Prince Harry and Meghan Markle traveled to Nigeria on a three-day trip to promote the Invictus Games. Photo by Afolabi Sotunde/EPA-EFE
May 10 (UPI) — Prince Harry and Meghan Markle made their first official international trip since stepping away from full-time royal duties in Britain when they landed in Nigeria to promote the Invictus Games.
The couple will spend three days in Nigeria, where Harry will meet with injured servicemembers at a military hospital, one of the themes of the Games, and attend various events.
The royal couple visited Lightway Academy, a primary and secondary school in the capital city of Abuja. Traditional dancers made up of the academy’s students greeted them. They talked about their own children, Archie,5, and Lilibet, 2, with the children.
Prince Harry told students during a mental health summit that personal struggles are normal and nothing that should embarrass them.
“There’s no shame to acknowledge that today is a bad day, that you left school feeling stressed,” Harri said.
Harry and Meghan will visit a training session for the group Nigeria: Unconquered and attend a reception hosted by the country’s chief of defense staff. Markle will join Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, director-general of the World Trade Organization, for the event Women in Leadership.
The next day, the couple will visit a basketball clinic with Giants of Africa, a polo fundraiser for Nigeria: Unconquered and a reception.
The trip comes on the heels of Prince Harry marking the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games, an Olympic-style sporting event that highlights injured military members, in London. The prince was snubbed by his father King Charles III, brother Prince William and sister-in-law Kate Middleton after inviting them to a service at St. Paul’s Cathedral.
Markle, who did not travel to London, joined Prince Harry in Nigeria on Friday. The couple voluntarily stepped back from their full-time royal duties in 2020.
