Invictus Games begin in The Hague; Prince Harry and Meghan attend
The Invictus Games, a sports event for physically or mentally injured soldiers, will begin in The Hague on Saturday. Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex arrived at the site with his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, on Friday. The event will run until April 22.
Prince Harry launched the international sporting event, with the first event held in London in 2014, to promote recovery through sports and build a broader understanding and respect for wounded service members and veterans, according to the Ministry of General Affairs. The sports competition was held in Orlando two years later, then in Toronto in 2017 and in Sydney in 2018.
The fifth edition of the Invictus Games was scheduled for May 2020 in The Hague, but the games were canceled two months before due to the coronavirus pandemic. Organizers had hoped to host the event in the summer of 2021, but that was not allowed either.
The 2022 Invictus Games were originally supposed to be held in Dusseldorf, but that was moved to September 2023. New York, Seattle or a combination of Canadian cities will host the 2025 event, and from then on it will take place on a biannual basis.
Most of the event will take place in or around the Zuiderpark in The Hague. Hundreds of participants from 20 countries will participate in athletics, weightlifting, archery, indoor rowing, the Land Rover Driving Challenge, wheelchair basketball, wheelchair rugby, cycling, sitting volleyball and swimming, according to the games' website.
King Willem-Alexander, Princess Margriet, Prince Pieter-Christiaan and Prime Minister Mark Rutte will attend the event and preside over various ceremonies throughout the week, according to the Ministry of General Affairs. On April 22 in the evening, the king will meet with Invictus athletes to talk about their experiences over the past week.
