Invictus Games could be Prince Harry's chance to rebuild bridges with military and Royal family

It was just minutes before the opening ceremony of the Invictus Games in Canada and Prince Harry was becoming increasingly frustrated.

With his girlfriend Meghan Markle waiting in the audience, Harry was desperate to get on stage but had to have drinks with all the assembled dignitaries first. They included Melania Trump, the former US First Lady, and Justin Trudeau, the Canadian Prime Minister.

According to someone who was in Toronto for the paralympics-style competition in September 2017, although he was all smiles for the gathered VIPs, the former Army captain wasn’t really enjoying himself.

"It was clear he was just desperate to get on stage and do his stuff," said the observer. "He didn’t want to press the flesh with the great and the good. He just wanted to be among his own people - the military vets.

"When he finally got on stage it was like that scene in Bohemian Rhapsody. Like Freddie Mercury at Live Aid, he bounded up there like a rock star. He was Tigger that night, it really was quite something."

The royal had double cause to be as impatient and excitable as the tiger in AA Milne’s Winnie the Pooh books.

Not only was he doing what he loved, but he was doing it in front of the woman he loved.

With Meghan attending an official royal engagement alongside Harry for the first time since I broke the news they were dating almost a year earlier in October 2016, it was a special night for the couple, which made for an altogether more electric atmosphere.

Looking statesmanlike in a dark blue suit and tie, a beaming Harry could not have appeared more confident as he addressed the audience in English and French, flashing his trademark cheeky grin as he said: "Merci beaucoup pour votre… um…hospitalité."

Recalling leaving Afghanistan after his first deployment in 2008, he described how the coffin of a Danish soldier was loaded onto the plane along with three British soldiers in induced comas, their missing limbs wrapped in plastic.

"The way I viewed service and sacrifice changed forever and the direction of my life changed with it," he said. "I knew that it was my responsibility to use the great platform that I have to help the world understand and be inspired by the spirit of those who wear the uniform."

The crowd cheered; this was Harry at his finest.

Little wonder, then, that the royal, 37, should choose this moment to rekindle his relationship with the Royal family as he prepares to take to the stage in The Hague to mark the fifth Invictus Games, postponed twice by Covid since 2020.

Having refused to make a public appearance in Britain over fears for their security after they were stripped of their Metropolitan Police protection officers, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex met Her Majesty on Thursday in a low-profile visit to Windsor Castle.

The couple were spotted walking around the grounds by members of the public, after flying into the UK from Los Angeles en route to the Netherlands.

Coming after they declined an invitation to attend Prince Philip’s memorial last month, the flying visit is being seen as a "staging post" to them possibly attending June's Platinum Jubilee celebrations with their son Archie, two, and 10-month-old daughter Lilibet, who have remained at their £11 million home in Montecito, California.

Their attendance over the four-day bank holiday weekend remains unconfirmed pending the outcome of Harry’s legal case against the Home Office. The Duke is offering to pay out of his own pocket for armed royalty protection officers, claiming his family is not safe without them in Britain, even though they would be included in the policing of any major royal event.

With Prince Charles also thought to be at the incognito meeting with the couple, despite the acrimony caused by their Oprah Winfrey interview in March last year, it is thought Harry is using the Invictus Games not only to relaunch his severed links with the military - but also with the Royal family.

(It is perhaps noteworthy that the Sussexes chose to visit when the Cambridges are on a skiing holiday in the French Alps with their three children, amid suggestions William and Harry's relationship is still decidedly rocky).

Saturday's opening ceremony will be a significant occasion for both Harry and Meghan, amplified by the fact they will be accompanied by a film crew to capture every moment for a Netflix series as part of their estimated $100 million deal with the streaming giant.

It is understood the couple will meet with Ukraine’s Invictus team as well as taking in all aspects of the seven-day tournament.

For Harry, the event will mark a reunion with former service personnel after he was also stripped of his military titles in 2021 as part of the "Megxit" deal - a move which caused him considerable upset and anguish, according to insiders.

Following a second deployment to Afghanistan in 2012, Harry qualified as an Apache helicopter pilot, passing a gruelling test with flying colours.

After being awarded the prize for the best Co-Pilot Gunner in 2013, I remember him joking with the assembled press that, having struggled academically at school, it was the first time he had got top marks in anything.

He then took up a staff officer role in HQ London District as SO3 (Defence Engagement) in 2014, where he helped to co-ordinate significant projects and commemorative events involving the Army in London - before going on to become Honorary Air Commandant of RAF Honington in Suffolk; Commodore-in-Chief, Small Ships and Diving, Royal Naval Command; and Captain-General of the Royal Marines.

As one military source put it: "There’s a deep feeling of dismay and empathy among those who know the prince personally there wasn’t quite enough flexibility in The Firm to accommodate his needs.

"It’s a loss to the British Armed Forces that he is no longer directly involved. He was very relatable. The thing about the Royal family is there is always someone who can turn up and do a parade but Harry was somewhat of an exemplar. The highlight of his career was flying Apaches and serving in Afghanistan. He’s more at home with soldiers than he is with anyone else."

I was on a royal tour of the US with Harry in 2013 when he first came up with the idea for the Invictus Games to use the power of sport to inspire recovery, support rehabilitation and generate a wider understanding and respect for wounded, injured and sick servicemen and women.

We were in Colorado Springs watching the Warrior Games when the prince, inspired by how sport could help wounded veterans both physically and mentally, realised it was a concept he could bring back to Britain.

The name Invictus, with its distinctive "I AM" logo, means "unconquered", and was chosen by the prince to embody the fighting spirit of the competitors.

In September 2014, he hosted the inaugural Invictus Games at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London.

From memory, the prince travelled around the venue on a bicycle as he urged the press to give it as much coverage as possible.

We duly obliged and the opening ceremony was attended by then Prime Minister David Cameron, Prince Charles, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, Prince William, and Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark. The event also included a recorded message from Michelle Obama, then the First Lady.

It proved a triumph and is widely regarded as the most successful solo initiative ever launched by a royal.

According to someone who worked with Harry on the original games: "It was really clear to see how much he enjoyed being with the veterans. He could completely relax with them and was totally at home in their company. He didn’t enjoy being with the hoi polloi. I don’t think he trusts politicians much - so he was determined to make it all about the competitors."

I remember the prince remarking at the time that he didn't get the Ministry of Defence too involved because "the last thing we need is a load of politicians turning up".

The source added: "The whole point was that it was Harry’s initiative. It wasn’t a government thing, it wasn’t a Royal family thing - he owned it. At times I think he found it hard to make the distinction between his military career and his royal life. Even when he was at Sandhurst he would tend to be pulled away to do a royal duty and I think that started to wind him up. He was deeply upset when his first tour of Afghanistan was cut short after a press leak.

"To be in the Royal family and have something to point to that’s yours - it’s actually quite rare. People congratulated him for it - not his father or his grandmother. He absolutely loved that. It made him feel validated."

Despite their newfound non-royal status, the couple are apparently going to be given VVIP (very very important person) treatment as soon as they arrive in the Netherlands, where a "ring of steel" has been put in place to protect the opening ceremony and subsequent events, which will feature around 500 competitors from 20 countries.

It will be Harry's first opportunity to finally flex his protocol-free muscles at a major global event of his own making.

Which explains why he chose to pop in on his grandmother ahead of such an important date in the diary. Yes - there are family problems to smooth over - and, as well as it being Easter, the Queen also turns 96 on Thursday.

But the Queen has also been invested in Invictus - giving her grandson free rein to turn it into the success it has become. Indeed, she is so proud of what Harry has achieved that she agreed to appear in an amusing video also featuring the Obamas to launch the 2016 Invictus Games.

As head of the armed services, a former member of the Auxiliary Territorial Service and the wife of a Royal Navy officer - she knows better than most what this contest means not only to Harry but those bravely taking part.

If anyone would like to hear about the latest instalment of what has undoubtedly been Harry’s crowning glory, then it is certainly Granny.