The Duke and Duchess of Sussex braved the cold as they sat in the stands at BC Place to kick off festivities for the tournament, which sees more than 500 injured and sick servicemen and women from 23 nations take part in competitions for the next nine days.
The couple looked elegant as always with Harry – a former captain in the British Army – wearing a navy suit, while Meghan opted for a long ivory coat.
Prince Harry and Meghan put on the PDA during the opening ceremony of the 2025 Invictus Games on Saturday. Photo / Getty Images
They were all smiles on the stands as they cuddled, kissed and whispered lovingly into each others’ ears. The pair also got on their feet to cheer on the athletes, with the duchess waving a pair of blue pompoms to show her support.
“The Games were born more than a decade ago from a promise that I made to myself — a promise to uphold my obligation, my sacred obligation after my own decade and privilege of military service — to do whatever I could to help my fellow brothers and sisters heal and to champion everything that we stand for,” he told the audience.
“Over the past decade, I’ve lost count of the times that we’ve heard you tell us that the Invictus Games ‘saved you.’ Respectfully, I disagree. Invictus didn’t save you. You saved yourself.”
The day before, at a welcome reception for the athletes and their friends and families, it was Meghan’s impromptu speech that moved the crowd as she introduced Harry to the stage.
“I was not planning on speaking tonight. We just arrived a couple of hours ago, and I touched Canadian soil, and I went, ‘Oh, feels like home,’” says the star, who lived in Toronto from 2011 to 2017 while she filmed the TV series, Suits.
“We are just thrilled to be here and I would be remiss if I didn’t take the opportunity to introduce someone who means a lot to me and I know means quite a lot to all of you,” she added of her husband, who is the father of “our very sweet, excited children who are cheering you on from California”, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
“With families ... the big rush in the morning and getting ready for school and packing the lunch boxes and making breakfast and my husband is in all of that with all of us,” Meghan said.
“And then he’ll be on his phone, and Archie will say, ‘Papa, why are you on your phone?’ and he’s like, ‘Because it’s Invictus, I’m getting ready for Invictus.’
“It means so much to him,” Meghan added. “You are his family, just as we are his family. And I hope you recognise how much of his heart he has poured into every single beat that has gotten all of you to this week that is going to be spectacular.”
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games welcome reception in Vancouver, Canada. Photo / Getty Images
A damning Vanity Fair cover story published last month alleged that the Duchess of Sussex’s team had quietly held talks with an unnamed publishing house to “gauge interest” in the idea for the “divorce” book.
However, a source who has worked closely with the couple told Page Six: “Meghan and Harry know that they are tied together, their value is in being a couple — even if they wanted to split, they couldn’t. And honestly, they are obsessed with each other.”
