It’s the Harry and Meghan show!: Ex- Royal protection officer questions presidential security arrangements for the Sussex as Nigeria rolls out the red carpet for Sussexes with Harry visiting army bases and Meghan cosying up to fans for selfies

Prince Harry has flaunted his ‘presidential-style’ four-man safety staff on his ‘quasi-royal’ journey of Nigeria.

Critics have claimed the journey to the ninth most harmful nation in Africa is ‘hypocritical’ and have branded it the ‘Harry and Meghan present’. 

Former royal safety officer Dai Davies mentioned: ‘Seeing all his presidential type safety actually does stick within the throat.

‘For a pair who say all they need is privateness to go to one of the crucial harmful locations on the planet and that’s not me saying that, it’s the International workplace as effectively, is loopy and it’s a must to surprise why.

‘It will have been a lot safer and simpler if wounded Nigerian troopers had been flown to London as an alternative of getting all this safety and an unlimited expense to a rustic the place many live on lower than £1.50 a day.

‘It’s important to ask your self is it actually all concerning the charities or is it the Harry and Meghan present.’

For his or her 72 hours ‘non-public journey’ Harry and Meghan have their very own four-man safety staff which they’ve paid for themselves, and Nigeria is offering its personal safety at an enormous expense.

After the go to to Normal Musa which lasted an hour, the couple met wives of army personnel who had been ready exterior and at one level they had been virtually overwhelmed by the gang.

It led to a clearly visibly anxious Harry main Meghan by the hand shortly into their ready automobile they usually had been whisked means for the subsequent a part of their journey, with Harry flying 120 miles north west of Abuja to go to a army hospital in Kaduna whereas Meghan attended a ‘non-public engagement’.

The tour continues as we speak with the couple attending a volleyball match with injured servicemen in Abuja.

Prince Harry travelled alone when he visited a army hospital in Kaduna, a area dubbed a no go zone by the International and Commonwealth growth workplace, MailOnline can reveal.

Harry, who has questioned his personal safety within the UK, flew to the hospital round 120 miles north west of Abuja and apologised on his arrival that he had left Meghan again within the capital of the west African nation.

After being welcomed by dancers on a purple carpet, Harry advised the viewers: ‘I am sorry that I did not convey my spouse.

‘The main target right here in Kaduna is the wounded, injured and sick women and men who serve in Nigerian forces and maintain folks protected.’

Sources advised the Mail that Meghan had a non-public engagement and was attributable to meet up with harry on his return in a while Friday.

Kaduna is among the nation’s most harmful states, with practically 2,000 abductions recorded in 2020, in addition to experiences of sexual violence together with rape. 

The UK International Workplace advises towards all journey to the realm, which is partly dominated by armed bandits.

Earlier than he left, Harry was given two work — one in every of him and his late mom Princess Diana and one other of him and spouse Meghan.

Then he was requested to placed on one other reward — an outfit of a standard waistcoat and a ‘Massive Robe’ which he wanted assist getting over his head.

And, with a barely bemused look, he adopted the suggestion that he placed on a Hula cap too.

Harry toured about six wards seeing row after row of younger males recuperating from their accidents. Many had been shot, ambushed by Boko Haram or misplaced limbs attributable to blasts.

He shook arms with round 50 former service personnel and advised them:’ You’re going to get higher, get again in your ft.’

Half means spherical he was launched to 2nd Lt. Princess Owowoh, 23, who had just lately graduated from Sandhurst army academy the place Harry skilled to be a military officer.

Harry had written to her when he’d heard her story. ‘He wrote to congratulate me and say that they had been coming to Nigeria and concerning the Invictus Video games Basis,’ she mentioned.

‘The Invictus Video games offers hope to the troopers. It encourages them to stroll in the direction of a objective, to realize one thing new.’

Harry and Meghan got a rockstar welcome once they arrived in Nigeria on Friday with the couple mobbed by crowds of well-wishers.

Meghan, with longer hair, even wore an attention-grabbing backless gown by US designer Heidi Merrick known as The Windsor.

The pair had flown first-class on a British Airways flight, which was briefly delayed after the captain reported sick. Different passengers had been held again whereas the royals disembarked the plane.

Not everybody welcomed the Sussexes ‘quasi-royal’ tour of the nation nonetheless, with some questioning how Harry may go to such excessive threat zones whereas having beforehand raised issues over his safety again at dwelling. 

Former royal safety officer Ken Wharfe, who accompanied the late Princess of Wales and the King to Nigeria within the early Nineties, advised MailOnline that the journey laid naked Harry’s ‘hypocrisy’.

He mentioned: ‘I went to Nigeria with Harry’s mom and father and it was fairly lawless again then and so that you do need to query why he has gone there if he says the security of his spouse and youngsters is uppermost.

‘If the state of affairs deems that stage of safety, then you definately do need to ask why he’s there and for him to say he feels unsafe in London when he has all that safety in London does go away you asking does it make sense to go.

‘He’ll a high-risk nation and I am certain he can be taken care of however he’s a excessive stage goal and one which will surely within the feather of anybody seeking to make him a dramatic impression.’

Harry and Meghan have a four-person safety staff for his or her 72-hour go to to Nigeria for which they’ve paid themselves in addition to further safety offered by the west African nation.

Their escort comprised ten military autos, two ambulances and three Toyota pickups with mounted machine weapons.

Whereas in Abuja, the couple visited the Lightway Academy faculty which receives help from their Archewell Basis to coach and prepare younger ladies affected by conflicts in Nigeria.

As they kicked off an inaugural psychological well being summit organised by native non-profit Geanco, which companions their basis, the couple had been greeted by a dancing troupe and a crowd of excited college students and academics.

Meghan enthusiastically leapt to her ft as the youngsters greeted them with their dancing. 

The Duchess posed for photos in a room filled with beaming schoolchildren, with one pupil even sharing a photograph of Meghan with a caption studying ‘She’s actually so good!’.

Meghan mentioned: ‘We’ve acquired to acknowledge these superb dance strikes! My husband was excited to leap up!’

They spoke to the pupils about psychological well being, and about their very own youngsters, Archie and Lilibet.

Harry, in a linen shirt and trousers and like Meghan sporting a standard Nigerian bead necklace, mentioned: ‘In some circumstances world wide … there’s a stigma in the case of psychological well being.

‘Too many individuals don’t need to discuss it, so will you promise to us that after as we speak, no extra being scared, no extra being not sure of psychological well being?’

As he completed, Meghan mentioned: ‘You see why I’m married to him? He’s so good. And so inspiring as a result of he speaks the reality.’

In an anecdote to her daughter Lilibet, the Duchess mentioned: ‘She’s about to show three. And some weeks in the past she checked out me and he or she would simply see the reflection in my eyes. And she or he [goes], “Mama, I see me in you”.

‘Now she was speaking actually. However I held on to these phrases in a really totally different means,’ she continued. ‘And I believed, sure, I do see me in you, and also you see me in you.’

Meghan then advised the category: ‘As I go searching this room, I see myself in all of you as effectively.’

The couple can even go to non-governmental organisations which they help in Abuja and Lagos and attend basketball and volleyball matches.

Meghan can even co-host an occasion on ladies in management with Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, director normal of the World Commerce Organisation, in keeping with their spokesman Charlie Gipson. 

Prince Harry flies to Nigerian no go zone famed for armed bandits and kidnappers however leaves Meghan 120 miles behind him after couple loved motion packed rockstar welcome to nation on their ‘quasi royal tour