The Duke of Sussex has shared a picture he took of Baobab trees in Malawi as he guest-edits the Instagram account of National Geographic.
Prince Harry, who was in Malawi as part of a 10-day tour of Africa, is joining forces with National Geographic in a bid to encourage people to "look up and share the beauty of trees".
Posting images taken in Liwonde National Park, Harry included a photo of himself lying on the ground beneath the vast Baobab trees to capture the shot.
The duke, who is on an official tour of Malawi, is promoting the Looking Up campaign to raise awareness of the vital role trees play in the earth's eco-system.
Harry wrote on the post that the National Geographic's social media account, which has 123 million followers, is one of his personal favourites.
"Hi everyone! I'm so happy to have the opportunity to continue working with @NatGeo and to guest-edit this Instagram account; it's one of my personal favourites," he wrote.
"Today I'm in Liwonde National Park, Malawi an important stop on our official tour of Southern Africa, planting trees for The Queens Commonwealth Canopy.
"As part of this takeover, I am inviting you to be a part of our 'Looking Up' social campaign.
"To help launch the campaign, here is a photograph I took today here in Liwonde of Baobab trees."
Calling on people to share images of trees in their local community with the hashtag #LookingUp, Harry described it as "an opportunity for all of us to take a moment, to appreciate the beauty of our surroundings".
He added: "I will be posting my favourite images from @NatGeo photographers here throughout the day, and over on @SussexRoyal I will be sharing some of my favourite images from everything you post.
"I can't wait to see what you see when you're #LookingUp", he added, followed by two tree emojis.
Buckingham Palace said the initiative was aimed at encouraging people from all over the world "to look up and share the beauty of trees".
A spokesman added: “Together with National Geographic, the Duke of Sussex launches a call to action and social media campaign, ‘Looking Up’.
“The campaign is to raise awareness of the vital role trees play in the earth’s ecosystem by sharing your own photos of trees from around the world.”
The prince’s Instagram post came as he paid tribute to a British soldier who died in Malawi while on an anti-poaching patrol.
Harry visited Liwonde National Park to lay a wreath and pay his respects to Mathew Talbot of the Coldstream Guards, who was killed in May.
The Guardsman was charged by an elephant as he worked with local rangers helping to remove 229 snares set by poachers.
The duke said a major collaborative approach “across agencies, borders and continents” was needed to end the poaching of Africa’s animals such as rhinos and elephants.
Harry has been promoting the Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy, a project to protect the world’s forests, launched in 2015. Today almost 50 countries are taking part and have already dedicated indigenous forest for conservation, or have committed to planting millions of trees to help combat climate change.
To date, the duke has launched 15 of the Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy projects including in the Caribbean, UK, New Zealand, Australia and Tonga. Harry was also sharing a photograph taken in Liwonde National Park, where he today unveiled two new Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy initiatives.
At the end of the day, using the Instagram account @SussexRoyal, which he shares with wife Meghan, he was also to share images from across the world.
Last night Harry spoke at a reception at the official residence of Britain’s High Commissioner to Malawi, Holly Tett. He said: “It is only by working together across agencies, borders and continents that we can finally put an end to the illegal wildlife trade crime that continues to the deprive local communities of some of their most valuable natural resources.”
He said: “Guardsmen Mathew Talbot was unfortunately killed a few months ago in the line of duty but the relationship between the British military and the Malawian rangers remains strong.”
Harry also said conservation was “fundamental to our survival” and should not be dismissed as “hippy” in a column in the Daily Telegraph. He said that to make progress humans needed to overcome “greed, apathy and selfishness” and that it was essential to learn from past mistakes. The duke highlighted environmental catastrophes including overfishing and poaching.
He will rejoin Meghan and baby son Archie in Johannesburg for the final leg of their tour tomorrow before flying back to the UK on Wednesday.
