PRINCE Harry and Meghan Markle should not make the same mistakes that Prince William and Princess Kate did on their Caribbean tour, a royal expert has claimed.
Harry, 39, is set to make a transatlantic trip to the UK next week for an Invictus Games event without Meghan.
The Duke and Duchess will then jet off together to Nigeria for the next stop on the Invictus Games tour.
The couple will take part in “cultural activities” after they were invited by the west African country’s chief of defence staff.
In Harry and Meghan’s first trip to the country as a couple, they will meet service members and their families, according to Nigerian media.
Now, ITVNews‘ royal correspondent Chris Ship has told The Sun’s new royals show that Harry and Meghan should learn from William and Kate’s experiences while on a tour of the Caribbean.
Unfortunately timed photos of Will and Kate shaking hands with Jamaican children through wire fences saw criticism aimed at the royals back in 2022.
It wasn’t William and Kate’s intention but you don’t want that accusation that there was these white former colonial masters seeing people in the colonies
Chris Ship
And the optics of visiting a country where Britain has a colonial past should be carefully managed, the royal expert said.
Chris told The Sun’s Royal Exclusive Show: “If I was in Harry and Meghan’s office and I was planning this tour, I would be looking at what William and Kate did in the Caribbean and not do any of it.
“I would try and do it a bit differently.
“It wasn’t William and Kate’s intention but you don’t want that accusation that there was these white former colonial masters seeing people in the colonies.
“That’s something they want to avoid for a whole host of reasons.
“If I was planning the tour I would think very carefully about the optics of it.”
And Chris believes that Will and Kate were unfairly criticised due to the unfortunate timing of the picture.
Chris added: “It was just a moment where William ran over to say to some kids.
“It wasn’t because someone put a fence up to keep the royals and the Jamaican kids segregated from the locals.
“Ten seconds later they were doing handshakes in the street it was just a particular moment.
“That picture misrepresented the tour but was part of the problem when it comes to optics.”
The reality was that the scruffy fencing surrounding the pitch has been there for decades as a safety feature.
As Chris was keen to recall, the crowds were shouting “we love you” to Will and Kate.
He also noted how Raheem Sterling, who is of Jamaican descent, was on the same side of the fence as the royals.
However, photos of the Englandfootball ace doing exactly the same did not attract anywhere near the level of negative attention.
William and Kate were also accused of evoking images of the colonial past when the Prince of Wales – in his military tropical uniform – rode on top of a Land Rover with his wife.
Meghan, who is partly of Nigerian descent, could help make the visit to the African nation a “successful tour”.
Megxit timeline
- November 2016 – Harry formally reveals he is in a relationship with Suits actress Meghan Markle.
- September 2017 – Meghan tells Vanity Fair the couple are in love and happy together.
- September 2017 – The couple make their first public appearance together holding hands at the Invictus Games in Toronto.
- November 2017 – Prince Charles issues a statement revealing Harry and Meghan are engaged.
- May 2018 – Harry and Meghan tie the knot, becoming Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
- October 2018 – The couple announce they are expecting their first child while on their first overseas tour in Australia.
- March 2019 – Harry and Meghan set up their own household, splitting their joint operation with Prince William and Kate.
- May 2019 – Meghan gives birth to a baby boy named Archie.
- October 2019 – Harry reveals his rift with his brother William in a bombshell documentary.
- January 2020 – The couple stun the Queen by announcing plans to quit senior roles and settle in North America. After ten days of talks at Sandringham, it’s agreed the couple will no longer be working royals and will give up their “Royal Highness” titles.
- March 2020 – Harry and Meghan carry out their last official engagement and move to California.
- September 2020 – Netflix announces a huge deal with the couple.
- February 2021 – Buckingham Palace announces the couple’s split as working members of the monarchy is permanent and they will lose their royal patronages.
- March 2021 – The palace says it is “very concerned” about allegations of bullying made by former staff of Harry and Meghan, launching a probe.
- March 2021 – Meghan tells Oprah Winfrey Archie wasn’t made a prince after “concerns and conversations” about “how dark” his skin would be when he was born. She claims Kate “hurt her feelings” and made her cry before her wedding. Harry says Charles has stopped taking his calls and he has been “cut off” financially.
- January 2023 – Harry publishes his tell-all memoir Spare, launching scathing attacks on William, Kate and Camilla. He says he and William once got into a physical fight over Meghan.
- April 2023 – Harry has a “heart-to-heart” talk with his dad before agreeing to come to the Coronation in London.
- September 2023 – Harry rejects an offer to spend the anniversary of the Queen’s death at Balmoral with his father.
- February 2024 – Prince Harry flies to the UK to be with his father as royal experts claim their four-year rift could be put aside. They meet for half an hour before Harry flies home. He does not meet William.
Chris added: “I think Nigerians will be doing everything they can to make this a successful tour and put Nigeria on the map.
“But we must remember that as much as Meghan in this country is a bit of Marmite character, people love her or people really don’t love her, she is likely to be seen very very differently in Africa.
“So I would have thought actually that she will get huge numbers of crowds coming out to see her because she’s a figure on the global stage and she’s coming to their country.
“They will want to put on a red carpet, almost as red as the one they might put on for a King or a Queen.”
It comes as Mr Ship told our exclusive show that Meghan is terrified of being booed at St Paul’s for the second time.
He said: “The difficulty is you remember last time they went to St Paul’s Cathedral, which was for the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, they got booed.
“We heard the boos for them. We should be clear there was also people cheering for them, but there were definitely boos at St Paul’s Cathedral.
“So going back there I can see why Meghan may not wish to accompany Harry there.”
