Tatler Uses Nigerian Brilliance to Crown Prince William, While He and Kate Have Never Visited Nigeria

Tatler has unveiled its June cover, and there is Prince William, framed as “a King in waiting,” painted by Nigerian artist Oluwole Omofemi.

Let us be clear from the start. Omofemi is not the problem. He is a gifted artist and his work deserves international recognition, elite commissions and all the praise that comes with them. His portraits are bold, vivid and alive with colour. He has already painted Queen Elizabeth II for Tatler’s Platinum Jubilee issue, and now he has painted her grandson. Good for him.

The problem is what Tatler is doing with his brilliance. This cover is not just a painting. It is royal image-making. It is future-king propaganda wrapped in African cultural prestige. Tatler leans heavily into Omofemi’s Nigerian background, his Yoruba roots, his life in Ibadan and his place in African art. Then all of that richness gets used to frame William as modern, global and culturally serious.

Which raises the obvious question: if Nigeria is good enough to supply the artist, the aesthetic and the prestige, why has it not been important enough for William and Kate Middleton to visit?

Tatler dresses colonialism in yellow

Tatler’s feature spends paragraph after paragraph on Nigeria. Ibadan’s intellectual tradition gets a mention. Yoruba art follows. Then come Omofemi’s black subjects, his Afro hairstyles, his “painting my truth.” They even mention that yellow conveys authority in his work, so William’s portrait gets a yellow background. Very symbolic and sophisticated.

But here’s what Tatler doesn’t mention: William and Kate have never set foot in Nigeria. Not once. Kate has been a royal for fifteen years and has never done a major tour of Africa. William has done plenty of polo photo ops elsewhere, but Nigeria? Apparently not important enough.

Queen Elizabeth II managed to visit Nigeria twice. Once in 1956 for twenty days, Lagos, Kaduna, Enugu, Port Harcourt, and Kano. Again in 2003 for the Commonwealth meeting. The Queen understood that showing up matters. But the future king? He gets the portrait instead.

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Why the Sussex contrast cuts so deep

This is where the Sussex contrast becomes impossible to ignore. Prince Harry and Meghan Sussex, travelled to Nigeria in 2024. Their visit was tied to Invictus, military families, community events and Meghan’s own connection to the country. Meghan has said a genealogy test showed she is 43 percent Nigerian, and during that visit, she embraced that discovery publicly.

That mattered to people. It was not a glossy magazine commission using Nigerian talent to enrich someone else’s image. Harry and Meghan went to Nigeria. They met people. They were welcomed. Meghan stood there as a mixed race woman with Nigerian ancestry and allowed that connection to be part of the visit.

The royal press, of course, treated much of that trip as suspicious. It was called “quasi-royal.” It was picked apart and framed as self-serving, performative or inappropriate because the Sussexes are not working royals.

But when Tatler uses a Nigerian artist to help present William as a global future king, the same class of media treats it as elegant and significant. That is the double standard. Harry and Meghan’s Nigeria visit required their presence. William’s Nigerian connection, in this case, requires only a canvas.

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Nigeria was good enough for the aesthetic, not the visit

Tatler wants the cultural capital. They want Omofemi’s “for all of Africa” gravitas. They want the yellow authority, the Yoruba richness, the Ibadan mystique. All of that gets draped around William’s shoulders like a coronation robe.

But the actual country? The people? The reciprocal relationship that requires showing up in person? Apparently, that’s optional.

William and Kate helped host Nigeria’s state visit to the UK in 2026. In other words, Nigeria came to them. The harder question is when they plan to make the reciprocal journey. Will William sit in a community hall in Ibadan? Could Kate champion Nigerian design in Abuja?

More importantly, should William be expected to become Head of the Commonwealth when he has not even visited every Commonwealth country? At some point, the monarchy has to explain whether the Commonwealth is a living relationship or just another photo op.

Final thoughts

Oluwole Omofemi deserves every cover, every commission, every ounce of praise. His talent is real, an inspiring story and his work makes the world more beautiful.

But Tatler’s cover is not about celebrating Omofemi. It’s about using Omofemi to celebrate William. And that celebration rings hollow when the future king and his wife have never bothered to visit the country that produced the artist now making them look global.

Harry and Meghan showed up. William got the portrait. One of those things is actual engagement. The other is a glossy magazine cover. Tatler can keep the yellow background. I’ll take the people who actually board the plane.