The Duke and Duchess of Sussex landed in Nigeria on Friday, launching a three-day private visit to the West African nation, where they will meet with wounded soldiers and visit local charities, officials said. <\/p>\n
The Sussexes are visiting the country as it\u2019s now a \u201cpart of the Invictus community,\u201d Air Vice-Marshal Abidemi Marquis, director of sports for the Nigerian Defence Headquarters, said during a media briefing Thursday. <\/p>\n
Their first engagement was an event hosted at a school in the Nigerian capital, Abuja. Outside the Lightway Academy, students lined up patiently to welcome the royal couple, alongside a troupe of dancers. The couple met students and staff from the GEANCO Foundation, which supports girls and young women across the country with menstrual health products and education. <\/p>\n
Prince Harry and Meghan were invited by the chief of defense staff, Christopher Musa, the country\u2019s highest-ranking military official. <\/p>\n
Marquis said the duchess was keen to accompany her husband on the visit \u201cas part of her lineage and heritage.\u201d Meghan revealed in 2022 that she discovered she was 43% Nigerian from a genealogy test. <\/p>\n
The trip to Nigeria sparked a wave of excitement among the public when it was announced two weeks ago. <\/p>\n
\u201cTogether, they are using their influence to democratize opportunity and push causes for the advantage of underrepresented groups. I would love to see them at an event with young people in politics in Nigeria,\u201d she added. <\/p>\n
Entrepreneur Ife Durosinmi-Etti spoke of her joy that Meghan was \u201ccoming to a place that she\u2019s absolutely loved and welcomed.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cIt got me all giddy when I found out about her Nigerian heritage because Nigerian women are smart, resilient, multitalented, they go after what they want and that\u2019s exactly how I see her, so when I heard; I was like, \u2018Yup, that\u2019s it, it\u2019s the Nigerian Spirit in her,\u2019\u201d the 35-year-old said. <\/p>\n
This is the Sussexes\u2019 first trip to Nigeria as a couple. Harry flew to Abuja after a quick visit to London, where he attended events marking the 10th anniversary of his Invictus Games, a Paralympics-style event for wounded, injured and sick military personnel and veterans. <\/p>\n
Meghan flew in from Los Angeles, and together, they will undertake a busy schedule, which includes visiting a military rehabilitation center and local organizations dedicated to supporting veterans\u2019 welfare, Marquis said. <\/p>\n
The duke is also scheduled to <\/strong>join wounded veterans during a sitting volleyball game on Saturday. <\/p>\n As it has been described as a private visit, the royal couple will not be meeting with Nigeria\u2019s president, Bola Tinubu. However, they will meet with the governors of Lagos and Kaduna State. <\/p>\n The UK\u2019s high commissioner to Nigeria, Richard Montgomery, told local media that there wouldn\u2019t be a meeting with the Nigerian leader because \u201cthey are visiting in a private capacity, not an official one.\u201d <\/p>\n Nigeria\u2019s military personnel face profound challenges, particularly as the country has been combating the Boko Haram insurgency since 2009. Can we expand on this point any further? What are the challenges? Are there stats available of the number of personnel who have been injured\/ killed? <\/p>\n The couple are visiting at the invitation of the Nigerian Defence Headquarters, which is keen to be involved further in the Invictus Games and to be part of the wider Invictus <\/strong>community. <\/p>\n Last year\u2019s games in Germany marked a milestone for Nigeria, as it debuted alongside Israel and Colombia, becoming the first African country to participate. <\/p>\n Marquis said taking part in the Invictus Games recovery program has boosted the morale of Nigerian soldiers and Nigeria has expressed interest in hosting the games, which take place every two years. <\/p>\n He added: \u201cEighty percent of our soldiers involved in these recovery programs have a better outlook in life and say it has given them the opportunity to improve their self-esteem and mental health.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Duke and Duchess of Sussex landed in Nigeria on Friday, launching a three-day private…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3295,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3294"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3294\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} Profound challenges<\/h2>\n