TOM BOWER: Nigeria may have greeted Harry and Meghan with adulation… but cynics might think there’s another motive behind this bout of self-promotion

Dressed like a Hollywood A-lister at the Oscars, Meghan Markle’s permanent smile during her three-day “royal tour” in Nigeria said it all: “I won.”

As she flies back to Los Angeles today, with a stopover at Heathrow, she can reflect on the fact that she has established herself as a popular British royal in Nigeria. I doubt she can believe it at all.

In a brilliantly choreographed sequence of events, the Duchess of Sussex was able to enjoy the kind of attention that every California movie star craves.

Tirelessly, she smiled, chatted, clapped and posed for selfies with those who, thanks to a genealogical test, she believes are descended from her own ancestral roots.

It’s a welcome boost for Brand Sussex and especially for Meghan, who, until she landed in Lagos, struggled to leave behind her image as a less-than-successful podcaster and aspiring jam-maker.

Now, dressed in a swirling array of expensive and sometimes revealing dresses, she looked absolutely presidential, a thousand miles from the sedate, reassuring royal visitor from London that Nigerians had once expected.

Skeptics might wonder whether this latest phase of Brand Sussex’s frenetic campaign of self-promotion was about not just their own commercial interests, but those of the British Royal Family.

The Duchess never let anyone forget why her visit to Nigeria was special.

Her mother’s ancestor, she says, was a Nigerian who was taken to America as a slave, and a DNA test showed her to be 43 percent Nigerian. This, she told her hosts, is “my country.”

Of course, she understands that it is marriage to Prince Harry that brought a cable TV actress, relatively unknown in Britain, to global fame. And rarely has a woman shown as much public adoration for her husband in the past three days as Meghan.

She breathlessly expressed her love for him, her children – Prince Archie, five, and Princess Lilibet, two – and her unwavering love for her audience.

But she played a leading role. The 42-year-old’s unwavering confidence came to the fore as she delivered her carefully crafted script with genuine aplomb.

Amid all the relentless promotion of the Sussex brand and the Invictus Games, little mention was made of Nigeria’s status as a major member of the Commonwealth – an organization of 54 countries so cherished by the late Queen Elizabeth.

Just six years ago, the Queen appointed Meghan Ambassador to the Commonwealth. She was later elevated by Her Majesty to Vice President of the Commonwealth Trust.

At the time, few could have imagined that Meghan and Harry would soon label members of their own family as racists in a television interview with Oprah Winfrey.

I’m not surprised that the Sussexes now appear to have backed away from their scandalous suggestion to Oprah that Buckingham Palace had decided – before their son Archie was even born – to deny him a title and security protection because he is mixed race .

For all the adulation they have received from the crowds in Nigeria, I find it difficult to shake a sense of anger at their attacks on the royal family on television and in Spare, Harry’s best-selling memoir. The Sussexes appear oblivious to the enormous damage they have caused.

Meanwhile, King Charles is slowly recovering from his cancer treatment, while the Princess of Wales continues to fight her own battle against the disease.

As the Sussexes enjoy VIP luxury in Heathrow’s aptly named Windsor Lounge ahead of their onward flight to Los Angeles – no doubt scrolling through glowing accounts of their trip – they might be wondering this: was it really too much, during their visit Nigeria? , to send public good wishes to their affected relatives?

I wonder if, more privately, they might have the honesty to acknowledge that all this fame and status has its roots in the institution they have chosen to attack.

I doubt it.

Curbing this merciless sabotage is the responsibility of King Charles.

Only by stripping the Sussexes of their titles – their most obvious link to real royalty – can the charade be ended.

And for the sake of the royal family, Charles must put an end to the farce of Harry using the Commonwealth as a crutch to Brand Sussex.