Meghan Markle and Prince Harry might no longer be considered working royals – the couple made a shockingly underreported move to Los Angeles in 2020 where they are now building an empire (or an American Riviera Orchard) of their own making – but a 72-hour visit to Nigeria appears to have all the markings of an official state visit. “God Save The King” has sounded from conference halls, while the duo has been photographed at several local academies in “summer” linens and traditional coral beads.
At one point, the Duke and Duchess posed in coordinating white and teal-green tailoring, as if to semaphore the colours of the Nigerian flag – and so it would seem these formerly senior royals haven’t yet abandoned the etiquette drilled into them when first dispatched to Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand by the late Queen. See also: the muted tones of Meghan’s Heidi Merrick dress that evoked her Kensington Palace days – despite the backless cut feeling a little more California girl – and an Altuzarra pantsuit she first wore during an official visit to Sydney whilst pregnant with Archie in 2018. If anything, the couple’s wardrobe is just as considered as it has always been, suffused with subtle and often sentimental symbolism.
Yesterday afternoon – as hundreds of countries, including the United States, celebrated Mothering Sunday – Meghan re-wore the silk Carolina Herrera column dress she chose to announce her pregnancy with Princess Lilibet in 2021. With perhaps the exception of the Parosh dress she wore to announce her engagement and the Claire Waight Keller gown she was later married in, that dress is one of the most important fashion statements she has ever made: lounging barefoot in the gardens of her Montecito mansion with the casual ease of a woman carrying the future of a nation. “With the tree of life behind them and the garden representing fertility, life and moving forward, they didn’t need any direction,” said photographer Misan Harriman of shooting that moment. “Because they are, and always have been, waltzing through life together as absolute soulmates.”
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This article first appeared on vogue.co.uk
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