Prince Harry and Meghan Markle visited Nigeria to promote the Invictus Games earlier this month but seemed to follow the ‘tried-and-tested royal playbook’, a biographer has claimed
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle seemed to have a “have your cake and eat it” attitude during their recent trip to Nigeria, a royal biographer has claimed.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were invited to the country in West Africa and during their 72-hour trip, they met charities, politicians and the kings of four different states. According to biographer Emily Andrews, their tour had “all the marks of a presidential visit” and also resembled a royal tour thanks to a number of aspects including a formal welcome, cheering crowds, and an official dinner.
However, the trip was not an official royal tour, also because Harry and Meghan stepped down as senior royals back in 2020, and rather than representing the Firm, the Sussexes now “represent themselves”, Ms Andrews noted. The pair’s visit aimed to promote the Invictus Games, which Harry founded in 2014, but it was also an opportunity for Meghan to connect with her own heritage after she revealed that a genealogy test helped her discover that she is 43 per cent Nigerian.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex meeting the Chief of Defence Staff of Nigeria at the Defence Headquarters in Abuja (
Image:
Getty Images for The Archewell F)
The Sussexes at the Armed Forces Complex in Abuja, Nigeria (
Image:
Anadolu via Getty Images)
Writing in Woman magazine, Ms Andrews said the visit, during which “Brand Sussex” seemed to have taken Nigeria “by storm”, could be “the start of a ‘relaunch'” for Meghan, as she develops her American Riviera Orchard brand and films a new Netflix show on cooking and hosting. The Nigeria tour generated “huge positive publicity” for the Sussexes, even though it seemed to be a “‘have your cake and eat it’ situation”, the writer added.
Ms Andrews noted that when Harry and Meghan stepped down as senior royals, made it clear that they wanted to earn their own money, but during the latest tour, they seemed to follow, “on their own terms”, the “tried-and-tested royal playbook” that they previously rejected. She wrote: “The visit to Nigeria – complete with many glamorous looks for Meghan, including a backless Heidi Merrick ‘Windsor’ dress and yellow Carolina Herrera gown she had worn to announce her pregnancy with daughter Lilibet – certainly generated huge positive publicity for the duke and duchess.
“As with everything Sussex-related, it was a ‘have your cake and eat it’ situation. Back in 2020, they made it extremely clear to the late Queen, Charles and William that they did not want to be working royals and would earn their own money instead. Yet this tour followed the tried-and-tested royal playbook that was previously so heartily rejected by the Sussexes. But this time, it was on their own terms.”
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They added: “Several top names have already visited Ghana in recent years from Ed Sheeran to Naomi Campbell and One Direction’s Liam Payne.” And now, off the back of their Nigerian tour, “which was undoubtedly a high-profile success”, according to royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams, he claims the couple “would need an excuse” to visit Ghana after it was mentioned.
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Speaking exclusively to The Mirror, he noted: “They would surely need an excuse, their security in Nigeria was provided by the Government and the visit was linked to the Invictus Games, which Nigeria participates in and reportedly is keen to host, but Ghana does not. Nor has Meghan Ghanaian ancestry.”
He then told us that “another quasi-royal tour might make the Sussexes objects of mockery”. Adding: “They only lasted less than two years as senior working royals. It was originally thought that they would be ideally suited to tours especially those with Commonwealth links and some of their patronages, bestowed by Queen Elizabeth, reflected this. However, they chose to walk away.” The expert concluded: “Returning on their terms, but without a purpose, would be meaningless.”
