Abuja, Nigeria - Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle visited Nigeria on Friday as part of his promotion of the Invictus Games, the sporting event he founded for wounded military veterans.

The couple arrived Friday in the Nigerian capital Abuja where they visited a school to open an event on mental health for students there in a trip that will also see the prince meet with wounded Nigerian soldiers.

Greeted by a drum and dance group from the Igbo ethnic group, Prince Harry and Meghan toured the Lightway Academy where they were welcomed by pupils.

"If you take anything away from today, just know that mental health affects every single person," he told students, wearing a traditional Nigerian bead necklace around his neck.

"The more you talk about it the more you can kick stigma away."

Meghan joined the Duke of Sussex on the stage before they left for a meeting with Nigerian military commanders as part of the Invictus program.

"I see myself in all of you," she told the children to applause.

Excited pupils waved the couple off outside the academy.

Harry, a former army captain who served as a helicopter pilot in Afghanistan, founded Invictus in 2014. Since then the games have expanded, boosting rehabilitation through sports.

Prince Harry was in London on Wednesday to mark the 10th anniversary of the games. As with all his trips to the UK since he moved to the United States in 2020, his visit prompted fresh speculation over a reconciliation with his family.

He was invited to visit by Nigeria's military command, who said on Thursday that Harry would take part in a sporting event in the capital.

They added that Harry would also travel to Kaduna in Nigeria’s northwest to visit a military hospital and speak with troops wounded in combat, later traveling to the country's economic capital of Lagos.