Just a week after welcoming his first child, son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, Prince Harry is taking a step away from daddy duty to tend to royal affairs.
According to PEOPLE, the Duke of Sussex and newly minted father-of-one has opted to forgo taking paternity leave and traveled to Oxford on Tuesday for a day filled with royal duties.
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First on his itinerary was a stop at Oxford’s Children Hospital, where he spoke with children receiving treatment, the staff who care for them, and 13-year-old Mikayla, who won a WellChild award in the past. The duke is patron of WellChild, which is a charity for seriously-ill children in the U.K.
The hospital visit even landed baby Sussex a brand new gift: a giant teddy bear.
During the Tuesday outing, Harry also visited OXSRAD Disability Sports and Leisure Centre, a facility that was opened by his mother, the late Princess Diana, 30 years ago. Speaking of the visit, Chris Hunt, who has been a fundraiser at the facility for more than 35 years, expressed hope that little Archie will one day follow in his father’s footsteps and that “maybe in another 30 years we’ll have Archie.”
Harry also visited Barton Neighbourhood Centre, where he learned about the charity Thrive Teams, which aims to help young leaders living in disadvantaged areas to bring about “positive change within their communities.”
The day away from home came just a little over a week after Harry and wife Meghan Markle welcomed their first child together. Baby Sussex, seventh in line to the throne, was born at 5:26 a.m. on Monday, May 6 and made his first public appearance on Wednesday, May 8.
Although still adjusting to life as a family of three, including sleepless nights, Harry is already jumping back into royal affairs. Just days after welcoming his first child, the duke traveled to the Netherlands to help launch the one-year countdown to the 2020 Invictus Games at The Hauge.
During the outing, which had been scheduled months in advance, the prince was gifted with a number of items for his little boy, including a toy rattle decorated with rabbits by seven-year-old girl Daimy Gommers and a onesie bearing the Invictus Games logo gifted by Princess Margriet.
The duke’s schedule is expected to be filled even when he returns home from Oxford Tuesday night, as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William and Kate Middleton, will reportedly visit Frogmore Cottage to officially meet the newest member of the Royal Family.
