Prince Harry opens Invictus Games, war memorial
Britain’s Prince Harry delivers a speech during the opening ceremony of the Invictus Games in Sydney on Oct 20. (AFP) Britain’s Prince Harry on Saturday opened the Olympicstyle Invictus Games for disabled and wounded soldiers at a moving ceremony on the forecourt of Sydney’s Opera House, after an intense thunderstorm forced an hour-long delay.
The Duke of Sussex, who climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge on Friday to help raise the Games flag, welcomed more than 500 competitors from 18 nations to an event that he founded.
“Over the last four years the Invictus Games have become about so much more than the thousands of competitors who have taken part,” he said on a stage shaped like a boomerang, following a belated traditional Aboriginal welcome ceremony that was held up by torrential rain and lightning.
The prince said the concept was particularly relevant in 2018, the centenary of the end of World War I.
Earlier Saturday, Harry and his pregnant wife Meghan opened an extension to a war memorial in the city before handing out the first Invictus medals in a driving challenge, where France won gold.
The Games might be Harry’s brainchild, but they are also special to the couple as it was at the 2017 event in Toronto that he made his first appearance with the American former actress, then dressed in ripped jeans and a casual white shirt.
They met in 2016 and dated under the radar before going public at the Canada event. (Agencies)