Prince Harry took a bold step in his fight to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS today, as he underwent an HIV test which was broadcast live on the Royal Family’s Facebook page.
The test, which involved a pinprick and took about a minute, was performed at Guy’s and St. Thomas’ Hospital in London. The 31-year-old Prince tested negative for HIV.
Harry, who admitted to some nerves, said he took the test “to show how easy it is to get tested.” He added, “It’s amazing how quick it is.”
The Prince is a co-founder and patron of the charity Sentebale, which raises awareness for HIV/AIDS. He has pledged to increase the conversation around the once-taboo disease, much like his mother.
Diana, Princess of Wales, famously championed AIDS awareness in her life and was one of the first major figures to work to destigmatise AIDS and HIV.
During the procedure, Harry commented that the finger prick ‘weirdly…didn’t even hurt’.
Kensington Palace announced last month that the former Army captain would be devoting a significant amount of his charitable work to HIV awareness to continue his mother’s legacy.
He told viewers watching the Facebook live broadcast, “Gay, straight, black, white, ginger, whatever — why wouldn’t you just have a test?”
“We all shouldn’t be on the other side of the river saying, ‘You should get the test,'” he said. “It should be normalised. Everybody should get it.”
Harry will attend the International AIDS Conference in Durban, South Africa, next week. He is scheduled to speak alongside Elton John and Sentebale’s other co-founder, Prince Seeiso of Lesotho, at the event.
