On a fact-finding mission to Ugandan refugee camps, Crown Princess Mary was deeply moved by what she saw, evoking memories of the late Diana, writes Phil Dampier.

She once said she didn't want to be the "new Diana", yet comparisons with the late Queen of Hearts are inevitable as Crown Princess Mary of Denmark hugged AIDS victims, brought comfort to war orphans and walked through a minefield dressed in a protective suit on her recent visit to Uganda.

If ever there was a genuine and worthy successor to the title of "People's Princess", then the Australian-born Mary proved she is the one on her African tour. Memories of Diana's visit to Angola, just months before her death in 1997, came flooding back as Mary donned a blue bombproof jacket and see-through helmet for a stroll through a cleared minefield in Gulu, northern Uganda.

Accompanied by Mark Livingstone from the Danish Demining Group, which works to eradicate landmines, Mary looked pensive during the photo-call. At 36, the same age Diana was when she woke the world’s conscience to the horror of landmines, Mary was perhaps acutely aware that, a decade on, innocent children are still being killed and maimed on a daily basis. Earlier on her fact-finding mission as patron of the Danish Refugee Council, Mary came face to face with the true cost of war — the children who have been orphaned and displaced by the conflict in Uganda and neighbouring Sudan. At the Redeemer Children's Orphanage in Moyo, she was greeted by a group of singing and dancing children, whose smiles hid their pain.

During years of civil war in Sudan and terrorism in northern Uganda by the rebel group, the Lord’s Resistance Army, thousands of youngsters were carried off, the boys to become soldiers, the girls sex slaves. Most of their parents died in the fighting or from disease and many of the children have spent years in refugee camps, cared for by devoted nuns.

Under a scorching sun, Mary listened to their stories. As one girl told her how she longed to leave the camp and return to her home, Mary could bear it no more and began wiping away tears. For a few seconds, she struggled to compose herself and whispered, "How terrible", to her aides.

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To see photographs of Crown Princess Mary in Uganda, pick up the November issue of The Australian Women's Weekly — out now!

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