Through Kante, Afrobeats, and his memories of Nigeria, King Charles III underscored music’s power to unite cultures.
King Charles III shared a personal connection to Kante, a song by Nigerian Afrobeats star Davido featuring Fave, recalling how it reminded him of his last visit to Nigeria in 2018 when he attempted to speak Pidgin.
The British monarch made the revelation while presenting The King’s Music Room, a curated selection of 17 songs that have brought him joy, to mark Commonwealth Day 2025.
Among the diverse playlist, Kante stood out, not just for its infectious rhythm but as he said: “It also features lyrics in Pidgin, which I love in all its forms, and in which I attempted to make a speech when I last visited Nigeria.” The King said this in a recorded address from Buckingham Palace.
That visit, in November 2018, saw the monarch — then the Prince of Wales — engage with Nigeria’s cultural and political elite in Lagos in partly Pidgin, a lingua franca widely spoken across West and Central Africa.
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Departing from his usual polished British English, he greeted dignitaries with a warm “How you dey?” (How are you?), drawing laughter and applause.
He even ventured further with the phrase, “God don butta my bread”, meaning “God has blessed me,” to acknowledge his return to the country after his first visit nearly three decades.
While he has yet to visit Nigeria as head of the Commonwealth, there were past trips — in 1990 with Princess Diana, then in 1999, 2006, and 2018.
Pidgin, which originated in the 17th and 18th centuries as a trade language between Africans and Europeans, has since evolved into a powerful cultural force.
It dominates Afrobeat lyrics, Nollywood films, and everyday conversations across West Africa.
Recognizing its global appeal, King Charles III noted, “I understand that thanks to Afrobeats, it (Pidgin) is becoming ever more popular around the world.”
During his 2018 trip, he also shared another Pidgin phrase: “If life dey show you pepper, make pepper soup”, roughly translating to “life is what you make it.”
“Music has that remarkable ability to bring happy memories, comfort us in times of sadness, and to take us to distant places,” he reflected in his recorded address. “But perhaps, above all, it can lift our spirits… It brings us joy.”
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