Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex (right) and Duchess Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (left) arrive at Rightway Academy in Abuja. (Kora Sulaimon/AFP)
- Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan visited Nigeria to promote the Invictus Games for injured veterans.
- During their visit, they focused on mental health advocacy and met with injured Nigerian military personnel.
- Their trip included cultural exchanges and discussions with military commanders.
Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan visited Nigeria on Friday as part of promoting the Invictus Games, a sporting event for injured veterans that he founded.
The couple arrived in Nigeria's capital Abuja on Friday, where they visited a school to hold an event on mental health for students.
Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan were greeted by an Igbo drumming and dancing group as they toured Rightway Academy and were welcomed by students.
“If you take anything away from today, just know that mental health affects everyone,” she told the students, wearing a traditional Nigerian beaded necklace around her neck. Told.
“The more we talk about it, the more we can dispel the stigma.”
Meghan joined the Duke of Sussex on stage before departing for talks with Nigerian military commanders as part of the Invictus programme.
“I see myself in all of you,” she told the children, to applause.
Excited students waved them off outside the academy.
“He was really cool. I just wanted to touch him,” said student Nunena Ede, 13, as the prince left school. She said, “I was really moved.''
Prince Harry was in London on Wednesday to mark the 10th anniversary of the Olympics. His visit, like all his trips to the UK since moving to the US in 2020, sparked fresh speculation over his reconciliation with his family.
Harry, a former Army captain who served as a helicopter pilot in Afghanistan, founded Invictus in 2014. Since then, the game has expanded and promoted rehabilitation through sport.
Peacemaker Azuebram, a former Nigerian soldier who lost a leg in combat last year, became the first African to win a gold medal at a competition in Germany.
Nigeria's military announced Thursday that Prince Harry will be heading to Kaduna in northwestern Nigeria to attend a sporting event in the capital, visit a military hospital and speak with soldiers injured in combat.
He was then to travel to Lagos, the country's economic capital.
Nigeria's military is fighting the insurgents on several fronts.
Since 2009, a violent jihadist insurgency in the country's northeast has killed more than 40,000 people and displaced more than 2 million more.
In the northwestern and central provinces, heavily armed criminal gangs known locally as bandits carry out mass kidnappings for ransom, raiding villages from camps hidden deep in remote forests.
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