Samir Hussein/WireImagePrince Harry wants to keep one of Princess Diana's most important promises.
The red-headed royal delivered the keynote address at a reception for Landmine Free World 2025—a program created to rid the world of the explosive device by 2025—in which he asked for help in maintaining a promise his mother made to two victims of landmines.
The Princess of Wales had met the victims during her last overseas tour to Bosnia in August 1997 before her death.
"As I mentioned earlier, in August 1997, my mother traveled to Bosnia with Ken Rutherford," Prince Harry recalled as Rutherford sat in the audience. "When she was there she met two young boys, one Muslim, one Serbian, who had both lost legs to landmines. She shared their stories with the world, and helped campaigners, many of whom are in this room, to change history."
He continued, "Those two young boys, Malic and Zarko, are now grown men and are with us today. Twenty years on, they both still struggle with their physical and emotional injuries and with the high costs of replacing their prosthetics. When my mother said goodbye to Zarko that August, just weeks before her untimely death, she told him he would not be forgotten.
Thus, he begged, "Please help me keep her word to Zarko and Malic, and other people like them throughout the world, who still need us to finish the job and rid the planet of landmines."
Harry explained it would take an additional 100 million euros—which he notes is "the cost of a star signing for some professional football teams"—each year to clear landmines from some of the world's most effected countries, including Afghanistan, Cambodia and Sri Lanka.
Despite the continued work, he made sure to recognize the "bravery and dedication" of teams from MAG, The Halo Trust, Norwegian People's Aid, Danish Demining Group and others who helped in declaring 27 countries mine-free. He also thanked the Secretary of State and the U.K. government for their "bold commitment to supporting this vital work with additional funding. "
Harry—who became patron of Diana's Halo Trust landmine charity in 2013—concluded that he believes the world can be entirely landmine-free by 2025.
"Collectively we have the knowledge, skill, and resources to achieve it, so let's make future generations proud and finish what we started."