Harry to tell Invictus event how special Canada is to him and wife
THE Duke of Sussex will reflect on how special Canada is to him and his wife, Meghan, when they attend a countdown to the Invictus Games event in Vancouver, The Telegraph understands.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will go to the Vancouver Whistler 2025 One Year to Go celebrations from tomorrow until Friday, as they aim to draw attention to the event for wounded service personnel. The Games, scheduled to take place from Feb 8-16 next year, will be the first to feature winter sports. During their three-day visit, the couple will watch competitors training at a winter camp in disciplines such as wheelchair curling and Nordic skiing.
The Duke may try his hand at one or two of the sports himself. At the inaugural games in London in 2014, he took part in a wheelchair rugby match alongside his cousin, Zara Tindall, and her husband, Mike. He has also previously played seated volleyball. On Friday, the Duke is expected to give a speech that will touch upon how much the country means to them.
The Duke and Duchess reportedly have fond memories of their time in Canada, free from the constraints of royal life and the presence of paparazzi.
It was at the 2017 Invictus Games in Toronto when they made their first public appearance as a couple. It came after they had spent months dating in secret, shuttling incognito between London and Toronto, where Meghan was filming the US legal drama, Suits.
When they made the decision to leave official royal duties behind, it was to a private sanctuary on Vancouver Island that they initially fled, with their young son, Archie, and their dogs.
The six weeks they spent there were said to have been transformative. Able to hike, swim and kayak undisturbed by paparazzi, it gave them a new lease of life. When they returned to the UK, it emerged that they had decided to relocate abroad. In his memoir, Spare, the Duke wrote fondly of the “taste of freedom” they experienced on Vancouver Island and h ow the peace inspired them to make a permanent escape from public life.
“What if life could be like that … all the time? What if we could spend at least part of each year somewhere far away, still doing work for the Queen, but beyond the reach of the press?,” he wrote. Canada, he added, felt like home. “We could imagine spending the rest of our lives there,” he said. “If we could just find a place the press didn’t know about, we said, Canada might be the answer. Meg got in touch with a Vancouver friend, who connected us with an estate agent, and we started looking at houses.”
But the pandemic put paid to their plans and they made a dash for the US instead ahead of lockdown. However, Canada remains close to their hearts and the purpose for their visit even more so.