Heart of Stone opens to Harry’s kids
IF Britain’s Prince Harry is nursing a broken heart after his split from Cressida Bonas, he showed no sign of it when he partied with soul singer Joss Stone at a birthday bash for his Lesotho charity in London this week.
The newly single royal, whose two-year love affair with Bonas ended recently, was at the Dorchester Hotel on Wednesday night for a summer party to celebrate the 10th anniversary of his Sentebale charity for Lesotho’s vulnerable children.
The British media were abuzz this week about the dapper prince’s first public engagement without Bonas on his arm.
The 25-year-old had reportedly found it increasingly difficult living in the spotlight of being a royal girlfriend.
Days after their relationship ended, Harry flew to the US with his brother, William, to attend the wedding of their close friend Guy Pelly. They partied in Miami before heading to Memphis for the nuptials.
The Sentebale party was hosted days after Harry’s return to London.
Harry set up Sentebale with Lesotho’s Prince Seeiso after visiting the Aids-afflicted country in 2004. The two princes dedicated the charity to their late mothers.
Stone, a Grammy awardwinning singer and close friend of Harry andWilliam, agreed to perform at the event after visiting the country as part of her recent world tour.
Speaking to Hello! magazine about her Lesotho trip, Stone said: “It has been amazing to come here on this trip and see the work first-hand.
“Prince Harry is such a good, genuine person, so when he or Prince William ask me to do anything, I know it’s coming from a good place and I pay attention.
“Coming here, you realise it’s not going to fix the whole of Lesotho, but it’ll fix a lot for a lot of people.”
The 27-year-old star has shared a close friendship with the royal brothers for some time, even scoring herself an invitation to William’s wedding to Kate Middleton in 2012.
She was reported to have said then: “I was very honoured to be invited to the wedding. I mean, it’s not like I’m down at the pub with Will every Friday. When we do see each other, we just get along really well. All of them are lovely — Harry is very lovely, very cheeky and very polite and very nice.”
Resplendent in a flowing blue gown on Wednesday night, Stone was named Sentebale ambassador. The lavish do boasted a guest list that included Harry’s cousin, Peter Phillips, and his wife, Autumn, andWestlife singer Kian Egan and his actress wife, Jodi Albert.
Photographers captured a laughing Stone looking cosy with Harry as they posed for pictures.
Both princes spoke briefly about the difference their charity was making in children’s lives.
“Harry and I know what it is like to lose a parent, or parents in my case, and it is a combined desire to carry on our mothers’ legacy of work that formed Sentebale,” said Seeiso.
Harry highlighted the plight of Lesotho’s Aids orphans.
“One in three children in Lesotho are orphans and this small country has the thirdhighest infection rate of HIV in the world.”
He told the story of a young girl he met with her mother in Lesotho 10 years ago. Shortly after the meeting, her mother died.
Harry told guests that the charity had supported the young girl ever since. She is now receiving a bursary to attend high school.
“The bursary only costs £250 a year. That really is a small price to pay to change a girl’s life, in my mind,” he said.
The guests were entertained by the Basotho Choir, Stone and Bodyguard star Beverley Knight while sipping on champagne and 21-year-old whisky.