‘Naked’ Meghan claim sets off furore online

Comments made by the First Lady of Nigeria have set off a firestorm after the Duke and Duchess of Susssex recently toured the country.

Call it a failure of the Australian primary geography syllabus of the 80s and 90s but I have learnt more about Nigeria in the last four hours than in all my previous decades.

Get out your pens and take this down in your work books, class: More than 126.6 million people in the African nation are Muslim, or 53.5 percent. Sharia Law exists in certain areas in the north.

The reason why I am telling you this will soon become obvious.

Nigeria has just enjoyed a nice spell in the international spotlight thanks to the recent arrival of one Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, with the couple choosing the country for their first major post-Megxit international tour-slash-roadshow.

Headlines were made, dresses were worn and so many smiles were smiled that I’d be shocked if the Sussexes haven’t developed minor jaw problems. In short, the whole thing was a massive success for everyone involved.

That is until Nigeria’s First Lady Senator Oluremi Tinubu took to a podium a few days ago and gave a speech that has kicked over the proverbial Sussex hornet’s nest.

Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, looks on as she attends a Sit Out with Britain's Prince Harry (unseen), Duke of Sussex, at the Nigerian Defence Headquarters in Abuja on May 11. Picture: by Kola Sulaimon / AFP

A video of Senator Tinubu’s address has been doing the rounds of social media and the question we are left with is, did she just take an explicit pop at the duchess? Or have her comments been misinterpreted by the veritable army of anti-Meghanistas who delight in any fresh opportunity to give the former Suits star a drubbing?

Let me set the scene. Senator Tinubu was speaking at an event, according to the Nigerian Guardian, for the #WeAreEqual initiative established by the Organisation of African First Ladies for Development.

Specifically, Senator Tinubu was discussing younger people and the spread of celebrity culture slash fashion, saying “They keep forgetting that Nigeria, we are beautiful…

“We are not having the Met Gala. And everyone, the nakedness, is just everywhere and the men are well-clothed. So we have to do something. Tell them we don’t accept nakedness in our culture. That is not beautiful. It’s not beautiful at all.

“They do not want to mimic and try to emulate film stars from America. They don’t know where they come from. Why did Meghan come here looking for Africa? That is something we have to take home with [us]. We know who we are. Don’t lose who you are.”

It’s hardly a shock that the Senator’s comments have triggered a downright social media barney. Did the First Lady just take a swipe at the duchess? Or was Senator Tinubu’s point that Nigerian women’s style and culture is so rich that the 42-year-old travelled there to seek that out?

Is it misconstruing and twisting Senator Tinubu’s comments about “nakedness” to connect it with her reference to the duchess? Was the “why did Meghan come here…” line a rhetorical question? And was her point really about the pervasiveness of Western cultural influence and not, as many have decided, a dig at the duchess’ tour wardrobe?

Two pertinent details here: It would be unprecedented for a First Lady, and of a Commonwealth country no less, to take aim at a member of the royal family, especially a duchess who, as she revealed during an episode of her Archetypes podcast, was “forty three percent Nigerian” according to a genealogy test.

However, it’s also important to understand the wider context and thus we need to go back to that 126.6 million figure.

Harry and Meghan at the State Governor House in Lagos on May 12, 2024. Picture: Kola Sulaimon / AFP

Harry and Meghan at a volleyball match at Nigeria Unconquered, a local charity organisation that supports wounded, injured, or sick servicemembers, in Abuja on May 11. Picture: Kola Sulaimon / AFP

In a 2018 story about Nigerian style, The New York Times reported that the country “remains politically, socially and religiously conservative. Men and women tend to dress accordingly, in loose fitting garments made from vivid traditional textiles (brocade, adire, ankara) and Western-style business professional attire.”

Clothing, according to the Times, is “meant to attract little attention”.

The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs’ Smart Traveller website advises that visitors to Nigeria “avoid behaving or dressing in ways that might offend local expectations or religious sensitivities”.

In Nigeria, homosexuality is criminalised and in the 12 northern states where Sharia Law is in effect, homosexuality is punishable by death.

So, from an Australian standpoint, Meghan’s sleeveless, strapless and summery dresses were pretty damn fabulous. However, how might they have come across against this religious and cultural backdrop?

It must be noted that the duchess did incorporate local pieces, wearing, along with Harry, traditional wooden necklaces given to them when they arrived, a one-of-a-kind skirt made by the brand Regalia by FAL made from Aso-Oke fabric (hand-woven cloth created by the Yoruba people) and a shawl gifted to her by the First Lady of Lagos State, Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu.

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex arrive at the Lagos airport for Official State Welcome on May 12, 2024 in Lagos, Nigeria. Picture: Andrew Esiebo/Getty Images for The Archewell Foundation

Also, let’s be real. If the Duchess of Sussex had decided to wear head-to-toe traditional Nigerian dress every day of the tour these same anti-Meghan voices would be hoarse by now accusing her of shameless cultural appropriation.

To some extent, what this Senator Tinubu situation represents is something of a litmus test when it comes to Meghan.

Those who think the duchess is the Yoko Ono of Kensington High Street, who has done more damage to the royal family than gout, are going to hear the First Lady’s comments and take them as an explicit denunciation of the Duchess of Sussex’s outfits.

And people who think Meghan is one step away from Pope Francis getting in touch with the paperwork to start her canonisation process are going to take this all as further proof of the willingness of the social media hordes to unfairly target the duchess.

Sigh. On this all rolls.

Daniela Elser is a writer, editor and a royal commentator with more than 15 years’ experience working with a number of Australia’s leading media titles.