Their first trip to Nigeria together might have been called a mini royal tour, but for the fact that Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, haven’t been “working royals” for a few years.
The couple — now California residents — received a warm welcome to the massive African nation on Friday. They were gifted traditional Nigerian necklaces of wooden beads and then treated to a dance routine by students at their first stop, the Lightway Academy in the sprawling capital city of Abuja.
There, Harry addressed one of his biggest causes: mental health.
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“If you take anything away from today, just know that mental health affects every single person,” he told the students. “The more you talk about it, the more you can kick stigma away.”
Their visit to the West African country takes on added meaning for Meghan, who not long ago said on her Archetypes podcast that a genealogy test had revealed she’s “43% Nigerian.” The couple have both referenced her Nigerian descent since that revelation, and Meghan voiced her hope to “dig deeper” into her roots.
“My daughter Lili looked at me and said she could see her reflection in my eyes, and said, ‘Mama, I see me in you and you in me,'” she told the students in Abuja on Friday.
“As I look around this room, I see myself in all of you as well,” she added, drawing a round of applause from the crowd.
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Harry and Meghan are in Nigeria at the invitation of the country’s military, visiting to discuss the future work of the prince’s Invictus Games Foundation. The charity helps wounded servicemembers and veterans through sport. Nigeria has a similar program and collaborates with Invictus.
The visit to Africa comes just days after Prince Harry was in London — on his own — to mark the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games. The stop in his old hometown prompted a flurry of speculation about a possible reconciliation with the rest of his royal family in Britain.
But it wasn’t to be. He neither met with his brother, Prince William, nor his father, King Charles III.
At one point, the father and son were a mere two miles from each other, attending separate events. According to a statement from the Duke of Sussex, a meeting was unfortunately not possible due to “his Majesty’s full program” on the day. It added that Harry hoped to see his father again soon.
King Charles is currently undergoing treatment for an undisclosed form of cancer, but he has resumed some of his public duties, saying this week that he’d, “been allowed out of his cage.”
Harry and Meghan were to wrap up their Nigerian tour on Sunday, following a cultural reception and charity polo match for wounded war veterans.
