The Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle called Nigeria “my country” and said she was “humbled” to learn about her Nigerian roots during her visit to the nation during an event on Saturday.
The Duchess of Sussex speaks on finding out about her Nigerian heritage. 43% Nigerian.It stands to reason… her defiance in the face of everything she has endured. #MeghanTheBrave #MeghanMarkle #SussexSquad #Nigerian #American pic.twitter.com/hEikOHR7Gd— Euen Herbert #Windrush #ToriesOut #FBPE (@LaserMike) May 12, 2024
Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, and his wife Meghan ended their three-day trip to Nigeria on Sunday, arriving in the country’s economic capital Lagos during a trip to promote his Invictus Games for wounded military veterans.
During an event on Saturday, Meghan said learning more about her heritage was an “eye-opening” experience. Meghan, in an episode of her Archetypes podcast recorded two years ago, had said that she had taken a DNA-based test that showed she was “43% Nigerian”.
“It’s been really eye-opening and humbling to be able to know more about my heritage and to be able to know, this is just the beginning of that discovery,” Markle said.
“Never in a million years would I understand it as much as I do now. And what has been echoed so much in the past day is, ‘Oh, we are not so surprised when we found out you are Nigerian’. It is a compliment to you because what they define as a Nigerian woman is brave, resilient, courageous, beautiful,” Meghan said during an event on women in leadership in the Nigerian capital of Abuja anchored by Nigerian-born World Trade Organization director Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
The audience was then asked to suggest a Nigerian name for Meghan at the event. They responded by saying “Ifeoma” – a name from the Igbo tribe meaning “a treasured thing” and “Omowale”, which comes from the Yoruba tribe and means “the child has come home”, according to a report by Sky News.
On day three of the visit, Prince Harry and Meghan took part in a basketball event with the Giants of Africa Foundation in Lagos, an organisation helping youth through engagement in the sport.
The prince practised dribbling basketballs with children at the exhibition event for the foundation, which is run by vice-president of an NBA team Masai Ujiri.
In Abuja, the prince had also taken part in a seated volleyball match with Nigerian veterans, some of who were missing limbs from combat in the country’s north where troops battle jihadists and heavily armed criminal gangs.
On the Duke’s volleyball team was former Nigerian soldier Peacemaker Azuegbulam, who lost his leg in combat in the northeast, and became the first African to win gold at the Invictus Games in Germany last year.
(with inputs from AFP)
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