Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are returning home from the Invictus Games with special souvenirs for their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex received a set of custom jerseys from Team Nigeria when they attended a wheelchair basketball event in Vancouver on Sunday, Feb. 9. In addition to shirts for Harry and Meghan, they also received green jerseys with “Archie” and “Lilibet” on them.
The presentation came at the end of the United States vs. Nigeria wheelchair basketball game, which the American team won convincingly.
“We did one for him and one for M and for the kids,” Nigerian team manager Derrick Cobbinah tells PEOPLE. “They said they would be excited to have them. She was very, very excited.”
Meghan, 43, has every reason to be. The California-born Duchess of Sussex has Nigerian heritage, which she revealed in October 2022. She explored and learned more about that link when she and Harry, 40, visited Nigeria in May 2024.
Alvin Atsegwasi hands Meghan Markle a custom Nigerian team shirt in Canada on Feb. 9, 2025.
Derrick Cobbinah
Cobbinah, who is CEO and founder of veterans’ charity Africa Unconquerered, told the couple they were not only a souvenir on behalf of the Nigerian team for the children but there is also a hope that Meghan will wear a shirt in support of the team. (He says Meghan, who was handed the shirt by the co-founder of the charity, Alvin Atsegwasi, supported Nigeria in the basketball game.)
“We are hoping she wears the jersey and sits with the family and friends and supports us later,” Cobbinah tells PEOPLE.
He says the couple are having a great time in Canada.
“Them being here brings a lot of positive morale to everyone. You can feel the energy in the room when they’re around,” he says. “They spend their time talking to each and every competitor and are listening to their story. Everybody has an amazing story and amazing journey to share.”
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry at the USA v Nigeria wheelchair basketball game on Feb. 9, 2025.
Karwai Tang/WireImage
Cobbinah adds, “This is our first winter games. For Nigeria, it is a bit cold here! The weather is not that great for people from Nigeria! We are trying, and we are here. We are enjoying it. But it is also part of the healing process for the competitors.”
When the couple was in Nigeria last year, they met some of the competitors who are now in Canada. “Now, it is as much about the transition that they have been through to get here – for them, 99% it is about the healing process for them,” Cobbinah says of the journey the athletes take.
Prince Harry proudly holds him the Lilibet shirt while Derrick Cobbinah has the Archie shirt, as he handed them over to the Prince at Vancouver, Canada, on Feb. 9, 2025.
Derrick Cobbinah
The Nigerian team, he adds, view the community as “their family now. This is their family.”
In January, the Invictus movement took a different step in Nigeria, when the first steps were taken in the building of an Invictus Game center for wounded, injured and sick service personnel.
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Meghan, Duchess of Sussex holding some of the special Team Nigeria shirts she was given for her children in Vancouver, Canada, on Feb. 9, 2025.
Aaron Chown/PA Images via Getty
The adaptive sports competition, founded by Prince Harry in 2014, runs from Feb. 8 to Feb. 16 across Vancouver and Whistler.
It kicked off with a star-studded opening ceremony at BC Place in Vancouver, during which Coldplay frontman Chris Martin gave a shout-out to event founder Harry — and made sure to crack a joke at his own expense.