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This Article is From Mar 21, 2016

Prince Harry Spends Night At Village Home In Nepal

Prince Harry Spends Night At Village Home In Nepal
In this photograph released by Nepal's National News Agency on March 21, 2016, Britain's Prince Harry (C) visits Lamjung. (AFP)
Kathmandu: Britain's Prince Harry stayed at the village home of a former Nepalese Gurkha soldier who had served in the British army on Monday as the prince continues his tour of the Himalayan nation.

The prince flew to the Leurani village, northwest of the capital Kathmandu, Monday where he spend time with the villagers dancing and later feasting with the family of Mangali Tamang, 86-year-old widow of a former soldier.

Villagers lined up the trail to the village offering flowers and cream-colored scarf which is offered to special guests. He stopped to visit two families who are building their homes after it was destroyed in last year's earthquake.
 

In this photograph released by Nepal's National News Agency on March 21, 2016, Britain's Prince Harry (2nd L) speaks with residents of Leurani village in Lamjung, some 200km west of Kathmandu. (AFP)

Press Association said Tamang was overjoyed to have her guest and, following Nepalese custom, referred to the royal as "king": "I'm very happy. I cried 'when I die I can say I talked to the king of a foreign land'."

"I could do nothing, put a garland of flowers around him and then I blessed him," Tamang was quoted as saying. "I blessed him so that he may live to be 100 years and all his wishes become fulfilled, and where he goes success will follow him."

Nepal abolished centuries-old monarchy in 2008 and Harry is the first British royal to visit Nepal since then.

Heavy rainfall with hailstorm did not dampen the celebration of the villagers.
 

In this photograph released by Nepal's National News Agency on March 21, 2016, Nepali women from Leurani village welcome Britain's Prince Harry (C) in Lamjung, some 200km west of Kathmandu. (AFP)

Harry has close relations with the Gurkhas, Nepalese men who have served and fought nearly every war for the British army for two-centuries. Harry even served with a Gurkha battalion in Afghanistan.

Earlier on Monday, he flew to Bardia national park home to rhinos and tigers where he talked about conservation.

He spent hours discussing the local conservation officials and villagers about the tigers and even rode on a boat.

Harry is on a five-day trip to Nepal where he already met the president, prime minister, attended an official function to mark 200 years of friendship between Nepal and Britain.

The highlight of his trip was visiting the earthquake damaged areas and highlighting reconstruction efforts.

In this photograph released by Nepal's National News Agency on March 21, 2016, Britain's Prince Harry (2nd R) is given a traditional head covering by a village elder at Leurani village in Lamjung. (AFP)

He visited with families living in tents at a camp in Nepal for people made homeless by last April's devastating earthquake, toured old palaces and temples that were damaged.

The earthquake killed nearly 9,000 people and destroying about 1 million homes. There has been little to help the victims even a year after the earthquake.

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