What do you gift a little prince? It's a thought that must have gone through Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu's mind when the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation presented Baby Archie with a beautifully-prepared gift basket.
The Duke and Duchess, along with the little tot, visited the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation on Wednesday for a meeting with the retired archbishop and a briefing on the Foundation’s work.
“Thank you for your concern and interest in the welfare of our people. It’s very heartwarming, let me tell you, very heartwarming to realise that you really, genuinely are caring people,” Tutu told the royal couple.
Prince Harry replied: “We all try to make things better.”
The foundation's CFO Piyushi Kotecha and the archbishop’s eldest daughter, Thandeka, then presented the couple with a basket of gifts celebrating South Africa's women, children and non-racialism - including several gifts for Archie.
Archie's gift basket included:
- A matching pair of beaded bracelets hand-made by members of Ikamva Labantu, which works in Cape Town townships focusing on early childhood development, afterschool initiatives and the wellbeing of elder persons. The bracelets, in the purple and green colours of the Foundation, were specially commissioned for the royal couple.
- A set of signed children’s books for Archie, Desmond and the Mean Word, and Children’s Bible Stories, written by the archbishop.
- A beautiful children’s songbook containing the extraordinary work of Patricia Schonstein. Schonstein opened a pre-school in Grahamstown in 1984 in defiance of apartheid rules.
- A copy of the Book of Joy signed by both His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Archbishop.
- A set of portable and recyclable lap-desks from the Tutu Desk Campaign.
In a touching move, Kotecha also presented Prince Harry with a pair of framed photographs of his mother, Princess Diana meeting with former president Nelson Mandela in Cape Town in 1997. The photographs were donated to the foundation by photojournalist Benny Gool.