Prince Harry scales new heights on tour of Oz with bridge climb

The duke visited top landmark while Down Under for Invictus Games

The Duke of Sussex’s tour of Australia reached new heights – as he and three Invictus Games competitors climbed Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Under sunny skies, Harry swapped the New South Wales standard for the Invictus flag at the top of the landmark, which towers 440ft (134m) above the water.

The duke, whose “favourite time of the year is the Games”, took 13 minutes to ascend the 464 steps to the top of the bridge along the east side, before crossing the central walkway to raise the flag, which flapped in the breeze.

Replacing the New South Wales flag is a rare event on the Harbour Bridge – the Aboriginal flag is flown on Australia Day, and occasionally other sporting achievements or terror attacks are commemorated in this way.

Harry was not alone on the climb – although the pregnant Duchess of Sussex did not take part in the engagement – with three representatives from Team Australia and Invictus ambassador Gwen Cherne accompanying him to the summit.

Ms Cherne, whose husband served in Cambodia, Afghanistan and Iraq and took his own life in February this year, shared a hug with the duke after completing the climb.

She said: “I think they (Harry and Meghan) provide this beacon of hope.

“They’re touching, they’re shining that interest on the Games, and that shines light on their service and that shines light on the sacrifices their families make.”

Peter Rudland, who deployed to Cambodia, twice to Iraq, twice to TimorLeste and to Afghanistan, and will compete in the cycling and wheelchair rugby, shared a joke with the Duke during the bridge climb.

“I was the Australian co-captain last year, so we chatted about that,” he said.

“Harry gave the captains an Invictus coin and, at the time he gave it, I made a joke saying: ‘I’m going to love this, but knowing me, I’ll probably lose it.’”

“It was purely a joke and then I put it in my bag, and it later went missing.”

The Invictus Foundation sent another medal to replace the lost one.

Mr Rudland said: “It wasn’t the one Harry gave me, so I mentioned it to him. I said: ‘Well, dude, I actually lost it’, and he was like ‘Really?’. So we had a laugh .”

Picture: Associated Press. Harry climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge with some representatives from the Invictus Games.

Picture: PA. Meghan, who is in the early days of her pregnancy, did not join Harry on his climb up the Sydney Harbour Bridge.