Prince Harry, Meghan Markle tour South Africa, deny traditional red-carpet welcome, curtsy formalities

The Duke and the Duchess of Sussex along with their son Archie Harrison begin their first-ever royal family tour on Monday. The family-of-three are visiting South Africa for ten days. Together, the couple will be constantly engaged in performing several social activities during their tour. Nevertheless, their four-month-old son is expected to make their tour "a little more lively."

A royal spokeswoman told Hello that the members of the British Royal Family are certainly "looking forward to their arrival in Africa tomorrow on their first official tour as a family."

One reason why the family is excited about the tour is that South Africa "holds a very special place in the Duke's heart." The tour is completely scheduled, and the family has a "busy" itinerary. They will be covering four countries on the continent in the span of 10 days.

"It is a really busy program, four countries in ten days, and we have an extra special small passenger to make things more lively," the spokesperson revealed.

During their tour, they will stay at the High Commissioner's residence. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's tour begins at a Cape Town where they will address the subject of violence against women in South Africa. Unfortunately, violence against women is widespread in the continent and has been described as "national emergency" by President Cyril Ramaphosa.

They are scheduled to visit a women's shelter and District Six Museum and conduct a workshop. The royal couple will talk about the importance of self-defense and safety training for women and children.

Markle will also be involved in charity work where she will be donating some of her son's gifts and clothing that he was presented with from organisations and the general public. She will be working in association with mothers2mothers charity, which is dedicated to working with families with HIV.

Meanwhile, the authorities have not yet revealed whether little Archie will be accompanying his parents on various public engagements or not. Whether he be attending all the events, or a few is yet to be confirmed. However, people in Africa are certainly eager to have a glimpse or two of the royal baby.

In his statement, British High Commissioner to South Africa Nigel Casey has affirmed the importance of such royal visits in sustaining and celebrating the modern relationship between the UK and South Africa.

"It will also be a chance to underline the strength and continuity of our royal family's ties to South Africa. And in particular to recall the warm and special relationship between her majesty the Queen and the late President Mandela."

Meghan and Harry will not be receiving a traditional red-carpet welcome as they arrive in Cape Town, reports Vanity Fair. The Sussexes will be getting straight to work. According to the royal aides, it is clear that their visit is purely work and "not a holiday." And they do not want to make it look like that. The royal couple want to do some "serious work especially at a community level."

The couple wants to create a minimal fuss and just get to the work. Their itinerary reportedly comprises 86 official engagements during their tour. Meanwhile, the couple has requested the planners to involve a little less formality during the engagements.