Prince opens memorial to Anzac soldiers
SYDNEY — Prince Harry paid tribute to Australian service members by opening a new wing of a war memorial on Saturday before opening the Invictus Games as he and wife Meghan continued their visit to Australia and the South Pacific.
A thus-far joyous debut royal tour by the couple, buoyed by news that they are expecting their first baby, turned solemn as the Duke of Sussex opened a longawaited extension to the Anzac Memorial in Sydney’s Hyde Park on Saturday morning.
The former British army captain and his wife laid a wreath of native Australian flowers at the steps of the memorial, as Prime Minister Scott Morrison, other dignitaries and service men and women looked on.
Harry and Meghan were then taken on a tour of the newly remodeled shrine, which was first opened in 1934 by Harry’s great-great uncle, Prince Henry, the Duke of Gloucester, but was left incomplete when funds dried Britain’s Prince Harry operates a remote-control car with children and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, after visiting the Invictus Games driving challenge on Cockatoo Island in Sydney, Australia, on Saturday.
up during the Great Depression. A project worth $28.4 million has finally completed the memorial’s design.
In a handwritten note pinned to the wreath, Harry wrote, “In memory of those who paid the ultimate sacrifice and in recognition of the men and women for whom the scars endure.”
Wearing the tropical dress of his regiment, the Blues and Royals, Harry unveiled a plaque that noted the extension
was “opened by a grandson of the queen.”
The wording was a nod to the original plaque Prince Henry unveiled 84 years ago, which noted that the memorial was “opened by the son of a king.”
Harry saluted as the Last Post rang out across Hyde Park, while Meghan, in a long black dress by New Zealand designer Emilia Wickstead, stood beside him.
The royal couple later visited Sydney
Harbour’s Cockatoo Island, where Harry delighted some children by joining them in playing with remotecontrolled cars. The couple visited the island to watch an Invictus Games event — the Land Rover Driving Challenge.
Harry later officially opened the games in a ceremony on the Sydney Opera House forecourt that was delayed by an hour after the city was lashed by a late afternoon thunderstorm.