CNN reports that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle touched down in Cape Town, South Africa on Monday and finished the first day of their 10-day tour. The royal couple reportedly ended their first day by stopping at the District Six Homecoming Center and are set to traverse the continent and visit countries including Malawi, Angola, and Botswana.
According to The Daily Star , Michael Jackson’s former bodyguard and outspoken supporter, Matt Fiddes, claims that the duke and duchess need to exercise extreme caution on their trip. He says that the couple is traveling in one of the most dangerous places in the world, highlighting that even law enforcement can be highly corrupt there.
“I went there 13 times in one year at one point so I know the country very well. And my wife is South African,” he said.
Fiddes claims that police and security are the people you rely on most on the continent, and they can be “just as corrupt as criminals.”
“They’re very brave to go out there. From a security point of view it’ll be very tough for them, they’ll really have to up it,” he said.
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex visit Nyanga Township in Cape Town. . #RoyalVisitSouthAfrica #Royals #RoyalTourAfrica #princeharry #meghanmarkle #duchessmeghan #duchessofsussex pic.twitter.com/6xQfu7rDEX
— Mark Cuthbert (@markacuthbert) September 23, 2019
Fiddes also warned of a new generation of South Africans that will likely have a problem with royals due to the politics of apartheid — the institutionalized and legal racial segregation of the country that ended in the early 1990s.
“There’s a lot of history there but there’s this huge confusion in South Africa with regards to apartheid. Grandparents have told their children stories about what happened and how the blacks were treated and things have got misunderstood. “
Although Fiddes is often in the news for his ardent defense of his late friend Jackson, he was recently in headlines after his son, Hero, had a seizure due to a mysterious illness that has left doctors baffled. Fiddes claims that the seizure led to cardiac arrest that pushed Hero into unconsciousness. He says that while his son is now doing well — despite some eye damage due to a lack of oxygen — he always lives in fear that his son could die at any moment.
Doctors believe that Hero suffers from a superbug that causes seizures and makes the heart stop. However, professionals have yet to find out how to cure the bug or determine where exactly it comes from. To stop the condition’s adverse effects, Hero is on anti-seizure drugs, and Fiddes must carry an emergency drug kit with him at all times.