Meghan, Duchess of Sussex dubbed Nigeria "my country" during a panel discussion in the country on Saturday (11.05.24).
The former actress - who previously discovered she was 43% Nigerian after undertaking a genealogy test - is currently visiting the African nation with her husband Prince Harry and she felt "flattered and honoured" by the reception she's received on the trip so far.
Speaking on a panel discussion in front of 50 of the country's leading women, People magazine reports she said: "I am just flattered and honoured and inspired. It has been a whirlwind 24 hours since we arrived, and I very quickly got the memo that I need to wear more color, so I can fit in with all of you and your incredible fashion!.
"I am very overwhelmed. So I want to start by saying thank you very much for just how gracious you've all been in welcoming my husband and I to this country... My country."
Meghan told how it was "exciting" for her and her mother Doria Ragland to learn about their Nigerian heritage.
Asked how she felt about her ancestry, the 42-year-old duchess - who has Prince Archie, five, and two-year-old Princess Lilibet with husband Prince Harry - said the first thing she did when she found out was "call my mom, because I wanted to know if she had any awareness of it."
She added: "Being African-American, part of it is really not knowing so much about your lineage or background, where you come from specifically.
"And it was exciting for both of us to discover more and understand what that really means.
“Never in a million years would I have understood it as much as I do now," Meghan said. "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.”
Meghan stressed the importance of representation and being a role model to young women.
She said: "Representation matters tremendously. You need to see it to believe it. That starts when you're very young...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.’...You still always want to come back home because that's how you're going to help shift any sort of generational pattern that might be stifling, especially for young girls who need to see someone who looks like them in that same position...
"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 see that. But being able to be a small part of that means a lot.”
