December 30, 2020 - Princess Diana's landmark trip to Angola with the HALO Trust and the Red Cross was seen as an immediate success by Government officials and her campaign for a ban on landmines. UK Government papers released today show she thought any controversy around the visit was a 'distraction'.
A memo from Roger Hart, the then UK Ambassador to Angola, also reveals that the princess was planning visits to 鈥渙ther heavily mined countries鈥�, including Vietnam, Cambodia and Kuwait to promote her campaign for a landmine ban.
Her tour of Angola, which had endured a 20-year civil war, with the British Red Cross and Halo Trust made headlines around the world when she was filmed wearing HALO body armour walking through a minefield in the San Antonio area of Huambo, Angola's second city.
Mr Hart鈥檚 memo to London was released by the UK's National Archives and says: 鈥滸ood start to Princess鈥檚 campaign to support Red Cross鈥檚 call for world-wide ban on landmines despite outcry in British press over perceived policy differences with HMG [Her Majesty鈥檚 Government].鈥�
He described the work of the Halo Trust as 鈥渉ighly impressive鈥� and said the Angolan people were 鈥渄elighted鈥� the princess visited in what was 鈥減ossibly the first such trip 鈥渢o their country by a member of our Royal Family.鈥�
He added: "At a critical time in the peace process, it put their country back on the international map and drew worldwide attention to the evils of mines and the tremendous human suffering that they cause.
He added: 鈥淚t was the first overseas trip that she has undertaken since agreeing to support the mine ban and was talking about following it up with visits to other heavily mined countries such as Vietnam, Cambodia and Kuwait.鈥�
Huambo before and after clearance of the Diana minefield
The minefield in Huambo visited by Diana in 1997 is now a thriving community and was visited by her son, Prince Harry, in September 2019.
