Prince Harry attends Invictus Games showcase in Birmingham amid visit uncertainties

Prince Harry visited the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham on Friday to attend a countdown event for the Invictus Games, the royal confirmed during the appearance, which came amid ongoing uncertainty over whether his wife Meghan and their children would join him in the UK this week; the visit was also shadowed by the recent court ruling in his case against Associated Newspapers.

At the NEC, Harry watched demonstrations of Invictus sports, including wheelchair rugby and pickleball, and took part in a doubles pickleball match observed by competitors, families and the press.

The Invictus Games, set to be hosted in Birmingham next year, remain a central cause for Harry, who has actively promoted the event as an international competition for injured service personnel.

Plans for the visit had changed over the week. Initial schedules published two weeks earlier included Meghan attending events in London and Birmingham, which would have marked her first public appearances in the UK since 2022.

Meghan withdrew from planned London appearances citing a dispute over security arrangements, and later it was announced she would not attend any public events in the UK this week; her representatives did not comment on private meetings, leaving open whether King Charles might see his grandchildren privately.

Separately, confusion arose over accommodation arrangements after Harry’s team said he had accepted an invitation to stay at Buckingham Palace; the Palace then stated he had been told he could not stay there.

Earlier in the week, Harry’s first engagement promoting Invictus was overshadowed by the court outcome in his legal action against Associated Newspapers, where he lost on all claims relating to unlawful information gathering; a subsequent London event was closed to the press.

On Thursday, his visit appeared to regain momentum when he received a warm welcome at a children’s hospital in Birmingham, and his team will look to the NEC event to refocus attention on the Invictus Games and the competitors’ stories.