Royal Watch News

Prince Harry's charity posts record fundraising figures

Mar 14, 2012, 14:41 GMT

Prince Harry

Prince Harry's charity, Sentebale, raised £2.1 million last year.

The prince's personal charity helps orphaned and vulnerable children in the African kingdom of Lesotho and posted record profits in its financial year ending August 2011, up 16 per cent on the year before.

The figures are a major turnaround for the charity, since 2007 when it received just £250,000.

Harry recently held a polo match to raise funds for the charity in Sao Paulo, Brazil and announced plans to expand it into a worldwide operation.

He said: 'It is not just about Lesotho, there are disadvantaged kids all around the world who have no hope and need help.

'We hope to expand across the world with the concept we're using in Lesotho.'

The figures show that nearly three-quarters of the charity's spending went on helping children directly, while 27 per cent accounted for fundraising. Just one per cent went on governance.

Sentebale means 'forget me not' in the local language of Lesotho and was set up by Harry and Prince Seeiso of Lesotho in memory of their late mother's, Princess Diana and Queen Mamohato .

Speaking of the charity, he recently explained: 'It's about not forgetting the children, and not forgetting our mothers, whom both Prince Seeiso and I lost at a fairly young age.

'I get a huge buzz from spending time with kids. I'm still very much a kid inside myself. And spending time with them keeps me grounded as such.'