First Lady of Nigeria Oluremi Tinubu has clarified her comments about Meghan Markle, denying she was upset by the duchess’ wardrobe on her recent official tour.
“She meant Meghan appreciates the people we are and hence her coming here,” Tinubu’s office told AFP Fact Check via email on Friday, May 31. “At no point did she say anything about Meghan’s dressing.”
Meghan, 42, and husband Prince Harry visited Nigeria earlier in May. As part of the couple’s packed itinerary, Meghan appeared on a panel discussing women in leadership and praised her heritage. (Meghan recently discovered her own Nigerian ancestry.)
“I think, being African-American, part of it is not really knowing so much about your genealogy, background, where you came from specifically,” Meghan said on May 10, also noting that she felt that she could relate to the young Nigerian women she met during the engagements. “It was exciting … to discover more and what that [having Nigerian heritage] really means.”
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Days later, Oluremi, 63, addressed Meghan’s remarks while celebrating her husband Bola Tinubu’s first year in office. According to social media footage, Oluremi warned young Nigerian women against dressing inappropriately and mimicking “film stars from America” who “don’t know where they came from.” Moments later, Oluremi said that Meghan visited Nigeria “looking for Africa” to understand her identity.
In the speech, Oluremi did not directly call Meghan — who rose to fame as an actor, retiring in 2018 when she married Harry, now 39 — one of the American “film stars.”
Meghan has not publicly addressed Oluremi’s comments or the controversy surrounding the presumed snub.
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The Nigeria tour had been Meghan and Harry’s first time visiting the African country, during which Meghan did her own glam.
“I feel like when I’m not with her, she has more room to play,” Daniel Martin, who previously handled the Duchess of Sussex’s wedding day makeup, exclusively told Us Weekly in May. “I think that’s the fun thing when you see her, like, she’s in Nigeria right now. It’s just her. There’s no stylist, there’s no hairdresser. She’s doing everything herself and she’s so good at it.”
According to Martin, Meghan is “so good” at doing her own makeup and she loves adding blush and big brows to her look.
During the visit, Meghan stepped out in various dresses, skirts and pantsuits. At one point, she even re-wore the same yellow frock from her son Prince Archie’s 1st birthday party. Meghan, who also shares daughter Princess Lilibet with Harry, had initially showed off the dress in celebratory footage from her Harry & Meghan Netflix docuseries.
