ROBERT HARDMAN explains how the monarchy sent young members to very remote areas of the world

The idea of ​​sending the Duke and Duchess of Susbad to Africa to tap their potential of "soft power" as "rock stars" is interesting – especially in the week the couple waits for their first child.

Normally, the imminent arrival of a royal baby would be more than enough to keep the royal overseers concerned. But, as with so many other things, Harry and Meghan continue to break the mold.

However, moving the couple abroad – an idea that the Palace has always considered speculation – is not entirely new.

Monarchs take their youngest sons to distant parts of the world for years.

Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, was appointed Governor General of Australia in 1945. Similarly, Queen Victoria's third son, Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught, became Governor General of Canada in 1911.

In the 18th century, some of George 's most misguided sons were sent abroad and were not allowed to return for years.

So why Africa for Susbad? As the youth ambbadador for the Commonwealth, which covers 53 nations on every continent, the duke would no doubt have set his sights on any part of the world that would seduce him and his wife.

Yet he has always had a deep and special connection with Africa. In this respect, he is only following the family tradition firmly.

Africa was the first foreign destination of our queen. As Princess Elizabeth, she had never ventured south of the Isle of Wight until 1947, when she embarked with the King, Queen and Princess Margaret to thank South Africa before apartheid for its support in wartime.

Yesterday, the Queen celebrated her 93rd birthday in Windsor. In 1947, she celebrated her 21st birthday in Cape Town, pronouncing one of the most important speeches of her life, committing "all my life" to serving "our great imperial family". It was a transition to adulthood in many ways.

It's during this epic, arduous and spectacular journey of 7,000 miles, from Cape to Victoria Falls, Rhodesia, that the future queen has learned so much from her beloved father's first hand.

Five years later, she was back in Africa with her young husband. The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, as they were known, were on their way to Australia and New Zealand, replacing the king whose health had twice obliged him to cancel.

Their first port of call, however, was Kenya, where a series of official engagements was followed by a two-day safari to Treetops, the famous hut in the branches of one. Giant fig tree from Aberdare National Park.

It is there that the future monarch "climbed the tree of a princess and descended a queen". During the night, George VI died in his sleep.

The circumstances of his estate have never been lost to the oldest monarch in our history.

Former Commonwealth Secretary-General Sir Sonny Ramphal attaches considerable importance to the fact that this moment has taken place in the heart of Africa.

He believes that this has shaped the Queen's vision of the Commonwealth – and so it was for the founding fathers of the Commonwealth.

"This has had a significant impact on other leaders," says Sir Sonny in my book, Queen Of The World. "It made it so much easier for him to play a role among them. She really became a player at Treetops. She was also a child of the Commonwealth.

Throughout her reign, the Queen has experienced some of her most memorable – and precarious – moments in Africa. Tensions between the palace and the Margaret Thatcher government are generally rooted in Africa.

Just in power, Mrs. Thatcher came to power in 1979 as she tries to prevent the Queen from attending the next Commonwealth summit in Zambia, fearing a horrible battle against white domination in Zambia. Rhodesia.

The trip was also fraught with difficulties. Two civilian airliners had been shot down by guerrilla militias and serious doubts remained as to the safety of the Queen's flight.

Be that as it may, the queen has issued a ciphered statement of the palace stating how much she was eagerly waiting for her trip and forced Mrs. Thatcher's hand.

In the end, his personal interventions at the summit ensured a rare outbreak of diplomatic harmony and the beginning of a peace process that would lead to the creation of modern Zimbabwe.

This then paved the way for the key role of the Commonwealth in the dismantling of South African apartheid.

In almost three decades of covering royal stories, I have rarely witnessed the splendor and intensity of this momentous moment in 1995, the year of the Queen's return to South Africa for the first time since 1947.

There, on the Cape docks, was an equally enthusiastic president, Nelson Mandela.

The two then became the firmest of friends. No other non-royal world leader would insist that she call him Elizabeth.

The former palace badistants have always observed that she had a different aura around the queen when she was in Africa.

Never adept at hyperbole, the Queen thought that her state visit with Mandela had been "one of the most memorable experiences of my life".

Africa would offer similar milestones to so many family members. Unaccompanied by their parents, Prince Charles and Princess Anne made a joint tour for the pbadage to adulthood in 1971.

For the prince, it was his first experience sleeping in the bush, a beard, an indictment by an elephant and an investiture.

For the princess, it was her first overseas tour with charities that would be part of her life.

The Duke of Cambridge and the Duke of Susbad would happily spend years in Africa. Both would court their future wives.

Just as Prince William forged one of his first royal patrons with Tusk, a charity organization dedicated to wildlife, Prince Harry's first charity project was Sentebale, a Lesotho orphan.

Nevertheless, the last speech on a "tailor-made" African role in the Susbad remains firmly speculative. It will certainly take a lot of careful diplomacy if we want to go beyond the drawing board.

Titles such as "The Palace Plan of Africa for Harry and Meghan" inevitably raise the question: did anyone ask Africa what Africa was thinking about? ? Indeed, did any one ask the whole Commonwealth?

In spite of all its good intentions, this year's "Comic Relief" campaign has been relegated to the background by a delicate debate on "white terrorism" after promotional images of BBC presenter (white), Stacey Dooley, hug a child (black) in Uganda. Labor MP David Lammy warned against a return to "the colonial era".

So why go now? Do the Susbad already have enough of married life in Britain? The news that the couple set up their new home at Frogmore Cottage in Windsor, and moved their private office to Buckingham Palace, fueled rumors of tension with the Cambridges.

The Old Palace's alumni claim that it's simply about reaching what was called "a junction in the street", a process that also required many contributions and planning meticulous on the part of the Prince of Wales.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are now seriously engaged in their roles as future King and Queen.

The Duke and Duchess of Susbad understand and embrace the nature of the different supporting roles that await us.

During the next reign, the Susbad will cease to be under the auspices of the new Prince of Wales and will no longer be funded by the Duchy of Cornwall. They will automatically be placed under the auspices of the king.

As such, say the badistants, it makes sense to plan and establish any new office where it will have to be located in due time.

The move to Buckingham Palace therefore originated in the Prince of Wales and not any fault. And he, more than anyone, knows just how ambitious overseas projects can be.

Because Prince Harry might have spent his own childhood on the other side of the world, but for a political problem.

In the 1980s, Australian Labor Prime Minister Bob Hawke suggested that the Prince of Wales be governor general and drive his young family to Canberra.

The prince replied that he could only take into account the invitation if all the Australian political parties were in agreement. Finally, Hawke came back sadly with the news. He had managed to convince all the parties, except his own.