IN A bold attempt to counter a loutish image and to honour the memory of his late mother’s good works, Prince Harry has founded his own charity to help Aids victims in Africa.

Clarence House yesterday announced the creation of Sentebale — meaning “Forget-me-not” — which will help orphans who have lost their parents to the condition in Lesotho, where life expectancy is 37 and falling.

The Prince, 21, became familiar with the country, in southern Africa, and its problem during a gap-year visit between Eton and Sandhurst in 2004. He returned this week to announce the setting-up of his charity. Aides say that he is passionate about the cause that was so close to his mother’s heart.

Two years ago a mutual friend put Harry in touch with Prince Seeiso, 40, the younger brother of King Letsie of Lesotho. He was educated at Ampleforth in Yorkshire and is his country’s High Commissioner in London. Senior royal sources said last night that the two princes had come up with the charity idea together.

During his first visit to Lesotho Harry was so struck by the country’s plight that he conceived the idea of a television documentary, knowing that a royal name could attract publicity and money. The one-hour special was broadcast in Britain in late 2004, and helped to raise almost £1 million in foreign rights and public donations, which will form the basis of the charity’s funds.

It is unusual for royalty to start their own charities rather than agreeing to be patrons of existing ones.

There are precedents, however, with the Prince of Wales setting up the Prince’s Trust, which has an annual turnover of almost £50 million.

There are no plans for Prince William to create his own charity; he is content for the moment to be patron of his mother’s homeless charity, Centrepoint, and of the Tusk Trust, a British-based charity doing conservation work in Africa.

Lesotho has clearly had a sobering effect on Harry; this week’s visit was his fourth, and he met up with some old friends, including Mutsu Potsane, an Aids orphan aged 4, whom he met at the Mants’ase Children’s Home during his last visit in 2004.

As he played with Mutsu, tossing him over his shoulder and making faces at him, Harry recalled that his own mother and Queen Mamohato, Prince Seeiso’s mother who died in 2003, had both been concerned with HIV and Aids. The Prince said: “Sentebale does mean ‘forget-me-not’, and it’s a way that both me and Prince Seeiso can relate to our mothers, who were both in sort of the same jobs working with orphaned children.

“We thought about a lot of names. I asked Seeiso to find one in Sesotho [the local language]. He came up with this one and it just stood out.”

His mother had been a “massive” inspiration to him, he added. “I wanted to carry on as best I could what she started, and what better place to do it than here? “I’m sure she knew this place, but I’m trying to start something slightly new.

“This particular charity, rather than aiming directly at Aids itself, is about the knock-on effect on the children, so we can actually help the kids. Most other charities are concentrating on other areas.”

Asked if he thought his mother would be proud of him, Harry smiled and said: “I hope so.” He added: “As far as I’m concerned, I’m committed for the rest of my life.”

He and his brother will play a number of polo matches this summer to raise money for the charity.

Some of the money has already filtered through. The orphanage now has electricity, and every child has a bed of their own.

Geoffrey Matthews, executive trustee of the new charity, said that Harry had been stunned by the plight of the children in Lesotho, where 70 people die of Aids every day.

He said: “There is a minimum of 120,000 orphans, and possibly a maximum of 200,000. The prevalence of HIV and Aids is in at least 30 per cent of the 1.8 million population, and it seems to be climbing.

“It can sometimes be easy in the Western world to forget just how severe are the ravages of Aids in southern Africa. There’s a feeling that we’ve got Aids cracked; that’s just not the case.”

Donations to Sentebale can be made at www.sentebale.org or by calling 0800-4580835.

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