look up to and someone with a lovely history of supporting these great causes.”
The couple were also introduced to Priscilla Ruzibuka, 27, from Rwanda, who set up a children’s clothing project which employs women from underprivileged communities.
She told reporters, “We spoke about the fact that they love Rwanda. Harry mentioned the fact that Rwanda is taking the lead among African countries in politics — we have the highest proportion of women in parliament, 56 percent.
“They said they are looking forward to visiting Rwanda one day.”
“I actually almost cried,” said Siva Nagappan, 20, from Malaysia, who has developed a water recycling system for his school and founded the Reuse Initiative. “Coming from a really rough background and then being here at Buckingham Palace to meet the Queen — we have come a long way.”
source: people.com
