Meghan Markle has said she is ‘deeply humbled’ by her new Nigerian name as she thanked a Yoruba King for welcoming her and Prince Harry ‘home’ in a personal letter.
The Duke, 39, and Duchess of Sussex, 42, embarked on a three-day quasi-royal tour of the country last month following an invitation from the Nigerian military.
During the trip, the couple – who were learning more about the Duchess’ Nigerian heritage – met the Yoruba King, Oluwo of Iwo.
The ruler on bestowed the Duchess – who recently discovered she was 43% Nigerian through a genealogy test – the Yoruba name Adetokunbo, which translates as ‘the crown or royalty from a foreign land’.
At the end of May, Meghan wrote to the leader to thank him for his hospitality and for honouring her with a Nigerian name.
The Yoruba King – who was the only Yoruba monarch to be invited to a reception with the Duke and Duchess – has now shared Meghan’s letter with his 174,000 Instagram followers.
The letter reads: ‘Thank you for your warm welcome to Nigeria.
‘I am deeply humbled by your blessing of the traditional Yoruba name, Adetokunbo.
‘I treasure the name and appreciate your trust in me to carry it with grace and dignity.
‘Our visit to Nigeria was important to many reasons, not least because it gave us an opportunity to explore and understand my heritage, which extends to our children.
‘We look forward to coming back home one day soon.’
During the visit, Meghan thanked Nigerians for welcoming her to ‘my country’ and told a women in leadership summit that she hopes she can ‘do justice’ to being a ‘role model’.
When asked how she felt after discovering she was 43% Nigerian through a genealogy test, Meghan said the first thing she did was ‘call my mom, because I wanted to know if she had any awareness of it.’
Meghan went on: ‘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.
‘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.’
Defining Nigerian women as ‘brave, resilient, courageous, powerful, beautiful’, Meghan said: ‘It is the most flattering thing to be in that company, to be in your company.’
The visit was primarily to promote the Invictus Games and comes after Harry met the Nigerian team and General Musa at last year’s competition in Dusseldorf, Germany.