Prince Harry and Meghan Markle wanted a more private, quiet life when they decided to move to the US. However, since their split with the royals in 2020, their life has been nothing but public. Aside from their bombshell interviews (where they accused the royals of many things, some more serious than others) the couple has tried making it big through Netflix and Spotify deals, including launching their six-episode Netflix show back in December of last year.
While the Spotify deal has broken down, Harry and Meghan are still active with their Netflix project. Early Wednesday, their latest documentary series about the Invictus Games was released to viewers worldwide. And once more, the couple shared some insights into their lives and the project close to Harry’s heart.
For example, the documentary shows the moment Harry gives his opening speech at the 2022 Invictus Games in the Netherlands, with a very emotional Meghan by his side. That was also the moment when he revealed some new details about his son, Archie, and what the future has in store for him.
The royal family all have different social causes close to their hearts. For Harry, helping veterans has been one of those things. And despite leaving the royal family in 2020, he has continued his mission of assisting them in the best way he can – by giving them hope and happiness through competitions, which is how the Invictus Games started.
This year, the Invictus Games will be arranged for the sixth time, and will be hosted in the German city of Dusseldorf. Around 500 competitors from 21 nations and about 1,000 family members and friends will gather to compete and watch the sporting event’s ten disciplines.
It’s Prince Harry’s most significant project – and now, it has become a Netflix documentary, which has just been released.
Prince Harry and the Invictus Games
So, where did the idea come from? According to the Invictus Games’ official website, it is an American idea from the start.
“Returning from deployment in Afghanistan, Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex, watched as the coffin of a Danish Soldier was loaded aboard for repatriation, alongside three injured British soldiers. That moment had a profound impact on him. Following a visit to the US Warrior Games in 2013, he was inspired to create the international Invictus Games to celebrate the unconquered human spirit and shine a spotlight on these men and women who served,” the website reads.
“The Invictus Games Foundation offers a recovery pathway for international wounded, injured, and sick servicemen and women (WIS),” it continues. “We collaborate to provide opportunities for post-traumatic growth: enabling those involved to reclaim their purpose, identity, and future beyond injury.”
Speaking ahead of its launch in 2014, Harry said it was such a good idea that he basically ‘stole’ it.
“When I was in Washington in 2012, I met the small contingent of the UK team, and hearing the stories that came back from the games really ignited something in me that made me want to broaden this to wider audiences,” Harry said, adding that he hoped the Invictus Games would “have a long-lasting impact” on the people fighting for their country.
“Why do we need to do it? Well, to demonstrate the power of sports, to inspire recovery, support rehabilitation, and to demonstrate life beyond disability, and it really is as simple as that,” Harry continued. “I have witnessed first-hand how the power of sport can positively impact the lives of wounded, injured, and sick servicemen and women in their journey of recovery,” he added.
Harry and Meghan’s new Netflix series ‘Heart of Invictus’
The Invictus Games have become an enormous success. In a matter of weeks, the 2023 competition will have its opening ceremony and last year, it was hosted in the Hague, Netherlands. While many might not have known that it exists – or have seen the competition – now, viewers worldwide can see Harry’s work with the Invictus Games and the veterans involved.
On Wednesday, Harry and Meghan’s latest Netflix project, Heart of Invictus, was released on the streaming platform. It follows six people competing in the 2022 Invictus Games. From the start, the documentary series was emotional.
But it wasn’t about the athletes and their extraordinary determination and skills that brought on tears. It was Harry and Meghan, who in the first episode, addressed the big crown in The Hague during the opening ceremony.
In the highly-anticipated show, Meghan introduces Prince Harry to the stage. Meghan took the stage with the arena cheering, describing how Harry had spent “late nights and early mornings” to make the Invictus Games the perfect event. She added that she couldn’t “love and respect him more,” as Meghan introduced Harry on stage, tears could be seen in her eyes.
Harry also paid tribute to the many Ukrainian veterans who traveled to the Invictus Games despite the ongoing war with Russia, praising their bravery.
“The courage it took to come is indescribable. You want to tell your truth, the truth,” Harry told them. “The world is united behind you. I hope we learn how the world can better support you.”
Harry’s revelation about Archie future
Later in his speech, Harry decided to get personal. At the time, his son Archie had just turned three, and the Duke shared some insights into what his son dreamed of working with in the future.
“To be role models, or the role models that each of you are, takes strength, and it takes courage,” Harry said.
“When I talk to my son Archie about what he wants to be when he grows up, some days it’s an astronaut, other days it’s a pilot – a helicopter pilot, obviously. Or Kwazii from Octonauts. If you’re laughing, then you’ve seen that,” he quipped.
Harry laughed as he shared how Archie loves the carton series Octonauts. According to the Mirror, it follows a group of animals serving as a rescue team at sea.
“But what I remind him is that no matter what you want to be when you grow up, it’s your character that matters most, and nothing would make his mum and me prouder than to see him have the character of what we see before us today,” Harry continued.
Moreover, Harry spoke to the athletes, saying they had “overcome immense challenges,” adding that “together, you are healing and teaching the world as you go.”
Heart of Invictus is their second production for Netflix. In September 2020, the couple signed a five-year contract with Netflix, worth $100 million, to produce documentaries, docuseries, feature films and more.
New dig at the royal family
Their first production, Harry & Meghan, premiered in December last year. It was Netflix’s biggest documentary debut ever. While that contract is still active, the couple had a significant setback as their multi-million-dollar deal with Spotify was canceled just months ago.
In the second episode of Heart of Invictus, competitors of the Invictus Games were asked about mental health issues and what it does with one when going to war.
Harry was also asked how it affected him – and appeared to take a dig at his royal family. Once the Duke got home from the war in Afghanistan, he felt anger, saying that he didn’t have the “support structure” or “expert advice” to identify what was happening to him.
“The biggest struggle for me is no one around me could really help, I didn’t have that support structure, that network, or that expert advice to identify what was actually going on with me,” Harry explained.
“Unfortunately, like most of us, the first time you really consider therapy is when you are lying on the floor in the foetal position, probably wishing you had dealt with some of this stuff previously, and that’s what I really want to change.”
Later, Harry revealed how the trauma of losing his beloved mother, Princess Diana, at the age of 12 was triggered once he returned.
“Look, I can only speak for my personal experience, my tour of Afghanistan in 2012 flying Apaches, somewhere after that, there was an unraveling, and the trigger for me was actually returning from Afghanistan,” he said.
“A desire for pity and sympathy”
“But the stuff that was coming up was from 1997, from the age of 12, losing my mum at such a young age, the trauma that I had I was never really aware of, it was never discussed, I didn’t really talk about it – and I suppressed it like most youngsters would have done but then it all came fizzing out. I was bouncing off the walls, I was like, ‘What is going on here? I am now feeling everything as opposed to being numb.’”
While Harry decided to share his own personal story in the documentary series, there were some signs that he is still holding a grudge towards the royal family, as he seemed to take somewhat of a dig at them.
Speaking to the Mirror, body language expert Judi James claimed that one key gesture showed his bitterness.
While Harry “might want to show empathy with all the wounded heroes” that compete in the Invictus Games, James said, his body language suggests it is “still personal.”
“The tragic music as he sits facing the camera, holding his own arm as though he is physically wounded rather than mentally, and the way his brows rise in an arch as he looks to the side as though recalling events from his past by imagining them visually suggest a desire for pity and sympathy,” the body language expert told the Mirror.
“He winds his hand in the air, then jerks his thumb behind him to show how the past reared up, and the tragedy of 1997 created a present trauma. We’re shown those sad films of the very young Harry after his mother’s death as the grown man talks over in a commentary.
Judy James added, “His shoulder and mouth shrugs to suggest he is dismissive of the way that he ‘didn’t really talk about it’, and he performs an evaluation ritual with his hands.”
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