In a recent episode of her Archetypes podcast, which is only available on Spotify, the Duchess of Sussex disclosed that she is “43 percent Nigerian” as part of her mixed-race family.
Following the completion of her genealogy “a couple of years ago,” Meghan Markle revealed to Nigerian-American actor Ziwe that she had learned about her ancestry.
The Duchess was asked if she knew which tribe her ancestors belonged to; she replied that she did not, but that she intended to “start to dig deeper into all of this.”
“No, honestly, you do look like a Nigerian, you look like my aunt Uzo. So this is great.” remarked Ziwe after describing the news as “huge for our community.”
Meghan had previously discussed her multiracial heritage (her father is Caucasian and her mother is African-American), but she didn’t go into more detail about it until lately.
The duchess discussed her mixed-race origins in an essay that was published in ELLE Magazine in 2015, and she said: “Being biracial paints a blurred line that is equal parts staggering and illuminating.
“While my mixed heritage may have created a grey area surrounding my self-identification, keeping me with a foot on both sides of the fence, I have come to embrace that. To say who I am, to share where I’m from, to voice my pride in being a strong, confident mixed-race woman.”
In September 2019, while on a tour of Africa with the Duke of Sussex, Meghan spoke about her racial history for the first time since getting married to him a year earlier.
When she was in Nyanga, she spoke at a charity there and said the following: “Just on a personal note, may I just say that while I am here with my husband as a member of the royal family, I want you to know that for me, I am here with you as a mother, as a wife, as a woman, as a woman of colour, and as your sister.”
In another segment of the show, Meghan criticized the stereotype of the “angry Black woman” and clarified that there is a distinction between being “tough” and “clear.”
She said to guest on the program and actor Issa Rae: “You’re allowed to set a boundary, you’re allowed to be clear. It does not make you demanding, it does not make you difficult. It makes you clear.”
