‘I hope her ancestors were Yoruba’ — Sanwo-Olu hosts Harry, Meghan in Lagos

Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the Lagos governor, says he hopes that the Nigerian heritage of Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, is of the Yoruba tribe. 

In 2022, Meghan said her mixed-race heritage includes being “43 percent Nigerian”.

She also said she had her genealogy done “a couple of years ago”, adding that she plans to “start to dig deeper” to know which tribe her ancestors were from.

The royal couple arrived in Lagos on Sunday as part of their three-day visit to Nigeria to promote mental health for soldiers and empower young people.

Harry and Meghan were hosted by Sanwo-Olu at the state house in Marina.

Speaking at the event, Sanwo-Olu praised the royals for assisting the country’s military on matters related to mental illness.

The governor also invited the couple to visit Lagos again, adding that he prays Meghan’s descent is of the Yoruba tribe.

“I have extended an invitation to them that they can always come back when they want to. Also knowing fully well that Meghan has a decent percentage of Nigerian in her we have agreed that maybe that percentage should stay in Yoruba land. But it is okay. I can see she is well-attired and her yellow aṣọ òkè blends very well,” he said.

“But we are indeed happy for what they are doing, especially for our military men, on these conversations around mental issues, mental health issues, mental illness, and how they can galvanize their various NGOs and ensure that people that require the supports, both in military and private, can seek to support and the conversation around mental health issues is also something that we all live around the denial.

“Stigmatisation is out of one of the things that we have talked about, and more importantly, the Invictus Games that Prince Harry is known for, at what point can we have it in Nigeria? So that the true Nigerian competitiveness can also be reflective in that game, and I think, on behalf of all of us in Lagos, we are excited we are are happy that they found out time to be with us this afternoon.”

Below are photos.