The African Voices Special on the Queen Consort of the Warri Kingdom Airs Across Continents Through July 19
When the sun rises over the ancient Warri Kingdom this Saturday morning, and when it sets over New York that same night, the story on the screen will be the same one. CNN’s African Voices special on Her Majesty Olori Atuwatse III, Queen Consort of Nigeria’s Warri Kingdom, is airing around the world this week — a broadcast that carries the voice of one of Africa’s most consequential royals from the Niger Delta into living rooms across every continent, at once.
In the special, CNN’s Larry Madowo travels to the historic kingdom for an intimate conversation with Her Majesty about leadership, women’s empowerment, education, and philanthropy — and about what it means to redefine royalty for a new century. It is the kind of story African Voices was created to tell: African excellence, spoken in an African voice, delivered to a global audience. The special premiered July 11 on CNN International and continues with encore presentations through Sunday, July 19 — scheduled so that viewers in Lagos and Los Angeles, Warri and Washington, can all find their moment.
REMAINING BROADCASTS (CNN INTERNATIONAL)
Saturday, July 18 — 2:30 AM ET (7:30 AM WAT) • 6:00 AM ET (11:00 AM WAT) • 10:30 PM ET
Sunday, July 19 — 1:00 PM ET (6:00 PM WAT) • 10:00 PM ET
The full special is also streaming now at CNN.com.
That a global news network would build a worldwide broadcast week around the Queen of Warri is no accident. Her Majesty has become one of the continent’s most compelling ambassadors — a monarch whose reign is measured in results. Through the Royal Iwere Foundation, she has transformed thousands of lives across the kingdom: the Teachers’ Training Programme elevating education, the Captain Idahosa Wells Okunbo STEM and Innovation Lab preparing young minds for the digital age, and initiatives like the Love Garden Project and Wuwu Ore opening pathways to healthcare, skills, and economic independence.
Her reach already extends well beyond the palace walls — from Nigeria’s High-Level Advisory Committee on Women’s Economic Empowerment and Gender, where she helps shape national policy, to the pages of her celebrated coffee-table book Redemption. The CNN special now extends it further still, introducing the world to a sovereign vision in which heritage is not a museum piece but a living engine of progress.
There is a beautiful symmetry in the broadcast map itself: a story born in one of Africa’s oldest kingdoms, now circling the planet on one of the world’s largest networks — morning in Warri, primetime in America, and every hour in between. Wherever it airs, the message lands the same way: this is what royalty looks like when it goes to work.
The Warri Kingdom has stood for centuries. This week, the whole world knows why.
The official website for Her Majesty Olori Atuwatse III may be found at https://oloriatuwatseiii.com
Redemption: An African Queen’s Story of Identity, Faith, and Impact now Available on Amazon: