Running Around Royal (Prince Harry #4)

Chapter Fifty-Two

Lesotho, also known as the Kingdom of Lesotho, was a former British colony. Lesotho was the country with South Africa with a population of two million. The name "Lesotho" roughly translates in "the land of the people who speak Sesotho." The government was unitary parliamentary and constitutional monarchy, and it was Letsie III who met the Duke and Duchess of Windsor at the airport in the morning.

While they came down the stairs together, Harry greeted the king and queen consort first. Queen 'Masenta Mohato Seeiso, born Anna Motsoeneng, was next to be greeted. The queen was the first commoner to marry into the Basotho Royal Family. Prince Seeiso of Lesotho—the king's younger brother— was third in line. Harry and Seeiso were good friends and allies since they started Sentebale together. Harry greeted Seeiso as if they were brothers, and Meredith greeted Seeiso accordingly as well. She met Seeiso on multiple occasions when Harry worked on Sentebale. With Meredith's own charities being set up, she didn't have close ties to anything yet.

Cars were taken to the royal palace in Maseru, the capital of Lesotho. The royal children were there to greet the royal couple as they had breakfast together. Sentebale was talked about immensely from across the table. The duchess was seated between the queen and princess Senate. Princess 'Maseeiso sat on the other side of her mother. Prince Lerotholi, though the youngest of the children, sat close to his father. By law, women were barred from succeeding the throne. There had been support for the changing of the law, but nothing had come through yet. Until then, Prince Lerotholi was next in line for the throne, surpassing his two older sisters.

Princess Senate was at university in England and Princess 'Maseeiso was looking to go next year. King Letsie and Prince Seeiso both studied at universities in the United Kingdom. Prince Lerotholi was currently educated in the England but had come home for this special occasion; he was expected to study at a university there before returning home to be king.

After breakfast at the royal palace, which it almost midday before they left, the royal couple changed and headed out of Maseru. Excitement and nerves got the best of Harry. In the car, his leg thumped up and down. Meredith placed a hand on his knee, and it stopped automatically. She wrapped her fingers around his hand and squeezed. Meredith had anxiety for being so close to a charity that Harry and partly his mother had built; she didn't want to mess up Diana's legacy in any way.

With most of the things that Meredith did, she was compared to Diana, much like Catherine was as well. Meredith usually tried to distance herself from such a memorable figure because there was absolutely no way to match up to that. However, today, Meredith had no choice because she was dressed like Diana had been. The stylists occasionally did this, even though Meredith didn't want it.

The last time Harry had visited Lesotho for Sentebale was in 2018, when he helped open a school. Harry liked to come here as often as he was able. Harry had met Prince Seeiso during his gap year, and he began to help vulnerable children and young people. Sentebale meant "Forget me not" in Sesotho, and the name had been chosen as a memorial for their mothers. Lesotho had the second highest rate of HIV/AIDs in the world, and there were over thirty-seven thousand children living with the disease in the country. In Lesotho, it were males with lover literacy rates and school attendance due to the male tradition of herding livestock. In Lesotho, it was estimated there were over three-hundred-thousand orphans and thirteen percent of all children were vulnerable. Sentebale wanted to combat these issues through empowerment.

The walking and tight shoes didn't help Meredith's bruised foot as they were outside the capital and moved through the slums and villages. There had been a purple splotch there when she woke up this morning. While she didn't limp, Meredith didn't try to weight on the foot.

In a schoolhouse in village, the duke and duchess met the teacher, who came from Lesotho as well. Harry had a strong sense of déjà vu again, but he had spent time in Lesotho. He had built schools here before; he even had a chance to teach a little. That was embarrassing for him; he preferred to work with his hands.

"We had a nice American volunteering here for a few months," the teacher said. "The students loved Lucy. She was a sweetheart." The teacher rounded up the students then, and the royal couple greeted them.

For the afternoon class today, Harry had the chance to go back to teaching. He didn't want to. Meredith had the ability to teach for once in her life, and she shook her head and said, "Thank you for the opportunity, but I prefer to observe." Out of all the things Meredith had wanted to do in her life, be a teacher wasn't one of them. When she had started out with her university degree, people asked if she was going to be a teacher, and it was always a hard no.

After some time of watching the class, the royal couple was taken outside to view the village. Thankful to Lesotho and now Botswana, Sentebale had some very powerful and rich patrons. While there were programs— such as Herd Boys Education Programme, Care for Vulnerable Children programme, School Bursaries, Letsema— Sentebale focused on empowerment to do themselves with little outside help.

One of the programs they did have, however, was about running programs for children that were effected by HIV/AIDs. Some of these programs are meant to educate and improve the confidence of children affected by HIV/AIDs. While Harry played football in the courtyard with children while Meredith read to the sick children.

There were books around, but they were tattered and worn. She doubted if they were any good. From the books in the room, there wasn't a wide selection when it came to ages. Plucking a book from the pile, Meredith paged through it impatiently; there were pages missing. There were pages missing for most of the books.

She rolled her eyes as she picked a book from the pile that she was somewhat familiar with as a child sat upon her lap. Other children gathered on the floor. It was easy to see even after the first page of the book that the children were bored; Meredith was bored. With the pages missing, the book was nothing but nonsense.

"Jessica," Meredith called over, and the private secretary did as asked. "Can I borrow your pen and pad?"

Jessica didn't like changing things up, but with so many people watching, how could she possible say no? Jessica handed her pen and paper over, and Meredith thanked her for it.

Don't panic, Meredith said to herself, this is a good idea. She wasn't so sure herself. However, she began either way. "Let's write our own story." At the top of the page, she wrote "Once upon a time," and she then turned to the children and started to ask them small questions. As they went, she wrote down sentences that they used. Their minds reached far and broad, and she reined it in a few times. After five minutes and the children's excitement building. She had a story for them— their story.

Meredith cleared her throat, and each of the children sat at attention. The Duchess of Windsor began, "Once upon a time...."