Prince Harry paid tribute to Princess Diana during a surprise virtual appearance for his green travel initiative.

Prince Harry paid tribute to Princess Diana during a surprise virtual appearance for his green travel initiative

Prince Harry paid tribute to Princess Diana during a surprise virtual appearance for his green travel initiative

The Duke of Sussex, 39, appeared via video link on Wednesday (17.04.24) to speak at Travalyst’s annual conference in the South of France, in which he urged the travel industry to put sustainability at the heart of tourism.

His Diana tribute came in the form of a photo that showed him as a child with his late mum, who died aged 36 in a Paris car smash in August 1997, wrapping his arms around the tragic royal.

Harry also used the picture in his memoir ‘Spare’, in which he opened up about his torment over his mum’s death, which came when he was aged 12.

Harry spoke during his virtual appearance about residents whose lives are impacted by travel and tourism and stressed the world “must do better by the people who are the custodians of the places we visit”.

He added: “Travel and tourism relies on destinations, held together by communities, without which we have nowhere to travel to.”

Harry added “communities are the beating heart of travel”, saying: “We've heard from some fantastic organisations like Invisible Cities who train people affected by homelessness to be tour guides in their own city, and Global Himalayan Expedition, whose programs have helped electrify over 200 Himalayan villages impacting over 60,000 lives for the better.

“More and more people are wanting to make informed travel choices so that the benefit of travel is felt by all. Travalyst and its partners bring a combined market value of nearly $3 trillion and are working hard to provide that resource at a systems level.”

Travalyst’s CEO Sally Davey said: “I think having Prince Harry involved in these sorts of discussions is vital.

“It demonstrates how critical it is to have community voices at the heart of everything that we’re doing. We were there to listen, as was Prince Harry, to hear those voices, to learn, and to understand how can do better by those people and those places.

“It’s so obvious that he cares.”

Also on the bookshelf behind Harry was a book marked ‘California’, in a nod to the spot where he shares a mansion with Meghan and their two children Archie, four, and two-year-old daughter Lilibet.

Tagged in