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Just weeks after Prince Harry made a surprising move back to the U.K., the Duke of Sussex was seen stateside in New York City, where he made a rare appearance at an event focused on one of the causes closest to his heart: protecting Botswana’s Okavango Delta.
On the third day of Climate Week NYC and during the United Nations General Assembly, Harry joined leaders, conservationists, and advocates gathered to celebrate efforts to preserve the vital wetland and the waterways that sustain it. The Duke had already been in New York earlier that day, where he spoke at the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting.
Harry was joined by Botswana’s President Duma Gideon Boko and Ministers from as well as celebrities including Venus Williams and Ciara. The evening brought together leaders in biodiversity and sustainability research, conservationists, jewelry executives, and members of the media, all in pursuit of protecting the region’s fragile ecosystem.
Craig Barritt
Venus Williams and Ciara celebrated the initiative.
Craig Barritt
President Boko, Olympian sprinter Letsile Tebogo, and First Lady of Botswana Kaone Boko caught up at the event.
For Prince Harry, the appearance was particularly meaningful given his long-standing connection to Botswana. The Okavango Delta has been close to his heart since childhood, when his father, then-Prince Charles, took him and his brother Prince William on safari there following the death of their mother, Princess Diana. In the years since, Prince Harry has returned to Botswana for royal engagements, personal trips, and philanthropic work. It was also where he and Meghan Markle spent their third date in the summer of 2016, a trip the Duke has described as transformative.
“You leave this place with such a depth of appreciation for life,” he shared in a 2017 Town & Country interview. “I have this sense of complete relaxation and normality [here]. To lose myself in the bush…. This is where I feel more like myself than anywhere else in the world.”
ALEXEI HAY
Prince Harry, photographed for Town & Country
Screenshot/Netflix
A snapshot from Meghan and Harry’s third date in Botswana.
That personal connection was evident during President Boko’s remarks. While welcoming guests, he addressed Prince Harry directly, joking that the Duke of Sussex had become a regular visitor—and was practically a citizen of Botswana. “I had a brief chat with [Prince Harry] earlier, and he asked what ideas and projects I could suggest to him,” he told the audience. “And I said, ‘No, I will not suggest anything to you here. We will sit in Botswana, in the Okavango Delta, together, and the ideas will come flowing.’”
Craig Barritt
In President Boko’s speech to the audience, he shared he was filled with “absolute optimism”.
The initiative has supported wildlife and water research, helped map migration routes, documented more than 70 species new to science, and created more than 2,000 conservation-related livelihood opportunities across the region. In 2026, Angola designated Lisima Lya Mwono, or “Source of Life,” as its first Ramsar Wetland of International Importance, marking another step toward protecting the waterways that sustain the Okavango Delta and the communities and wildlife that depend on them.
For Harry, however, the evening represented more than another appearance on the New York social calendar. His enduring relationship with Botswana made the opportunity to support the future of the Okavango particularly personal and offered a reminder of why the country has remained such an important part of his life for decades.
Carly Witteman is Town & Country’s Associate Fashion Editor, covering luxury style, jewelry and timepieces, beauty, and arts and culture while styling various photoshoots and projects for print. You can find her on Instagram at @carlymaewitteman, where she’s probably posting about a Broadway show, her new favorite pair of shoes, or her current read.