Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will reportedly undertake a "tour" of Nigeria just days after the Duke's visit to the U.K. on Wednesday, May 8. This led one royal analyst to claim the duo is trying to "one-up" the British royal family, particularly the senior royals, who have not toured a foreign nation in over six months.
"From the Nigerian perspective, this is going to be a pseudo/quai royal state visit for Harry and Meghan," outspoken royal expert Lady Colin Campbell told an outlet. "Ex-royals really have no right to embark on visits of this nature."
Royal commentator Charlotte Griffiths dished: "Of course, they never try anything other than get a one-up on the royal family, but I think what they're really doing is, on paper, they're trying to celebrate 10 years of Invictus Games."
The expert then shared: "Let's face it, the real reason is that they need content for Netflix, they want to appear as quasi-royals, they want to carry on conducting quasi-tours as if they are still members of the royal family. I think the fact they are going to a Commonwealth country when they describe the Commonwealth as Empire 2.0 is a little bit rich."
In their December 2022 Netflix docuseries, Harry & Meghan, author Afua Hirsh described the Commonwealth of Nations as nothing more than "Empire 2.0" in its third episode. The completely voluntary organization consists of 56 nations that were once within the British Empire but decided to remain "closely associated" with the U.K. once the empire was dismantled in the mid-20th century. 14 member nations choose to keep the British monarch as their head of state.
In her axed podcast, "Archetypes," the Duchess of Sussex revealed that she has Nigerian ancestry, which some analysts claim means she is likely eager to visit the nation.
"It's [the visit to Nigeria] a very good face-saver with Meghan not coming to Britain and shows a bit of PR nous," royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams told an outlet about the news.
The Nigerian Defense Headquarters stated its members were "honored and delighted" to announce the tour on April 29, and is expected to provide security for the ex-working royals as they travel throughout the nation. Further details of when the pair will visit the country and where they will go are expected to be released closer to their arrival.
Brigadier General Tukur Gusau of Nigeria released a letter in which he claimed the upcoming Sussex trip would "consolidate Nigeria’s stronghold" of Harry's games, and also expressed his nation's "possibility of hosting the event [in] later years."
An anonymous former courtier to Queen Elizabeth II said of the trip: "So, as the King and Princess of Wales battle cancer, what we have here is Harry and Meghan's covert way of trying to undermine and plant seeds of dissent throughout the African nations in the Commonwealth, which is a free and voluntary organization."
GBN interviewed Lady C.
