‘Coming home’ Meghan speaks on Nigerian roots

The Duchess of Sussex has thanked Nigerian women for welcoming her to “my country”, saying that she hopes she can “do justice” to being a “role model”. The Duchess, who has spoken of discovering she is “43 per cent Nigerian” in a genealogy test, said she had been told many times during her trip that people “weren’t surprised” to learn her heritage, defining Nigerian women as “brave, resilient, courageous, powerful, beautiful”. “It is the most flattering thing to be in that company, to be in your company,” she told a room of women during an event about women in leadership. “So, yes, it’s been really eye-opening and humbling to be able to know more about my heritage and to be able to know, this is just the beginning of that discovery.” Appearing alongside Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the director-general of the World Trade Organisation, she said “representation matters tremendously”, adding: “I often find that whatever travels I’ve done, regardless if it’s Nigeria or another country around the world, oftentimes when women reach the peak of success, they leave. But you need to come back home. You need to at least be a familiar face for the next generation to say, ‘Oh, she looks like me. And I can be that.’” Told by the panel moderator that she too had “come home”, the Duchess said: “I hope that I could do justice to the role model that I think so many young women deserve to have. “Obviously in the face of all of you here, I know that they, they see that. But being able to be a small part of that means a lot.” The event was the third outing of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s second day in Nigeria.