Meghan Markle Says It Is an Honor to be in Nigeria
There has been much buzz about Prince Harry and Megan’s trip to Nigeria, which is taking place to highlight the Invictus Games and comes after she discovered she has Nigerian ancestry. And this morning, they touched down in the country together for a three-day visit, arriving early on a British Airways flight.
The couple’s first stop was to the Lightway Academy in capital Abuja where they launched a two-day mental health summit run by non-profit GEANCO, which is linked with their Archewell Foundation. Dressed in light clothes and wearing large wooden beaded necklaces, the couple was serenaded by singers and dancers.
Harry and Meghan are visiting Nigeria after being invited by the Chief of Defense Staff in relation to the Invictus Games. However, Meghan also has a particularly personal interest in the country after discovering that a genealogy test found she was 43% Nigerian.
The couple has not brought their children Archie, five, and Lilibet, two, with them on the trip. But they spoke about them while meeting kindergarten children at the school. “Our son Archie’s five. He turned five last week,” Meghan said after being introduced to a five-year old. She also shared that Archie enjoys construction.
The Duchess spoke about daughter Lili onstage during the mental health summit. “And interestingly, so our daughter, Lili, she's much, much tinier than you guys. She's about to turn three,” Meghan said. “And a few weeks ago she looked at me and she would just see the reflection in my eyes. And she was, mama, I see me in you. Oh, now she was talking really, literally. But I hung onto those words in a very different way. And I thought, yes, I do see me and you, and you see me and you, but as I look around this room, I see myself in all of you as well.”
“We’re so honored to be with you,” Meghan said to cheers as the couple were introduced on stage at the mental health summit. “If I say mental health do you know what it means?” Harry asked the crowd. “It's something that we are still relatively unsure of. But guess what? Every single person in this room, the youngest, the oldest, every single person has mental health. So therefore, you have to look after yourself to be able to look after other people. And other people have to be able to look after themselves, to look after you. That's the way it works. And there is no shame to be able to acknowledge that today is a bad day, okay?”
Meghan praised her husband’s words. “You see why I'm married to him?” she said. She also spoke of her pride at visiting Nigeria. “It is a complete honor to have our first visit to Nigeria,” she said. “Be here with all of you. We believe in you. We believe in your futures. We believe in your ability to continue to tell your stories and to just be honest with each other. There is no need to suffer in silence. Just make sure that you are taking care of yourselves and that begins with your mental health by really talking about whatever's coming up for you.”
A pool report from a journalist with the Duke and Duchess in Nigeria contributed to this report.
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