Prince Harry & Meghan Markle Talk Mental Health During Visit to Nigeria

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle looked every bit the working royals as they touched down in Nigeria for a three-day visit.

The couple, however, stepped down as senior royals in 2020, and instead were there on the invitation of the country’s Chief of Defence Staff.

ABC News reports, they kicked off the visit with a mental health summit. Harry and Meghan joined local nonprofit GEANCO, an affiliate of their Archewell Foundation, for the event in Abuja.

Harry told the crowd, "Every single person in this room, the youngest, the oldest, every single person has mental health. So therefore, you have to look after yourself to be able to look after other people. And other people have to be able to look after themselves, to look after you. That's the way it works. And there is no shame to be able to acknowledge that today is a bad day, okay?"

He went on, "[If] you woke up this morning feeling sad, and you left school feeling stressed, and you've lost a loved one in your family, and you don't know who you talk to or who to speak to — all of these things you may be led to believe are not for conversation, we are here today to tell you that that is not the case. Every single one of those things is completely normal. It is a human reaction, whether it's grief, stress, whatever the feeling is, it comes from an experience that you have had. You can have it. She can have it. I can have it. They can have it. Every single one of us is likely to have that on any given day. So, if you take anything away from today, just know that mental health affects every single person in the entire world."

People adds that Meghan also shared a story with students about their daughter, Princess Lilibet, 2.

Meghan told the children, “Our daughter, Lili, she's much, much tinier than you guys. She's about to turn three. And a few weeks ago, she looked at me and she would just see the reflection in my eyes. And she [goes], ‘Mama, I see me in you,’”

“Oh, now she was talking really literally. But I hung onto those words in a very different way,” she explained. “And I thought, yes, I do see me in you, and you see me in you.”

Meghan went on, "As I look around this room, I see myself in all of you as well.”

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex visited some kindergarteners as well, for a game of “jump up, turn around,” and Meghan told the class that Lilibet loves “singing and dancing” class because of “all the jumping around.”

When another group of students showed them their robotics projects, Markle revealed that Prince Archie, 5, likes construction.

The mental health summit was just the beginning. Harry and Meghan have a busy few days ahead.

People reports that Harry will visit with injured service members on Friday afternoon, and Meghan will co-host a Women in Leadership event on Saturday. Also on the agenda for Saturday is a training session for the couple with Nigeria: Unconquered and a reception with the Chief of Defence Staff.

Sunday, the royals have a basketball clinic, cultural reception, and polo fundraiser for Nigeria: Unconquered.

The visit to Nigeria comes on the heels of Harry's trip to the U.K. for the Invictus Games 10-year anniversary.

While he was home, Harry did not meet with his father King Charles III, who is battling cancer. Harry's spokesperson confirmed to Page Six that the father and son would not get together due to "His Majesty’s full program.”