Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, is due in Zambia for a solo visit on November 26-27, 2018, with the trip centring on war veterans’ commemorations, royal diplomacy and youth-focused engagements.
According to Zambia’s Presidency, the royal will go to Lusaka’s Burma Barracks to attend an event marking Zambian veterans of the First and Second World Wars. He is also expected to meet veterans of the Zambian military, or their widows, during the two-day stay.
The Presidency said Prince Harry will speak at a special reception at the British High Commissioner’s Residence to celebrate UK-Zambia relations. He is also scheduled to attend an event for The Queen’s Commonwealth Trust, where he serves as president, and visit Circus Zambia, which works with young people from vulnerable backgrounds to build life skills.
State House spokesman Amos Chanda said President Edgar Lungu “will meet with the British royal during his two day stay in the country”. Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, who was pregnant at the time, was expected to remain at home while her husband travelled.
Local media also reported that Prince Harry would join a board meeting for African Parks, another organisation he leads as president, during the short visit.
The trip came as Zambia continued to push a different account of the end of the First World War. The country’s tourism agency has argued that the final shot was fired in Mbala District, near the Tanzanian border, rather than treating November 11, 1918, as the only ending point.
More than 18 countries were said to have confirmed participation in the centenary commemorations, including a representative of the Duke of York, Prince Andrew, and a grandson of First World War German East Africa commander Gen Von Lettow Vorbeck, according to the Zambia Development Agency.
Zambian military historian Chipo Simunchembu said the country had not done enough to document its First World War history. The wider historical record cited in the report says that after the armistice was signed in 1918, Gen Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck, a Prussian commander in the German East Africa campaign, did not immediately receive word that the war had ended.
Known as the Lion of Africa, or Löwe von Afrika, Lettow-Vorbeck continued operations in East Africa with 3,000 German and 11,000 African forces. His troops entered Northern Rhodesia, now Zambia, from German East Africa, which included present-day Burundi, Rwanda and mainland Tanzania, and captured Kasama.
The general learned of the armistice on November 14, 1918, in Kasama by telegraph. The report says the delay of three days is believed to have been caused by celebrations in Kabwe, then in Northern Rhodesia.
British command later ordered the force to march to Abercorn, now Mbala in northeast Zambia near the border of German East Africa. On November 25, 1918, they reached Abercorn and formally surrendered by throwing their weapons into Lake Chila before returning to German East Africa, which the report describes as the final end of the war.
