Prince Harry speaks Māori to launch new project being launched in New Zealand TONIGHT

Prince Harry will make a major announcement tonight about his new project being launched out of New Zealand.

Details of the new project will be revealed during an exclusive interview with Te Ao with Moana on Māori Television in New Zealand.

In a preview of the interview, Prince Harry said he will be sharing details of a ‘new kaupapa‘. Kaupapa is the Māori word for work that is considered principled and for public good. 

Presenter Moana Maniapoto said she hopes Prince Harry’s message will ‘spark a discussion’ among viewers. 

Harry is known to love New Zealand and he and Meghan were said to have seriously discussed emigrating there when they quit as frontline royals before plumping for a brief stay in Canada and then a move to Los Angeles. The details of the project he will announce has been kept secret.

But Ms Maniapoto said the prince’s new project has been inspired by Māori values around Kaitiakitanga, which translates to ‘guardianship and protection’. 

‘It’s interesting to hear someone who’s a royal speak about Māori values, given our history but also given the current debates about having Māori values at the forefront of decision making and relationships,’ she said. 

‘We are open to talking to anyone… anything that particularly resonates with our values as Māori – whether we agree or not. We talk about the Crown every week. I’m hoping that we will have an interview further down the track to tease out that relationship between Māori and the Crown.’

The Prince’s popularity in New Zealand exploded after he visited in 2015, learning the Haka in 20 minutes and reciting a speech in Māori. 

 Prince Harry will make a major announcement tonight about a project being launched out of New Zealand 

 Māori Television presenter Moana Maniapoto says Prince Harry’s message will spark a discussion when it airs tonight in New Zealand 

Prince Harry, who served in the British military, joined fellow soldiers during his 2015 trip to the country, and learned the army’s Haka

 Prince Harry returned to New Zealand with Meghan Markle in 2018, and loved it so much they discussed moving there

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex visit Te Papaiouru Marae on October 31, 2018 in Rotorua, New Zealand

In 2018, the Prince returned to New Zealand with Meghan Markle. 

The pair discussed moving to there according to the Queen’s representative in the country.

That was more than a year before they stepped back from royal duties and moved to the US.

Former governor-general Dame Patsy Reddy recalled the couple saying they ‘could imagine living in a place like this’ and questioned whether it would be ‘theoretically possible’. 

She told Associated Press in an interview: ‘They were looking at how they might raise their family. 

‘And obviously they’ve made some decisions since.’ 

Harry and Meghan, shocked the world when in January 2020 they announced their intent to step back from senior royal roles, become financially independent and spend more time in North America. 

Recalling the couple’s trip to New Zealand, and how they appeared tired, Dame Patsy, 67, said: ‘I remember they’d just been down to the Abel Tasman National Park when we sat down and had a drink.

‘They said that they could imagine living in a place like this and wondered whether we thought it would be theoretically possible. Even possible for them to have a place in New Zealand.

‘Of course, we said, ‘Sure. It would be fine’. There are lots of opportunities to live in New Zealand, but that would be something that they’d have to explore.’

The discussion suggests the couple were considering options outside Britain less than six months after they married and well before their eventual move to the US. 

Dame Patsy said she did not view it as a formal request for assistance but more of an informal discussion about the couple’s hopes for the future.

She said they seemed impressed with access to the outdoors and their interactions with New Zealanders.

During a widely watched interview with Oprah Winfrey last year, Harry and Meghan said they had  offered to take a step back from royal life in a Commonwealth country such as South Africa or New Zealand.

Dame Patsy said she watched the interview but did not want to comment on internal royal family business.

‘I thought they were a lovely couple and I hope they’ve got a great future where they are,’ she said.