Prince Harry took a quick break from baby duty on Wednesday to announce that the Invictus Games will be returning in 2023 and, for the first time ever, will be taking place in Düsseldorf, Germany.
After announcing the birth of his daughter Lilibet Diana last week, the royal returned to social media to tease the comeback of his athletic competition for wounded, sick and injured veterans and armed forces members. In the clip posted to Instagram, Harry cryptically announces, “It’s time to spread the news. Something big is coming to Germany,” followed by footage of an athlete running through the streets of Düsseldorf and confirmation that the games will be held from September 9 through 16 in 2023. This news comes after the Duke of Sussex had to cancel the event entirely in 2020 due to the pandemic, and postponed them again in 2021. The Invictus Games will now officially return in 2022 from April 16 to 22, and will take place in The Hague, Netherlands before heading to Germany the following year.
After announcing the 2021 delay in February, Harry wrote a joint statement with the chair of the Invictus Games Foundation, Sir Keith Mills, that read, “For so many around the world, the Invictus community included, COVID-19 has changed our expectations, hopes, and plans. But our unwavering mission is one bound by resilience and community – and that mission will continue to shine through between now and Spring 2022, when we hope to see everybody in person again in The Hague. For now, we are continuing to plan programming, opportunities to connect safely during the foreseeable future, and ways to infuse the spirit of Invictus in your own communities over the coming year. We’re excited to share more soon.”
This also isn’t the first time that the royal’s paternity leave has been interrupted due to this particular event. In 2019, three days after the birth of his son Archie, Harry traveled to The Hague to kick off the one-year countdown to the 2020 Invictus Games that wound up never happening. While there, the Duke of Sussex also received a sweet baby gift from Princess Margriet of The Netherlands who gave him a onesie with the event’s logo on it, and he was also given a jacket that had “Invictus Family Daddy” printed on it with the letters spelling out “I AM DADDY” highlighted in yellow.
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