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Prince Harry and Meghan's 72-hour visit to Nigeria has attracted a level of publicity Buckingham Palace has been sorely lacking of late. The photographs of the former royals taking part in a casual volleyball game, accepting flowers from a little girl and visiting local schools to promote mental health awareness made headlines around the world over the weekend. Prince Harry drew praise over a heartfelt speech about the importance of "acknowledging bad days", and photographers snapped pictures as he accepted an invitation to sit and throw the ball around with army veterans wounded in battle against the country's Islamist insurgency. His wife's instinctive sartorial choices were also avidly followed by royal and non-royal watchers alike, as was her special connection to the country she called "home". The lightning-quick tour of Nigeria was intended to champion mental health for young people and promote the Invictus Games, an international sporting event founded by Prince Harry back when he was still firmly within the royal fold. Prince Harry attends a volleyball match played by wounded army veterans in Nigeria.(Reuters: Akintunde Akinleye) Nigeria became the first African country to take part in the games last year, with General Christopher Gwabin Musa OFR, the country's highest-ranking military official, extending an invitation to the prince this year to help raise its profile. But it wasn't a royal tour, it couldn't be. Not after the duke and duchess' decision in 2020 to step back as senior working members of the royal family. After failing to reach a compromise over a hybrid working model, the couple traded in their lofty titles for the chance to earn a private income, swapping the rigid spotlight of the United Kingdom for carefree California. Four years later, the British high commissioner in Nigeria was at pains to stress this point, releasing a statement that the couple's visit was in a private capacity and "not an official one". "They are not representing the work of His Majesty's government on this visit," Richard Montgomery told the News Agency of Nigeria. It did not prevent the three-day spectacle from making the news locally and within the country Harry and Meghan once considered home. Prince Harry and Meghan's visit to Nigeria was a three-day affair.(Reuters: Akintunde Akinleye) Some of this attention could not be helped given the stark absences of other senior royals in the public eye in recent months due to illness. The couple, whether they intended to or not, have demonstrated in their Nigeria stopover, the gap they could have filled had they stayed on as working royals. And given how small that circle is at the moment, perhaps they have also showed how helpful that would have been. According to author and former Vanity Fair editor Tina Brown, the visit has drawn recollections of the position the duke and duchess once occupied. "After all the trashing of Harry ... actually when I saw him and Meghan in Nigeria, I had a nostalgia," she told the BBC. "I felt this is what could have been, these two — who are enormously appealing to the public, and who are very good at it — were out there in Nigeria looking very attractive and being appealing people. And what a pity it is they've gone" In her view, the couple's sleek visit was a reminder of the grim realities looming over the slimmed-down royal family and the "Harry-shaped hole in the monarchy". Royal tours by their very nature are filled with pomp and ceremony and are considered to be an important part of making the public believe in the power of the monarch. One of Queen Elizabeth II's favourite mantras was that royals "have to be seen to be believed". Since medieval times, a monarch's highly orchestrated trips around the country or (in more recent times) the globe has provided their subjects with proof of life and reinforced the magic of the palace. The late queen was a firm believer in the importance of these public voyages, embarking on dozens throughout her reign after first coming to the role of monarch while on a royal tour. Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh visited Alice Springs while on a tour of Australia.(Supplied: Trudy Hayes, Alice Springs Public Library) As the story goes, she was more than 7,000 kilometres from home on a five-month visit of Africa and Australia when she went up a tree a princess and came down a queen. But in the 21st century, the pageantry of these events is offset by greater scrutiny from a wary public and a sceptical media throng. Stephen Bates, the former royal affairs writer for the Guardian, writes that press teams that accompany royals on these visits do so now if three conditions are met. "There may be some newsworthiness to them …; second, to view the royals at close range in a way that's not normally possible — to see what they are like in person, maybe even speak to them; and third, to test the water for their popularity," he wrote for the Guardian. Last year, King Charles reportedly began planning the largest-ever series of official tours across the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth and other countries. Those rumours were soon confirmed by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in February, when he revealed discussions were underway for the king's visit Down Under. There had been speculation his trip might fall alongside the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Samoa in October. However, the king's cancer diagnosis and treatment have thrown these plans into question. Both King Charles III and Princess Catherine have limited their public engagements since announcing they would be recovering from procedures in January. The king returned to in-person royal duties in late April, after more than seven weeks away from the spotlight, but his public appearances are still being worked out. "The pacing of the king's program will be carefully calibrated as his recovery continues, in close consultation with his medical team," a Buckingham Palace statement released last month said. The government has confirmed there are still plans underway for an Australian visit, though it is far from certain. This is not surprising, given the publicity these tours can generate and the pressure they place on the people at the centre of them. Careful and thoughtful preparations play a key part in the success of a tour. But, as with all best-laid plans, sometimes they can go wrong. Kate and William's tour across the Caribbean in 2022 was supposed to be one such highly-planned event. It was hoped the young couple would win over a new generation of subjects growing increasingly dubious about their heads of state. But reports at the time indicated the then duke and duchess of Cambridge's efforts backfired after a series of faux pas. Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge drew criticism over this photo taken on their Carribean visit.(Pool: Chris Jackson via Reuters) The couple's visit to Jamaica was overshadowed when reports emerged not long after their arrival that the country's government had begun the process of transitioning the nation to a republic. Photographs of the couple standing in an open-top Land Rover and reaching out to grab the hands of children through a wire fence also gave rise to awkward recollections of the monarchy's colonial past. Royal commentators described the messaging of that tour as "poor at best" and prompting an overhaul of the Prince and Princess of Wales' PR and communications team. While Meghan and Harry's three-day Nigeria visit is by no means comparable to the spectacle of a royal tour, it has offered some lessons on the importance of leaning on a sophisticated PR machine. The duchess reportedly has one of the most powerful managers in Hollywood working for her after a reshuffle of her management team last year following the couple's high-profile exit from a Spotify deal. But part of the success of the duke and duchess' Nigeria stopover was also in some of the more genuine moments on display for waiting cameras. A day after landing, Meghan noted the contrast between her neutral wardrobe and those around her, making a swift decision to update her sartorial choices. Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, was given flowers on the day she and Prince Harry attended a volleyball match.(Reuters: Akintunde Akinleye) "It has been a whirlwind 24 hours since we arrived," Meghan reportedly told guests at an event. "And I very quickly got the memo that I need to wear more colour so I can fit in with all of you in your incredible fashion!" Her authentic connection with the country was also a running theme of the visit, with Meghan telling locals she had recently discovered her ancestry traced back to Nigeria. While on stage at an event in the country's capital, Abuja, the Duchess of Sussex explained that her first reaction after finding out was to tell her mother. "Being African American, part of it is really not knowing so much about your lineage and background … ," she said. After the duchess's revelation, Mo Abudu, the anchor and chief executive of EbonyLife media group, asked the audience to suggest a Nigerian name for Meghan. Someone shouted "Ifeoma", which means "a treasured thing", while another shouted "Omowale", which means "the child has come home". In the years since the couple left, questions have swirled around what may have happened if the dice of fate had landed a different way. What if Harry and Meghan were still working royals alongside William and Kate? What might have happened if the young couple were on hand to pitch in and step up their public presence when other royals were absent? The questions have taken on more relevance after the King and Princess Catherine's dual cancer diagnoses and subsequent withdrawal from the spotlight. A glimpse of what might have been played out over the weekend as Harry and Meghan underwent their own "private" tour of Nigeria. While the photographs made those watching nostalgic, it's unlikely the visit will prompt a request to take on official duties back in London or heal the deep rift between the royal family and the young couple. What it has done is further highlight the small group of working royals operating now, made smaller after the deaths of Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth, and following Prince Andrew's complete removal from royal life. But if the king's decision not to see his son when he was in London last week — reportedly due to a full programme — is anything to go by, any suggestions of a return to royal life are being firmly rebuffed. Even with a smaller circle of people to rely on, it appears as if the royal family has chosen to keep Harry out in the cold. Prince Harry and Meghan visit children at the Lights Academy in Abuja, Nigeria.(AP Photo: Sunday Alamba)The importance of a royal tour
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