Prince William (pictured, right) and Prince Harry will after all take part in a dangerous 1000-mile charity motorcycle rally through South Africa.

Clarence House confirmed, “The Princes are looking forward to taking part in this arduous motorcycle ride.”

It will be an eight-day ride later this month in an attempt to emulate actor Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman who rode from John O’Groats to Cape Town in their TV series The Long Way Down.

Now we know the reason Prince Harry attempted and passed his motorbike test after taking an intensive course this summer. It was, it seems, Harry’s idea to raise money for charities, including his own Sentebale, based in Lesotho, and the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund.

This will not be an easy ride by any stretch of the imagination. The brothers will sleep rough as they cross some of the toughest terrain on the continent.

They will, of course, be accompanies at all times by up to six armed police protection officers.

The ride is being sponsored by Enduro Africa. Each participant will be provided with a Honda CRF 230s, a light 200cc trail bike easy to manoeuvre.

The organizer of the event, Simon Smith, says, “It’s going to be one of the hardest and most demanding things they will ever have done in their lives and at night they are going to struggle to get off their bikes as the pain will be so bad. At times they will be sitting on their bikes looking up at a 60 degree slope wondering how the hell they are going to get up it – not even realizing there is a deep river crossing to get through on the other side.

“It is a very dangerous route and they will undoubtedly collect a fair few bumps and bruises along the way.”

Harry recently returned from training in Canada to be with his girlfriend Chelsy Davy, who needed hospital treatment to remove her wisdom teeth.

William is currently working at the Ministry of Defence, before moving on to the SAS later in the year.

In the past that question would inevitably be answered with, “Somewhere in Africa — not far from Chelsy Davy.”

Prince Harry with African children in Lesotho

Later, it became “On secret deployment somewhere dangerous.”

So where is he now? Well, last week he was “Somewhere in Africa, but not near Chelsy.” What a complicated life the young Prince leads.

It seems Harry was at a circus near Maseru, the capital of Lesotho, with 30 African street children. Reports say he had great fun watching clowns and various animals in the Brian Boswell Circus’s Big Top.

The trip was organized by his charity, Sentebale, and the show included a Chinese trapeze act — the Chinese are everywhere these days — and some poodles.

An observer said, “”Harry loved it all and was as wide-eyed as the little kids around him.”

Beats running after “Terry Taliban” any day.

A press story claiming that Prince Harry is furious that so little of the money raised for his charity, Sentebale, has got through to people in Lesotho, Africa, has been denied by Clarence House. A press release comments :

On Monday 17th March 2008, The Daily Telegraph’s Mandrake column reported that Prince Harry was angry that Sentebale had been able to give only a tiny fraction of the money it has raised to Aids orphans. The charity’s first year accounts showed that it received donations of £1.15m but gave out only £84,000, while spending £250,000 on staff costs, and £86,000 on a website.

Prince Harry is not angry about Sentebale’s first set of financial figures. The Prince understands the importance of establishing Sentebale on the ground in Lesotho and this is where most of the money was spent during the first 18 months (17th March 2006 – 31st August 2007).

Obviously there are going to be heavy upfront costs in establishing any charity, but Harry is right to put down a marker in case Sentebale turns out like the Diana Fund after her death, which wasted millions on unmemorable “memorials”, like the dismal ditch in Kensington Gardens, and futile legal costs in America.

He should keep a close eye on what’s happening on the ground and in the accounts. He clearly is.

Update There has been an update from Clarence House on the spending from Sentebale in Lesotho and the thinking of the management of Prince Harry’s charity HERE.