Meghan Markle ditches her streak of neutral outfits for a £265 scarlet dress by a Nigerian designer as she tells Abuja audience: ‘I very quickly got the memo that I need to wear more colour so I can fit in with all of you’

Meghan Markle ditched her neutral style in favour of a vibrant red dress in order to ‘fit in’ with Nigeria‘s ‘incredible fashion’, she revealed on day two of the whistlestop tour with Prince Harry.

The Duchess of Sussex, 42, ended her streak of pale hues seen throughout the visit – including a peach dress and a chic white suit – for a red ruffled hem midi dress by Nigerian designer Oríré, which she wore while speaking at a Women in Leadership event in Abuja.

According to People, the stylish royal – who once revealed she is 43 per cent Nigerian – said she opted for the brightly coloured gown as an ode to its citizens’ colourful sense of style.

Meghan shared her thoughts while co-hosting the event with Nigeria’s director General of the World Trade Organization, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

She said: ‘It has been a whirlwind 24 hours since we arrived, and I very quickly got the memo that I need to wear more colour, so I can fit in with all of you and your incredible fashion!’

Meghan Markle ditched her neutral style in favour of a vibrant red dress in order to ‘fit in’ with Nigeria ‘s ‘incredible fashion’

For the occasion, the Duchess donned a bright red three-quarter length gown with sleek spaghetti straps.

The £265 dress was crafted from a heavyweight crepe material and featured a ruffled structured bottom in deep orange. 

The outfit’s designer, Oríré – meaning good luck or good wishes – prides itself in ‘exploring artistic femininity’ and states that it’s clothes are ‘ethically designed and crafted in Lagos, Nigeria’. 

Based in the elite area of Lekki Phase 1, they are known for their complex structured gowns and dazzling colour palette. 

Meghan’s dress, ‘Dire’, is currently available on their website, with shipping available worldwide. She added a diamond Logan Hollowell tennis necklace to complete the look.

Meghan turned up for the tour’s first official engagement on Friday wearing an elegant sleeveless peach maxi dress by Californian designer Heidi Merrick, as she visited a school supported by the couple’s Archewell Foundation.

Later on that evening she was spotted wearing a chic white suit trouser suit with a fitted cream undervest to meet army wives at the Defence headquarters in Abuja.

She also donned a stunning St Agni white strapless gown to attend a lunch with the with Nigerian chief of defence staff, Christopher Musa.

She wore a red ruffled hem midi dress by Nigerian designer Oríré, which she wore while speaking at a Women in Leadership event in Abuja (pictured with Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala)

The £265 dress (pictured) was crafted from a heavyweight crepe material and featured a ruffled structured bottom in deep orange

The Duchess of Sussex, 42, ended her streak of pale hues seen throughout the visit – including a peach dress and a chic white suit – for a red ruffled hem midi dress

The stylish royal – who once revealed she is 43 per cent Nigerian – said she opted for the brightly coloured gown as an ode to its citizens’ colourful sense of style

Barring her red dress, Meghan’s looks have so far been the epitome of her typically neutral style.

While speaking at the Women in Leadership event, the Duchess also revealed she had fulfilled her dream of becoming a parent as she opened up about her ‘very chatty, sweet children’ Archie, five and Lilibet, two.

Meghan told the audience how much she loves being a mother but admitted that balancing her family and her career posed its own set of challenges.

During the talk, Meghan was asked how she juggled being a mother with her career and she replied: ‘I love being a mum.’

Despite being told more than ten years ago by her friend and mentor that she would never be able to balance the demands of motherhood and her work, the 42-year-old duchess said she enjoys being a mother and her priorities are constantly changing.

During the panel discussion, Meghan said that ‘balance’ in her life has changed over the years and looks different to ten years ago before she was married and had Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.

Meghan shared her thoughts during the leadership panel, which featured Nigeria’s director General of the World Trade Organization, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and media mogul Mo Abudu (pictured centre)

The £265 dress was crafted from a heavyweight crepe material and featured a ruffled structured bottom in deep orange (pictured: Meghan Markle with Mo Abudu during the event on Saturday)

She said: ‘What I think that to mean now is that that balance will always change for you. That balance, what seems balanced ten years ago is going to shift,’ according to Hello!.

During the Q&A session, Meghan also thanked Nigerians for welcoming her to ‘my country’ and she said she hopes she can ‘do justice’ to being a ‘role model’.

The Duchess of Sussex, who recently discovered she is ’43 per cent Nigerian’, wowed crowds today as she and Prince Harry continue their whirlwind ‘royal’ tour to the African nation.

Meghan arrived almost an hour late to the women in leadership summit in a spaghetti strapped red dress without her husband Prince Harry.

She told the audience: ‘I want to start by saying thank you very much for just how gracious you’ve all been in welcoming my husband and I to this country… my country.’

She also added: ‘I am just flattered and honored and inspired. It has been a whirlwind 24 hours since we arrived, and I very quickly got the memo that I need to wear more colour, so I can fit in with all of you and your incredible fashion.’

The Duchess of Sussex, 42, looked effortlessly elegant as she bared her back in a sleeveless peach-coloured frock, featuring a dropped hemline, billowing skirt and cinched waist while visiting a school on Friday

When asked how she felt after discovering she was 43% Nigerian through a genealogy test, Meghan said the first thing she did was ‘call my mom, because I wanted to know if she had any awareness of it.’

Meghan went on: ‘Being African-American, part of it is really not knowing so much about your lineage or background, where you come from specifically.

‘And it was exciting for both of us to discover more and understand what that really means. Never in a million years would I have understood it as much as I do now.

‘It’s been really eye-opening and humbling to be able to know more about my heritage and to be able to know this is just the beginning of that discovery.’

Defining Nigerian women as ‘brave, resilient, courageous, powerful, beautiful’, Meghan said: ‘It is the most flattering thing to be in that company, to be in your company.’

Meghan Markle kept cool in a £2,275 striped sundress as she and Prince Harry began their ‘quasi-royal’ tour of Africa 

She also added: ‘I often find that whatever travels I’ve done, regardless if it’s Nigeria or another country around the world, oftentimes when women reach the peak of success, they leave.

‘But you need to come back home. You need to at least be a familiar face for the next generation to say: “Oh, she looks like me – and I can be that.”

‘And I think that is a really key piece in all of it… It’s defined by, and you still always want to come back home, because that’s how you’re going to help shift any sort of generational pattern that might be stifling, especially for young girls who need to see someone who looks like them in that same position.’

After being told by a moderator that she had ‘come home’, Meghan replied: ‘I hope that I could do justice to the role model that I think so many young women deserve to have.

‘Obviously in the face of all of you here, I know that they, they see that. But being able to be a small part of that means a lot.’

Meghan was also spotted wearing a chic white suit trouser suit with a fitted cream undervest to meet army wives at the Defence headquarters in Abuja on Friday

Earlier on , Meghan wowed crowds again as she attended a lunch with the Nigerian defence minister.

Wearing a shoulderless St Agni full length white dress Meghan drew gasps from onlookers as she walked into the officers mess for the reception with the Nigerian chief of defence staff Christopher Musa.

Harry had a cream linen suit and was heard joking with one guest who was wearing a black tuxedo: ‘Love your jacket. I want it.’

After being seated the British and Nigerian national anthems were played with the couple facing a stage decorated with red, white and blue balloons.

The lunch event came shortly after Harry and Meghan attended a sitting volleyball match and were mobbed by fans as they carried on their Nigeria visit – which has become a royal tour in all but name.

Meghan Markle wowed crowds in Nigeria as she wore a shoulder less St Agni full length white dress to a lunch with the Nigerian defence minister yesterday

The Duchess also wore a sleeveless peach maxi dress titled Windsor from Californian designer Heidi Merrick as she visited a school supported by the couple’s Archewell Foundation on Friday.

The mother-of-two appeared to look to the late Princess of Wales for inspiration for her accessories as during Diana’s own visit to Nigeria in 1990, the royal opted to wear similar earrings and necklace.

Meghan sported chunky gold earrings from Lanvin, her AURate collar necklace and an array of dazzling bracelets, as well as her wedding rings.

The jewels resembled those worn by Diana when she visited the country with her then-husband Charles, just two years before they separated.

Meghan added a bit more glamour by wearing Diana’s gold Cartier Tank Française watch.

The gold £17,800 watch was worn by Diana at a number of occasions, including a 1997 visit to London’s Shri Swaminarayan Mandir Hindu Temple and an engagement at the British Lung Foundation that same year.

Meghan is known to be a fan of the elegant timepiece and splurged on her own two-tone version back in 2015 when Suits was picked up for a third season.

At the time, she told Hello Magazine, ‘I’ve always coveted the Cartier French Tank watch. When I found out Suits had been picked up for our third season—which, at the time, felt like such a milestone—I totally splurged and bought the two-tone version

‘I had it engraved on the back, ‘To M.M. From M.M.’ and I plan to give it to my daughter one day. That’s what makes pieces special, the connection you have to them.’

It appears Meghan also chose to honour Diana once again on Saturday by wearing a gold cross necklace that a source told Page Six actually belonged to the Princess.

The beauty showed off the gold chain by pairing it with a white strapless dress by St. Agni for a reception hosted by Christopher Musa, the chief of the Nigerian defense staff, in honour of military families.

Prince Harry and his wife Meghan have arrived in Nigeria to champion the Invictus Games, which he founded to aid the rehabilitation of wounded and sick service members and veterans.