For months now, there’s been a significant effort, led by the British press, to somehow “force” Prince Harry to resign from his board-of-directors position at African Parks. African Parks is a huge NGO committed to preservation, conservation and anti-poaching. AP operated across twelve countries and 22 protected areas, with funding from billionaires. AP is currently investing claims of rape, torture and murder by their rangers. It’s not merely an internal investigation, there are other NGOs and local authorities looking into various claims. But in recent months, the conversation has centered almost solely on Harry and what Harry should do and how Prince William is incandescent with rage that Harry refuses to acknowledge that Africa belongs to William. I have felt for some time now that some of these stories about “Harry should resign from African Parks” are coming directly from a Windsor-led effort to sever Harry from African Parks, and William keeps leaving his fingerprints all over these stories. Speaking of, the Daily Mail’s Richard Eden is suddenly bringing up African Parks in association with the Sussexes’ trip to Nigeria.

Seeming, once again, to present themselves as an alternative royal family, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will undertake a very regal visit to Nigeria next week. Invited by the West African nation’s highest-ranking military official, the Chief of Defence Staff, Prince Harry and Meghan are guaranteed to receive the sort of security which they expected British taxpayers to provide. Harry, you might recall, sought a judicial review of the Home Office’s decision to strip him, Meghan, and their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, of their automatic right to police security in Britain after they chose to quit royal duties and seek their fortune across the Atlantic.

King Charles’s younger son lost the case in February, with the action estimated to have cost him about £1million, including his own legal costs and those due to the Home Office. There will be no such worries for Harry and Meghan next week, when the security tab will be paid by the government of Nigeria, a country where an estimated 87million people live below the poverty line.

Why are they making the trip? It seems the Duke struck up a conversation with defence chief General Christopher Gwabin Musa, during September’s Invictus Games in Dusseldorf. No one is challenging the good work of the Games, Harry’s Paralympics-style venture for wounded servicemen and women, which are a subject scheduled for discussion on the Nigeria trip. No doubt the visit will be good for Brand Sussex, too, and will highlight what the couple could have achieved for the Commonwealth had they stuck with the Windsors.

But I do wonder if Harry’s time in Africa could be better spent addressing a scandal at a charity hit with allegations of abuse. African Parks, a conservation charity of which he is a director, is facing further accusations of human rights abuses that include extra-judicial killings and violent beatings.

The charity, which manages reserves in 12 African countries – although not Nigeria – is a considerable enterprise. Claiming that it saves wildlife by working with local communities, African Parks helps manage 1,400 guards patrolling protected land almost the size of Britain.

There is no suggestion that Harry had any knowledge of the allegations about what happened in Zambia. Perhaps, on his next foreign visit, Harry could consider spending time in the Bangweulu Wetlands of Zambia – and seeing for himself. The claims are extremely serious.

[From The Daily Mail]

In the space of four days, the Mail has gone from “the Sussexes are going on a safari in Nigeria” to “it’s a royal tour” to “they’re trying to one-up the Windsors” to “why doesn’t Meghan come back to Britain so we can abuse her” to “why aren’t they visiting African Parks during this trip.” The funniest thing in the world would be if this Nigerian tour was only the first part of a month in Africa, with their children. I know it’s probably not going to be like that at all, but the faces of those British tabloid editors would melt.

Also: It “will highlight what the couple could have achieved for the Commonwealth had they stuck with the Windsors.” They were still working with the Commonwealth for a year after the Sussexit. They were removed from their positions by QEII in 2021, as punishment for speaking to Oprah.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.