Harry’s Mission

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Invictus Games, Military, Prince Harry, Royal, UK, US, Veterans, Walking With The Wounded

Prince Harry will spend this Wednesday in the United States where he will join First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, in Virginia and Washington DC to promote the upcoming Invictus Games taking place in Orlando, Florida in May 2016.

The day will commence at Fort Belvoir Military Base, where the party will meet wounded servicemen and women currently undergoing recovery and rehabilitation programs. They will tour the state-of-the-art USO Warrior and Family Centre, a facility designed to support wounded, injured or ill veterans, their families and caregivers; and they will view a sporting event similar to one that will feature in next year’s Games. Later, Harry will attend an Invictus board meeting and reception, where he will meet those involved in organising the Games in the US before returning to London that night.

It’s a long way to travel for a single day of engagements, but Prince Harry, a former serving officer, is devoted to advocating the needs of veterans while also highlighting the positive impact of Invictus, an international adaptive sporting event for wounded servicemen and women. The inaugural Games took place in London in September 2014 and saw over four hundred competitors from thirteen nations compete in nine sports. The brainchild of the Prince, Harry was personally inspired to create Invictus after attending the Warrior Games in Colorado Springs in 2013. Though two separate events, the mission is the same: to use the power of sport to inspire recovery and generate a wider understanding and respect for those who serve their country.

Prince Harry served ten years in the British Armed Forces, carrying out two tours of duty to Afghanistan during his tenure, before retiring in June of this year. He has witnessed firsthand the devastating impact of life altering injuries, and he has made it his mission to highlight the plight of veterans so often sidelined upon their return from combat. The on-going success of the games also offers Harry an opportunity to emulate his father’s achievements with The Prince’s Trust and his grandfather’s highly respected Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme, albeit on a much smaller scale.

With the births of Prince George and Princess Charlotte, Harry has dropped to fifth in line to the throne, but he remains a prominent member of the royal family. Much like his mother, Diana, he has proved to be a natural with people from all walks of life, and his boyish charm and cheeky sense of humour allow for unexpected, candid moments that have further sealed his worldwide popularity. His aim is to not simply be a ribbon cutting, tree planting, plaque unveiling royal, but rather one who gets stuck into the job at hand.

In 2013 he joined twelve injured servicemen and women from the UK, the US and the Commonwealth on a 200-mile trek to the South Pole on behalf of Walking With The Wounded. Earlier this year he played Wheelchair AFL (Australian football) at a soldier recovery centre in Australia’s Northern Territory, and most recently he joined a six-member injured veteran team in Shropshire, England for a 17-mile stretch of their 1000-mile Walk of Britain expedition.

With no set guidelines or definitive constitutional role for a royal in Harry’s position, it can be very difficult to carve out an identity and leave a positive mark. Prince Andrew proved to be a rather good trade envoy until his less than stellar personal choices led to his downfall. Andrew’s daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, not classed as official working members of the royal family, have each held a number of positions within the civilian workforce, but in recent months have been consistently criticised for spending a little too much time on holiday. It is easy to be dammed either way, but Harry is ever more determined to lend his name to the greater good, and he has chosen his causes wisely.

Last week Harry attended a service at St. Paul’s Cathedral marking the 75^th Anniversary of Explosive Ordnance Disposal. While there, he was photographed crouched before wheelchair reliant soldiers who had lost limbs and suffered other life changing injuries as a result of their time in service. It was a simple gesture, but one that proved to the veterans that they remain viable human beings with a relevant role in society.

Often in the US the championing of veterans’ needs is hotly politicised. Celebrities such as Gary Sinise and Mark Wahlberg have fought to raise widespread awareness, but more often than not the welfare of veterans is a cause Hollywood’s elite tends to avoid due to its divisive political connotations. The beauty of a politically neutral royal is that no agenda can be linked to a visit, and so the focus remains on the individuals rather than the politics they may inadvertently represent.

In a 2014 address Prince Harry said, “For me, the 2014 Games were just the beginning of the Invictus story. The competitors showed grit, determination, and humour: an absolute refusal to be beaten or defined by their injuries. I can’t wait to see the American public supporting these inspirational men and women at the next games.”

The Invictus Games were designed to inspire those who have suffered so much, but as Remembrance Sunday and Veteran’s Day approach, the Games also serve as a reminder that perhaps it is those who will be watching from the bleachers who should be truly inspired.

The 2016 Games will mark the beginning of the Invictus story in the US, but their long lasting legacy may offer those competing the happy ending they so justly deserve. For that, Prince Harry should be very proud.

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A Step Up Way Way Down

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Centrepoint, Charity, North Pole, Prince Harry, Prince William, Royal, South Pole, Walking With The Wounded

Prince Harry is currently in Cape Town awaiting an improvement in weather conditions so that he, along with his fellow Walking With The Wounded team mates, can fly to Antarctica’s Novo Airbase and begin acclimating their bodies to the extreme conditions before their 208 mile trek to the South Pole.  Weather would have to be positively equatorial in order for me to even consider setting foot on Antarctica, but as royal charity coups go this is a cracker.  By committing to head to the bottom of the earth alongside his team, Harry is setting a whole new precedent in terms of royal charity involvement for the future.

Members of the royal family serve to provide continuity, promote British interests, and act as global ambassadors by representing all that is great about Great Britain, but a large percentage of their operational life is devoted to charity work.  For decades royals have traveled the length and breadth of the country, and indeed the globe, on behalf of their many organizations.  They act as patron or president, raise awareness of the cause, cut ribbons, unveil plaques, attend dinners, plant trees, and most importantly – raise money.

A royal patronage is about the best gift a charity can receive short of a wealthy benefactor bequeathing a billion dollars to the cause upon their death bed, and in times of recession and economic hardship the survival of many charities rests on the regal shoulders of its patron.  At eighty-seven the Queen has over six hundred patronages and at ninety-two Prince Philip has around eight hundred.  According to a recent Time Magazine article, Prince Charles raised $224 million for his charities between April 2012 and March 2013.  Tickets to the upcoming Winter Whites Gala on behalf of homeless charity Centrepoint were going for the princely sum of £500 before selling out almost immediately.  The reason for the large price tag and instant sell out?  Prince William, Patron of Centrepoint, will be in attendance.

Charities can command top dollar when a senior royal rolls out.  Along with said royal comes a legion of reporters and wealthy benefactors, and whenever Kate’s involved you can pretty much guarantee the occasion making front page news the following day.  That type of attention leaves charity heads googly-eyed.

The royals have always approached charity engagements with enthusiasm, well aware that their presence allows for worldwide exposure.  One need only to look at coverage of Diana shaking hands with an AIDS patient in 1989, or her walking through a partially-cleared land mine field in Angola in 1997, to understand the power of a globally recognized figure.  William and Harry, however, have taken things one step further in recent years by rolling up their proverbial sleeves and throwing themselves in at ground level.

In December 2009 Prince William spent the night sleeping rough near Blackfriars Bridge.  He did so in order to gain a better understanding of what the homeless community experiences night after night.  Had he simply dished out soup and shaken hands with a few volunteers he still would have drawn attention to the work of Centrepoint, but by actually bedding down on the streets of Central London he significantly heightened public awareness.

               In March 2011 Prince Harry joined a team of injured servicemen for the first five days of their trek to the North Pole.  Yes, of course it was about raising money for Walking With The Wounded, but as Harry said at the time, it was also about raising an awareness of the debt the country owes to those it sends off to fight.  Harry has made no secret of his dedication to the welfare of injured servicemen and women, and the money raised enables the charity to fulfill its mission; however, by taking part alongside his fellow soldiers, Harry gave them far more than a well-funded charity.  He showed them that they matter, that their loss matters, and that their lives may continue to inspire.

               Looking to the future of the monarchy, Charles has made it clear that he wants to push for a more streamlined royal family, but it is my hope that when the time comes he will make room for extended members of the family to step up and continue their efforts on behalf of their chosen charities.  As the only blood-born princesses of their generation, Beatrice and Eugenie have already shown a readiness to support causes meaningful to them.  Were the Queen to give them an “official” role, their potential could be enormous.  It comes down to simple mathematics: streamline the monarchy, and funding to the smaller charities that rely on a royal patron slips down the tubes.

Royals and charity work will always go hand-in-hand…and may it be so.  Plaques will remain, trees will grow, and the work of the charity in question will continue, but it is this new hardcore approach that is so exciting.  It won’t work for everyone, and it would lose its impact if suddenly every engagement required rigorous training, compression chambers, hard hats, life vests and the likes, but we should salute Prince Harry on his epic polar endeavor.  Harry’s physical disability may be limited to a broken toe, but walking alongside those brave wounded warriors will no doubt leave him with an unbreakable spirit.