Double trouble: Prince Harry (left) and his elder brother the Prince of Wales bedded Beryl Markham. They are pictured on the cruiser 'Enterprise' in 1935
After their new baby has settled, Harry and Meghan are said to want to take a short 'secondment' to Africa, combining their jobs as Commonwealth ambassadors with charity work and a role promoting British interests.
Indeed, some believe that a break from the glare of the social media spotlight that the couple have attracted in recent months will be of great benefit. But whatever the Sussexes do, and however long they're gone, all we can hope is things go better than the last time a Prince Harry was sent to Africa.
He was Henry, Duke of Gloucester, uncle of our Queen and the third son of George V. Also known as Harry, he was — as we shall discover — a bit of a nincompoop.
Like the present-day Harry, he was a dedicated Army officer who was shunted out of his dream job because of his birth.
Like the present-day Harry, he struggled to find a role to satisfy his own ambitions.
But his Africa jaunt was an extended holiday for two princely brothers, with a bit of flag-waving thrown in to justify a leisurely three-month stay on the continent.
His companion on this ill-fated expedition was his fun-loving eldest brother Edward, Prince of Wales (the future Edward VIII).
Neither realised, as they set off on the P&O liner Kaisar-i-Hind in September 1928, what the consequences would be — the furious resignation of a senior courtier and the bruising of two royal reputations.
And, much more damagingly, a pregnant married woman who had bedded them both, angrily demanding redress.
At 34, Edward was a sophisticated man of the world — used to the slavish attentions of women eager to bed him. His sex appeal in those pre-Abdication days was unparallelled — and he took full advantage of it.
The same could not be said of Harry, who more than one acquaintance described as 'stupid'. Sent to Cambridge University to drill some of the nation's history into his foggy brain, he caught 50 mice in traps as a hobby instead of paying attention to his tutors. 'A splendid bag', he wrote proudly to his mother the Queen. Though 28, Harry was still a novice when it came to women.
And on arrival in Kenya, those over-sexed Happy Valley wives who didn't throw themselves at Edward settled for the younger brother — who, while not the sharpest tack in the box, at least had good looks, a muscular frame and great skill on horseback.
Through the dizzying onslaught of garden parties, balls, receptions and dinners staged by the thirsty expatriate community, Harry suddenly discovered how appealing he was to the rapacious local women. 'There are some very nice people,' he observed after his first few days, 'and some very much otherwise.'
Falling into the latter category, perhaps, was the untameable Beryl Markham, the 26-year-old wife of a rich English aristocrat, Mansfield Markham.
Beryl Markham, the first person to fly the Atlantic solo from east to west, was the untameable wife to English aristocrat Mansfield Markham and she met the two princes at the opening ball at Nairobi's Muthaiga Club
'She wore trousers with men's shirts and audaciously left the top buttons open — she took no care to hide herself,' reported the local doctor.
Later, Beryl would become world-famous as the first person to fly the Atlantic east to west. But at this time she was no more than a successful horse-trainer among the White Mischief community.
She and the two princes met at the opening ball given at Nairobi's Muthaiga Club.
'A tremendous competition took place for Edward's attention,' recalled one English resident about their trip. 'His entourage were often kept waiting for several hours while he took his pleasure with a certain blonde.'
The blonde, according to her biographer Errol Trzebinski, was Mrs Markham.
Within hours of the princes' arrival, she 'had established herself incontestably as one of the inner circle'. When Prince Harry presented himself to her, instead of lowering herself in the customary bob of a curtsy, she threw her arms in the air and cried: 'Hello there!'
'From that moment,' observed her friend Ginger Birkbeck, 'the Duke became besotted.'
Initially, though, Beryl had eyes only for the big prize — the Prince of Wales.
British-born author and adventurer Markham is shown with her her plane in 1936. Prince Harry was said to be besotted by her
'The Duke is being a pest. How can I get rid of him?' she complained, trying to bat him away like a tsetse fly.
In the end, though, to settle the problem, she bedded them both. According to Errol Trzebinski, Mrs Markham catered to the Duke's needs in a room at the Muthaiga Club, while attending to Edward at a nearby bungalow, specially lent for the purpose.
A hard day's work as a royal horizontale might involve a trip to both establishments within hours. Soon the brothers went big-game hunting. The plan was that each should take a separate safari, heading in different directions, then finally the two teams should meet up.
To assuage both men's sexual appetites, Mrs Markham shuttled between the two parties — a wearying task across miles of bush in a vehicle with wooden wheels. She certainly had the pluck as well as the social ambition.
Arriving at Harry's group, staked out in the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro, she discovered that he'd fallen hopelessly in love with her and was demanding she follow him back to England once the tour was over.
He made a pledge to meet her off the ship when she arrived. Mrs Markham agreed — then set off for the other safari.
'Our gutsy lady was well able to cope with two or more affairs at the same time,' drily observed another member of the party, Dr Bunny Allen. But though the future king was having the time of his life under the African skies
