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Friday April 28, 01:23 AM
LONDON (Reuters) - Prince Harry launched his own charity on Friday in memory of his late mother, Princess Diana, to help children orphaned by AIDS in Lesotho.
"I wanted to carry on as best I could what she started," said the 21-year-old prince, whose mother was a leading AIDS activist until her death in a Paris car crash in 1997.
Harry, an army officer who is third in line to the throne after his father, Prince Charles, and his elder brother William, has called the charity Sentebale which means "Forget me not" in Sesotho, the main language of Lesotho.
The prince, once dubbed the royal "wild child" for his youthful drug and drink antics, said of his new charity "As far as I am concerned, I'm committed for the rest of my life."
Harry announced the launch of the charity after his fourth trip to the tiny African kingdom, where up to one-third of the population are believed to be HIV positive and drought has caused serious food shortages.
Harry co-founded the charity with Lesotho's Prince Seeiso whose own mother, Queen Mamohato, died in 2003.
Harry, speaking to reporters in a pooled despatch, 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."
Asked if he thought his late mother would have been proud of his new charity, Harry said: "I hope so."
"This particular charity, rather than aiming directly at AIDS itself, it's about the knock-on effect on the children, so we can actually help the kids."
Harry had a turbulent childhood, marred by the bitter break-up of his parents' marriage played out under the media spotlight.
Then, with the world watching, the 12-year-old boy had to walk through the streets of London behind his mother's coffin at her funeral.
SCUFFLE WITH PAPARAZZI
In later years he often garnered headlines for all the wrong reasons. He scuffled with paparazzi outside a London club and sparked outrage by dressing as a Nazi officer at a party, though he apologized afterwards for the offence he caused.
Reflecting on Harry's new image, royal biographer Penny Junor told Reuters: "I think this will improve it. Maybe the wild child is beginning to grow up, maybe the army has helped."
"He has always been rather immature and taken a long time to grow up. It was bad enough to have the break-up of his parents' marriage on the front pages but then there was his mother's absolutely shocking sudden death."
Earlier this month, Harry graduated from Britain's elite Sandhurst military academy as an army officer, before joining a regiment that could be sent to Iraq or Afghanistan.
Harry insists he wants a frontline role, but defence officials have said he may be shielded from action because his presence on the battlefield might attract "additional attention" that could put him and his men at greater risk.
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