Harry and Meghan visited a school after arriving in Nigeria for a three-day “private tour” of the country.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex started their trip with a welcome at the Nigerian Defence HQ in capital Abuja to promote the Prince’s Invictus Games.
The couple have been pictured visiting the Lights Academy school before the duke meets injured service members at a military hospital.
The pair delivered a lecture on mental health to children at the school in Abuja.
Harry said: “There is no shame to be able to acknowledge that today is a bad day or that you woke up this morning feeling sad, that you left school feeling stressed, that you’velost a loved one in your family and have no one to turn to or speak to.”
Meghan told students they were “honoured” to be visiting Nigeria.“We believe in you, we believe in your futures, we believe in your ability to continue to tell your stories and just be honest with each other,” she said from a small stage.
“There is no need to suffer in silence. Just make sure you’re taking care of yourselves and your mental health by really talking about whatever is coming up for you.”
They will also attend a training session for charity organisation Nigeria: Unconquered, which collaborates with the Invictus Games, as well as a reception where military families will be honoured.
Meghan is then due to co-host an event of Women in Leadership with Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the director-general of the World Trade Organisation.
The couple’s other engagements include a basketball camp with Giants of Africa, a cultural reception and a polo fundraiser for Nigeria: Unconquered.
Prince Harry, 39, and Meghan,42, flew from London to Nigeria this morning, boarding a British Airways flight after a brief delay due to a pilot change. Seated in first class, they were separated from other passengers by a curtain on their first joint visit to the country.
It comes after the duke celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games at St Paul’s Cathedral in London on Wednesday.
Harry was joined for the service of thanksgiving by close relatives of his mother Diana, Princess of Wales and a mentor who supported him after her death, along with hundreds of people from the “Invictus family”.
The St Paul’s Cathedral service to recognise the Paralympic-style competition the royal founded began as a few miles away the King met guests at the first Buckingham Palace garden party of the year.
The monarch and his son did not meet during Harry’s brief UK visit due to the King’s “full programme”, said the duke’s spokesman in a statement.
There have been reports of issues of trust but the statement had a conciliatory tone and mentioned how the duke hoped to “see him soon”.
The Invictus Games was founded as a sporting event for injured and sick military personnel and veterans.
Harry met Nigeria’s chief of defence staff in Germany last September at the Invictus Games in Dusseldorf.
Local newspapers reported that Defence Headquarters was “honoured” and “delighted” after Harry and Meghan, who is of Nigerian descent, had accepted the invitation.
It will be their first visit to Nigeria as a couple.
Meghan revealed on her Archetypes podcast last October that she had discovered, via a genealogy test, that she was “43 per cent Nigerian”.
