Harry and Meghan’s mental health speeches in full: Duke talks about ‘losing loved ones’ while Meghan tells children not to ‘suffer in silence’ during visit to school on first day of Nigeria visit

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle left schoolchildren entranced as the Duke spoke of ‘losing loved ones’, while Meghan told them not to ‘suffer in silence’ during a visit to a school on the first day of their 72-hour tour of Nigeria.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex met with children at the Wuse Lightway Academy this morning, just hours after their early morning arrival in Abuja.

Wearing a flowing coral dress, Meghan told the assembled school – which is supported by the couple’s Archewell Foundation – that she can see “myself” in each of them as she asked them to “be honest with each other.”

And Harry – who appeared next to her on the green stage – defended the importance of mental health, referring to when someone has “lost a loved one in your family and you don’t know who to turn to or who to talk to.”

The pair had the children cheering as they delivered their message:

Meghan told the children, “When I look around this room, I see myself in all of you too.

“So it is a great honor to have our first visit to Nigeria, here with all of you.

“We believe in all of you, we believe in your future, we believe in your ability to continue to tell your stories and just be honest with each other.

‘There is no need to suffer in silence. Make sure you take care of yourself (and) your mental health.

“So thank you to all of you. Thank you to these teams, to our Executive Director of the Archewell Foundation, whose birthday is today.”

Prince Harry recalled his suffering following the death of his mother, Princess Diana, as he spoke to schoolchildren this morning.

The duke – who was 12 and his brother William 15 when Diana died in Paris in 1997 – added that there was ‘no shame in being able to acknowledge that today is a bad day’,

He said: ‘In some cases around the world, more than you might think, there is a stigma when it comes to mental health.

‘Too many people don’t want to talk about it because it’s invisible, something in your head that you can’t see. It’s not like a broken leg, it’s not like a broken wrist, it’s something we’re still relatively unsure about.

‘But guess what? Every person in this room – the youngest, the oldest – every person has mental health.”

He said people had to “take care of yourself in order to take care of other people, and other people had to take care of themselves in order to take care of you,” adding, “That’s how it works.”

The Duke continued: “And there’s no shame in being able to acknowledge that today is a bad day, okay? That you woke up sad this morning; that you were at school and feeling stressed; that you have lost a loved one in your family and you don’t know who to turn to or who to talk to. All these things that you might even believe are not meant to be talked about.”

He said the Sussexes were “here today to tell you that is not the case.”

Harry continued: ‘All these things are completely normal, it’s a human reaction, whether it’s sadness, stress, whatever the feeling is. It comes from an experience you’ve had: you can have it, she (Meghan) can have it, I can have it. They can have it. It’s likely that each of us will have it on some given day.

“So if you take anything away from today, know that mental health affects every person.”

The couple arrived together just before 5am following a secret reunion at London Heathrow’s VIP Windsor Suite yesterday after the Duchess arrived from Los Angeles.

They then boarded the British Airways night flight to Abuja, which was slightly delayed after the scheduled pilot fell ill and a replacement had to be arranged.

The Sussexes, who were visiting Nigeria together for the first time, sat in the first class section of the Boeing 777 and were separated from other passengers by a curtain.

It comes after Harry said it was ‘great’ to be back in Britain this week to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games. The Duke had been in London since Tuesday to attend events related to the match, including a thanksgiving service.

Nigerian defense spokesperson Brigadier General Tukur Gusau confirmed today that Harry and Meghan arrived in Abuja early this morning.

They will meet with wounded soldiers and their families in what Nigerian officials say is a show of support to improve soldiers’ morale and well-being.

Abidemi Marquis, Sports Director of the Nigerian Defense Headquarters, said: “This partnership with Invictus gives us the opportunity for the recovery of our soldiers.”

Harry served in Afghanistan as a co-pilot gunner on an Apache helicopter before founding the Invictus Games in 2014 to offer wounded veterans and service members the challenge of competing in sporting events similar to the Paralympic Games.

Nigeria was one of the countries that participated in last year’s edition of the games.

The Nigerian military has touted the Invictus Games as one that could help rehabilitate thousands of personnel who have been battling Boko Haram Islamic extremists and their factions since 2009 when they launched an insurgency.