Prince Harry Promoted in Area That Piqued William's Jealousy

Prince Harry has landed a new blow in the sibling rivalry with Prince William over the brothers' charitable work in Africa, as he has been promoted by a conservation charity working in land management and wildlife across the continent.

In the prince's 2023 Spare memoir, he revealed that tensions with older brother, William, once reached the brink of a physical argument over who patronized conservation work in Africa, with the possible future king declaring: "Rhinos, elephants, that's mine!"

One charity which works in this area is the Africa Parks organization, which Harry first joined forces with in 2015, when he assisted with an elephant rehabilitation project in Malawi.

Africa Parks manages a network of national parks across the continent, in collaboration with governments and communities. It runs a number of schemes, including the ambitious campaign to rewild 2,000 southern white rhinos.

Following the elephant scheme, he remained involved with the work being undertaken by the charity and was appointed its president in 2017.

This year, the royal affirmed his commitment to continue his work in the area, apparently accepting a higher position with Africa Parks.

In an elevation, first highlighted by writer, R.S. Locke on X, formerly Twitter, Africa Parks revealed on its website that Harry has been appointed as a "member of the board of directors," the governing body of the organization.

Newsweek has approached representatives of Africa Parks and Harry via email for comment.

Africa has been a core area of Harry's charity work, both during his time as a working member of the royal family and since leaving the monarchy in 2020 with Meghan Markle.

During a 2022 address marking Nelson Mandela International Day at the United Nations in New York, the prince said that he had found a sense of "hope" on the continent when he first visited in the months after Princess Diana's death in 1997.

"Since I first visited Africa at 13 years old, I've always found hope on the continent. In fact, for most of my life, it has been my lifeline, a place where I have found peace and healing time and time again," he said.

"It's where I've felt closest to my mother and sought solace after she died, and where I knew I had found a soulmate in my wife.

"And it's why so much of my work is based there. Because, despite continued hardship, there are people across Africa who embody Mandela's spirit and ideals—building on the progress he helped make possible."

The continent has also been where William has focused a large part of his work on the environment and conservation.

The Prince of Wales became the patron of the charity TUSK in 2005, working in the conservation, education and community development fields across Africa. He also founded the United for Wildlife organization in 2014 to tackle the global, illegal wildlife trade.

It was when Harry left the army in 2015 to take up royal work full-time, he told readers of his memoir, that William raised objections.

Stating his desire to make his veterans event, the Invictus Games, a core working focus alongside Africa, he wrote: "One small problem: Willy. Africa was his thing, he said. And he had the right to say this, or felt he did, because he was the heir.

"It was ever in his power to veto my thing, and he had every intention of exercising, even flexing, that veto power."

He continued to say that the brothers "had some real rows about it," and, "one day, we almost came to blows in front of our childhood mates."

He wrote: "One of the sons asked: 'Why can't you both work on Africa?' Willy had a fit, flew at this son for daring to make such a suggestion. 'Because rhinos, elephants, that's mine!' It was all so obvious. He cared less about finding his purpose or passion than about winning his lifelong competition with me."

William did not publicly respond to claims made by Harry in his memoir and the revelation of two princes fighting over who had the right to control charity work in Africa drew criticism.

Nels Abbey, co-author of Think Like a White Man, previously told Newsweek that the rivalry over Africa came across as "super colonial" and "extremely unhealthy."

"I couldn't for a second see how it would happen in reverse, two African princes arguing about who London belongs to," he said.

Today, there is increasing speculation about the rift that has developed between Harry and William, much of which Harry appeared to confirm in his memoir and 2022 Netflix docuseries.

As the brothers continue to pursue their environmental and conservation work in Africa, opportunities to cross paths may become more frequent. However, the last time the princes were photographed interacting with one another was during the state funeral events for Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022.

At the time of Spare's publication in January 2023, Harry told interviewer Anderson Cooper that it had been "a while" since the brothers had been in contact with one another.

James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek's royal reporter, based in London. You can find him on X (formerly Twitter) at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.

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