Prince Harry and Meghan have arrived in Nigeria to support the Invictus Games, Defence spokesman Brig. Gen. Tukur Gusau said in a statement. The royal couple arrived in Abuja early on Friday at the invitation of Nigeria’s military.
Harry established the Invictus Games a decade ago to offer wounded veterans the challenge of competing in sports events similar to the Paralympics.
The couple are expected to meet with wounded soldiers and their families.
While in the country, the couple will attend basketball and volleyball matches and will meet with local non-governmental organisations in Abuja and Lagos that are receiving their support.
According to their spokesman, Charlie Gipson, Meghan will co-host an event on women in leadership with the Director General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Ngozi Okonjo Iweala.
The Nigerian military has promoted the Invictus Games as an event that could aid in the recovery of thousands of its personnel who have been combating the homegrown Boko Haram Islamic extremists in 2009 when they launched an insurgency.
“This engagement with Invictus is allowing us to recover our soldiers,” said Abidemi Marquis, the Director of Sports at Nigeria’s Defence Headquarters
The news of Meghan’s visit has generated excitement in Nigeria after Meghan revealed on her Archetypes podcast last year that she had discovered, via a genealogy test, that she was “43 per cent Nigerian”.