Prince Harry has made a very quiet visit to patients at a HIV hospital – the same hospital where his late mother, Princess Diana once famously comforted an AIDS patient with a kiss on the cheek during an engagement in 1989.
Harry, who turns 32 today, paid a visit to the Mildmay Mission Hospital in east London on Friday, just days after he’d returned from doing conservation work in Africa.
Princess Diana during a visit to HIV patients at Bethnal Green Hospital, London, February 1989.
Following in the philanthropic footsteps of his mother Harry has been a strong voice in trying to battle the stigma surrounding HIV and AIDS. His recent visit to the hospital was a follow up trip to a public visit he made in December last year.
“He had a chance to speak to staff there for a bit longer,” a spokesman for the prince told PEOPLE.
“He met with patients and spent some time learning a bit more about the work there.
“He is continuing to learn more about HIV as a virus, and he was able to talk to them about his work on testing, which he is very interested in.”
Prince Harry’s mother, the People’s Princess, is said to have made 17 visits to the same hospital, 14 of which were private and without press.
On his December engagement Harry was being shown around by the hospital’s director of fundraising, Kerry Reeves-Kneip and the prince was amazed at how his mother got in and out of the hospital unnoticed.
Reeves-Kneip recalled Harry saying: “‘How on earth did she get away with sneaking in and out?’ and said, ‘If only I could do that!’”
Prince Harry with staff at Mildmay Hospital on December 14, 2015.
HIV rates in the UK are on the rise, with 17 per cent of positive patients not knowing they even have the infection, and the royal family have been working hard to raise awareness about the disease and its stigma.
In July Harry put himself out there when he took a HIV test at Guy’s and St Thomas’s hospital in London and broadcast it live to Facebook.
It was all part of the Terrance Higgins Trust’s (THT) plan to help launch a trial offering people the chance to order free BioSure HIV test and to find out their status at home in 15-minutes.
Following Harry’s involvement the THT has experienced a 500 per cent increase in people ordering home testing kits – each and every device helping to further fight the spread of HIV and AIDS.
“HIV rates in the UK continue to rise despite years of progress in treating the illness,” the Royal Family wrote on Facebook. “And one of the biggest factors has been that up to 17% of HIV positive patients are unaware of their status and unintentionally pass on the virus to partners.”
While Harry’s test was negative he was quick to point out that even if he did get a positive result the life of someone with HIV does not mean a death sentence.
The prince then laid down the gauntlet to those who might be watching.
“So whether you’re a man, woman, gay, straight, black, white… or even ginger, why wouldn’t you come and have a test?”
