Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Can Prove They ‘Really Mean Well’ With a Royal Family Very Specific ‘Reference’ in Nigeria—Commentator
A positive British royal family comment from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle when they’re in Nigeria could go a long way. (The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are believed to be traveling there sometime after the Invictus Games’ 10-year anniversary.) A commentator says it might even restore some “trust” in the pair for King Charles III.
Harry and Meghan are heading to Nigeria in May 2024
While Harry’s trip to London, England, to celebrate a decade of the Invictus Games winds down, he and Meghan have a joint trip coming up. They are traveling to Nigeria. However, official dates haven’t been announced.
Shortly after Harry’s attendance at the Invictus Games service at St. Paul’s Cathedral was confirmed came another update. Nigeria’s Brigadier General Tukur Gusau, director of defense information, said in a press release they’re “honor[ed] and delight[ed]” to have Harry and Meghan visit Nigeria in May.
There, Harry and Meghan are expected not only to discuss the adaptive sporting competition founded by the duke in 2014 but also to experience the culture.
“During their stay in the country, they will be meeting with Service members and will be hosted to arrays of cultural activities,” Gusau said. He also noted the visit’s part of “consolidat[ing] Nigeria’s strong hold at the games and the possibility of hosting the event [in] later years.”
Harry’s predicted to go to Nigeria straight from England. Meanwhile, Meghan’s tapped to make her way there from Montecito, California.
A positive nod to the Commonwealth will show the royal family Harry and Meghan ‘really mean well’
Speaking positively about the Commonwealth—a group of nations, almost all of which used to be under British rule—could do a lot for Harry and Meghan when it comes to relations with the royal family. More specifically, regaining King Charles’s trust.
Commentator Richard Fitzwilliams said as much when discussing the couple’s Nigeria trip with Express. “If the Sussexes really mean well towards [sic] the royal family, as Harry indicated on Good Morning America after seeing him [the king] in February after his cancer diagnosis. Perhaps they might make a favourable [sic] reference to the Commonwealth during their visit to Nigeria.”
It’s worth noting, however, that King Charles didn’t see Harry while he was in England due to a “full” schedule. So a comment, albeit a positive one, about the Commonwealth, may not go very far in improving relations.
“In their Netflix documentary,” he added, “they used talking heads who trashed it, despite the queen [Elizabeth II] having given them important Commonwealth patronages.” Harry and Meghan were president and vice-president of the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust.
As for Harry & Meghan, some commentators in the Netflix docuseries described the Commonwealth as the “Empire 2.0.”
Harry and Meghan must try not to repeat Prince William and Kate Middleton’s Caribbean tour PR nightmare
According to a commentator, Harry and Meghan also have to tread carefully to avoid a potential PR disaster related to British colonialism. As in, not have a repeat of Prince William and Kate Middleton’s 2022 Caribbean tour.
“If I was in Harry and Meghan’s office and I was planning this tour,” Chip Ship, ITV’s royal editor Chris Ship told Royal Exclusive, “I would be looking at what William and Kate did in the Caribbean and not do any of it.”
The Prince and Princess of Wales traveled to Belize, Jamaica, and the Bahamas in March 2022. Two photo ops were the icing on the cake of what became a PR disaster. One of them showed the pair shaking children’s hands through a fence. Another in an open-top Land Rover during a military parade.
“I would try and do it a bit differently,” Ship continued. “It wasn’t William and Kate’s intention. But you don’t want that accusation that there was these white former colonial masters seeing people in the colonies.”
“That’s something they want to avoid for a whole host of reasons,” he added. “If I was [sic] planning the tour, I would think very carefully about the optics of it.”
