Sandra Tigica tragically lost her leg, was pictured sitting on Diana’s knee and said that the meeting made her feel ‘complete’. Harry decided to end his moving trip to Angola by meeting Sandra, who is now 38.
The princess sat under a fig tree in an orthopaedic workshop in Luanda in 1997, after she walked through a cleared minefield to raise awareness of the use of weapons.
Ms Thijika said: “I think I met Princess Diana on a Tuesday, she came to the centre and wanted to see how a change of prosthetic limb was done.
“At the time I was very small, I was a very tiny girl and they started measuring my knee so they could see how a prosthetic would fit.
“Princess Diana was watching the process and she started crying as she watched me getting measured for a new prosthetic.
“After they measured my knee we went outside and sat by a fig tree and she was speaking to me and I felt very happy, I felt very complete to have the attention of a princess.”
Prince Harry, 35, today revealed the trip to Angola had been “emotional” as he made a speech in front of a tree named after his mother on Princess Diana Street.
He told crowds: “It has been quite emotional retracing my mother’s steps along this street 22 years on and to see the transformation that has taken place from an unsafe and desolate area into a vibrant community of local businesses.”
And he said he believed she would have kept going with her work in raising awareness around landmines – with 60million people still living in fear.
He told crowds: “I wonder if she were still alive today if that would be the case. I’m pretty sure she would have seen it through.”
And in a poignant moment, the new dad took a moment to sit under the Diana tree as he visited Huambo. The royal had earlier paid touching tribute to his mum as he recreated a similar photo in Dirico earlier this morning before remotely detonating a landmine.
This morning, Prince Harry donned body armour and a protective visor as he visited the de-mining site in Dirico, Angola.
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