Nigeria?

[MaturingCheeseball]

Can this be true? That Harry and Meghan are off on a “royal” trip to Nigeria? What’s the game now? My head is spinning!

Yes, but the dress may have looked fine if it had been tailored to fit. I don’t know if it’s couture or ready to wear. Whichever, it needs adjusting which is something Meghan has form for not getting done. Lots of her clothes, particularly gowns, do not fit properly and consequently look shoddy

The thread's actually titled 'Nigeria?' not 'frocks' or 'H&M' and I think the stuff going on in relation to Nigeria and Invictus and the sponsors/partners is worth talking about. And that is a news story I linked, from yesterday.

The Boeing situation is important because so many planes are affected.

@AutumnCrow - I do not know so much about the Boeing story , though I m reading it. What I do think as others have said and some journalists have said - it seems a bit weird that Harry does not stand up and speak about African Parks whilst going on a quasi royal trip where he knows he and his wife are going to be feted. I suspect re dresses she will be given a traditional Nigerian dress , but possibly Yoruba , because they are in the south. Nigeria is a relatively new country I believe so to say you are 43% Nigerian , does that take into account Yoruba , Hausa etc - I don't know. I might just see what my genealogy is. 😊

I don't think that red dress would look good on anyone! Don't they say leg or chest but not both ? The top of that dress is just awful.

In most circumstances I’d agree. However, I’m struggling to see how that dress would look good on Meghan even if it were tailored to fit. It’s not right for her body shape at all. Princess line seaming looks best on women with a larger bust, which she doesn’t have. The top part is unflattering because her bust is too small and as a result of this, the seaming makes it look like she has large hips and about 3 sizes bigger than she actually is.

AnnieSF
She didn't grasp the fact that she was there to make small talk and that she was not the centre of the stage. She was an accessory to what was happening. It was about a country, their traditions and showing appreciation to your hosts. It was clearly not what she expected. Harry would know better in his experience.

Quite. I have to say, I find her absolutely fascinating as a study - it's so revealing to watch her in action.

You're right - she doesn't do, or get, small-talk, and certainly not to non-celebrities. Yes, the Fijiian officials here are of course high-status people, but in Meghan's terms, they're irrelevant - not 'A listers' from a world she understands. She is just not going to waste time and energy bothering to talk to them unless there's a microphone picking it up and an adoring audience who've come to see her talking about herself.

I've had Meghan fans accuse me of 'being a hater', but it's actually this endless fascination with how she operates that keeps me coming back! I've met her type before....oh, boy.

(Supporting anecdote: I knew an unbelievably self-obsessed woman once who was notorious for talking non-stop about herself - it was phenomenal how she kept it up. She was very glamorous and attractive, but people soon got wise to this. I once bumped into her when she'd come from a coffee date and she was fuming - apparently it had been SO BORING because the host had talked about herself all the time, and she hadn't been able to get a word in 😂. I see a lot of this woman in Meghan, I'm afraid!)

I agree. I remember thinking at the time it looked like three dresses cobbled together. No one could have pulled that off.

The red dress that suited her was at one of their final events, some kind of military concert I think. That had smooth lines and fitted her well.

Yes, it probably isn’t the right style for her as well as being a poor fit. Basically a poor choice of frock. I’ve said before that she seams to choose clothes that wear her rather than the other way round 😆

Having debate about Invictus being sponsored by Boeing may is worthy of debate, but it any given they in based in the US it’s maybe not at relevant to H&M visiting a country in Africa.

Yes the Guardian link does indeed lead to a news story, so your comment that “Surprised there aren’t journalists on this yet. “ still doesn’t make sense- they were and have been for years.

The Boeing stuff is mainly about how Boeing have been cutting corners in terms of production standards and thus compromising the safety of their aircraft. Obviously it’s a huge scandal but it’s not really the same in terms of affecting Nigeria as the oil companies and their pollution.
I think a bigger concern is that fact that Russia and China have commercial and military influence there. So it’s entirely possible that both these countries would see Harry visiting as a propaganda opportunity or something 🤷‍♀️

Vanity Fair (WME PR) did a twitter announcement about their 'first Official Tour since' leaving the Royal Family. The comments are something else, guess the Sussex Squad are still sleeping as there is nothing positive so far in the comments.

I think this is a huge own goal for Invictus, they are really being thrown into the middle of a very distasteful Public Relations battle on behalf of H&M.

Great point about the genealogy. What is 'Nigerian' DNA?

It is common for Americans descended from enslaved people to receive a dna result showing primarily Nigerian ancestry.

Perhaps unusual to have the that Doria ancestry that would be necessary for must have for Meghan to have 43%.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7820629/

Sorry for the terrible typos.

Perhaps unusual to have the ancestry that Doria must have for Meghan to receive a 43% result.

But maybe not. Point is that the Nigeria result is common. I think the accuracy and detail will evolve over time. I also think it’s incredible for African Americans to be able to access to this information. It should be celebrated.

The trouble is, that "Nigeria" is a relatively recent, human construct.
I would imagine that many African Americans have DNA which would indicate (usually) West African heritage. It may be interesting to research ancestry from the different tribes in that area.
I remember reading the mixed ancestry of the British Athlete Colin Jackson, who has some indigenous Caribbean ancestry as well as African.

Especially as that was stolen from them, @AliceOlive - their heritage and even their names.

Yes, understood but that’s apparently what the results are retuning.

Right, I see. So they're using "Nigerian" as a sort of short hand for that type of ancestry from that general area?

After seeing that awkward Fiji video I really hope the Nigerians are planning a 5 hour long cultural display for Meghan to watch blankly.

Exactly. So it’s wonderful that information of any kind is becoming available.

Very true 👌

“
The overrepresentation of Nigerian lineages identified by Micheletti et al.1 reflects the confluence of many factors, beginning with the inadequacies of the existing African reference genomic database4 as well as weaknesses in comprehensively accounting for the geospatial history of modern Nigeria and that of contemporary Legacy African Americans.”