Meghan Markle will soon be leaving sunny California to return to Europe. The Duchess of Sussex is set to join her husband Prince Harry in Düsseldorf, Germany in September for the upcoming 2023 Invictus Games, a spokesperson for the couple confirmed last week, clarifying that Markle will fly out a few days after her husband, who will attend the opening ceremony. Both Markle and Harry will attend the closing ceremony.
“The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are delighted to attend the Invictus Games 2023 in Düsseldorf,” the couple’s spokesperson said in a statement to PEOPLE. “The Duke will be in attendance throughout the entirety of the games and will be joined by The Duchess shortly after the games begin.”
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Marking the sixth iteration of the event following 2022’s games in The Hague, this year’s Invictus Games will begin on Sept. 9 and run through Sept. 16. The start of the Games is just days after Harry returns to the U.K. to attend the Wellchild Awards on Sept. 7, which is one day before the first anniversary of his late grandmother Queen Elizabeth II’s death. Harry is set to present an award and also deliver a speech at the ceremony. While Markle has joined her husband at the ceremony in the past, she will reportedly not attend this year’s event. Page Six reported that Markle will instead remain in California with their two children, son Archie and daughter Lilibet.
Similar to the WellChild Awards, which Harry has attended on 11 previous occasions, the Invictus Games hold a very special place in Harry’s heart. The games “celebrate the unconquered human spirit, and shine a spotlight on these men and women who served” and were founded by Harry in 2014 after he became inspired to launch the Paralympic-style sports tournament after attending the 2013 Warrior Games in the U.S. Despite stepping back as a working royal, Harry has remained a patron of the Invictus Games and the Invictus Games Foundation.
In addition to holding a special place in Harry’s heart, the Invictus Games have served as a poignant event for the Sussexes as a couple. Harry and Markle made their first public outing as a couple at the 2017 Invictus Games in Toronto. They went on to attend the games together in 2018 following their marriage. They also attended the Hague in the Netherlands last spring, which had originally been due to take place in 2020 but was postponed amid the pandemic. The Games will next be hosted in Vancouver and Whistler, Canada from February 6, 2025, through February 17, 2025.
