Though they’ve left their royal duties behind, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle made an official visit to Nigeria on Friday, reminiscent of their former royal tours.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were all smiles as they visited the Lightway Academy in Abuja while on their first visit to Nigeria. It marks the couple’s first official international visit since they stepped down from their roles as senior royals in early 2020.
Harry wore an off-white linen button-down shirt and pants while Meghan donned a peach-colored Heidi Merrick maxi dress with her hair down in a loose ponytail.
The couple were gifted large brown wooden beaded necklaces, which they wore throughout the visit. They snapped selfies with school children, watching local performers, and were greeted with a flower-covered banner that read, “We Are Honored to Have you!”
Harry and Meghan’s Archewell Foundation previously donated school supplies and menstrual products to the women of Nigeria through a partnership with the GEANCO Foundation.
In addition to meeting with the school’s staff and students, Harry and Meghan also delivered their own speeches about mental health.
“We are honored to have our first visit to Nigeria be here with all of you. We believe in you, we believe in your teachers and we believe in your ability to continue to tell your stories and to just be honest with each other,” Meghan told the crowd (per People). “There is no need to suffer in silence.”
The trip comes after Harry visited the U.K. to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games. Meghan did not join her husband for that part of the trip, though she did briefly touch down in the country as a part of her layover to Nigeria, meeting Prince Harry in the airport’s Windsor Suite, per royal reporters.
The pair have a weekend of official events scheduled for their trip abroad. Notably, the couple’s last official overseas trip was in 2019 to South Africa, where they spoke publicly for the first time about their struggles within the royal family and as first-time parents.
They have since become estranged from many members of the royal family including Harry’s father King Charles III and brother, Prince William, neither of whom Harry saw during his most recent visit to the U.K.
“He hasn’t got many other plans,” royal expert Katie Nicholl told ET of Harry. “He was, of course, hoping to see his family. Possibly that’s why the trip was three days… but as we now know, there will be no family meetings.”
Since exiting their roles as senior royals in early 2020, Harry and Meghan have spoken out numerous times about their time with the Windsors, including a headline-making Oprah Winfrey interview in 2021, their Netflix docuseries, Harry & Meghan, in late 2022, and Harry’s tell-all memoir, Spare, in early 2023.
RELATED CONTENT:
