Why Meghan Has Discovered A New Motherland

When Meghan Markle first strategically revealed that she is 43 per cent Nigerian in 2022 on a podcast, it did not create much of a stir. But two years hence, her discovery paid off in the form of an almost-royal visit by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to West Africa’s most populous country last week, where they were given a rapturous welcome. After all, Indians are not the only ones who get excited by the prospect of welcoming a famous ‘diaspora’, however distant. And now her fans aver her ‘revelation’ and 2024 visit had the same impact as her late mother-in-law Princess Diana’s 1990 trip to Nigeria. Needless to add, her father-in-law’s three subsequent visits there (including two with her current mother-in-law) did not make waves. Meghan’s decision to visit Nigeria herself—as a “returning daughter”— with her obliging royal husband Harry in tow is not surprising at all, It is in keeping with rising identity politics in the US. That Meghan’s African roots are purportedly in that corner of the continent is expected. Most slaves taken to the so-called Americas were captured and transported from western and central Africa. Less than 4 per cent of them landed in the...