Prince Harry, right, and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, speak with a skeleton athlete while attending an Invictus Games training camp, in Whistler, B.C., on Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024. Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, are in Vancouver today to meet with Invictus Games athletes at a local curling rink, one year ahead of the competition. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
VANCOUVER – Prince Harry and Canadian singer Michael Bublé sat in wheelchairs and used sticks to toss rocks across a curling rink in Vancouver in an event aimed at promoting the Invictus Games to be held in B.C. next year.
The pair laughed together and joked with competitors on the ice as they practised their game.
Wheelchair curling and other winter sports will be part of the Invictus Games for the first time during the Vancouver and Whistler event staring Feb. 6, next year.
Prince Harry, who is in the city with his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, founded the games in 2014 for injured and sick service personnel and veterans after he served in Afghanistan.
Harry told the crowd that the last few days of his visit have been “very, very special,” in what has been a first opportunity for competitors to try out winter sports, including some who had never seen snow before.
He says the smiles on the faces of the competitors he has seen proves the value of the Games, and he can only imagine what it will be like when 500 athletes come to the province next year.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 16, 2024.
