The Duke and Duchess of Sussex at the Invictus Games 2023

[MrsMaxDeWinter]

Most of the Invictus threads seem to be filling up, or focused on fairly parochial issues, so I thought, now that Meghan is in Dusseldorf, I would lead us off with a general new thread about Harry and Meghan at Invictus 2023.

Some initial thoughts from me.

The UK tabloid narrative about how much Harry and Meghan are loathed globally is blown apart by the warm and rousing welcome they both received, both separately and together. So the UK tabloids have to dig deep to write eye-rollingly silly stories about Harry being "humiliated" because he did not score a goal during a fun, light-hearted TV appearance to promote the Games.

Invictus clearly means everything to Harry, and it is lovely to see Meghan supporting him, and to remember that it was at Invictus in Toronto that they first went public. The event must have such lovely memories for them both.

Favourite picture: Meghan with Glory Essien, the Nigerian athlete.

The Nigerians have really lit up the tournament. A Kenyan senator who met Harry last week posted on X that she would work on Kenya to be the next African team.

After everything in the last year, it's so lovely to see that Invictus is getting bigger, that Harry is as committed as he has always been to the Games he started, and that Meghan is there to support the veterans, and her husband.

going back to MM’s lewks…loved the green strapless dress. She looked gorgeous.

So only two hundred folk watched on TV. Or was it 430 billion. Its all a bit confusing.

Yeah, even the number of spectators seems a bit off, I think there may have been some creativity applied to how they came up with those statistics.

Anyway, glad it was a such huge success within the vets community.

Except 67 countries were tuned in.
Way more than the 3 you quote. Roughly 3 million households a country. Very believable.

@everetting I actually quoted 4 of the most populous countries likely to watch the games. I'll add, new zealand, Australia, Canada and Italy, and they equal 37 million households. Added to my first total that is 275 millions households.

So EVERY household in America, UK, Germany, Italy, France, Australia, New zealand and Canada accounts for 275 million viewers. EVERY HOUSEHOLD.

21 nations competed in the games, most far far smaller than the ones I have mentioned.

Where does 67 come in? Are you saying other countries in the world would watch a relatively obscure sporting event? Maybe all of China and India?? And precisely why would they watch and bump up the numbers? The stadiums were half empty so not much real interest in the host country. Why would others be interested?

I mean lets talk reality here. Lets fact check and not believe nonsensical propaganda by some random on the internet. (lets hope it is a random, as if official, they are very much overstepping the mark)

There ain't no way. Would be interested to see their metrics of how they've calculated it, they don't seem to be answering the many questions around that on twitter!

Anything to make this not a success.

It was well supported, that's it. Not interested in figures, it gained momentum as the week wore on, and all involved should be very proud.

It's the official Invictus twitter that tweeted the figures. I agree it seems to have been a success and there's more to it being a well recieved and valuable event than numbers; if they are tweeting absolutely shite though that's a shame and of course people will question it more than if they just say yay it's been a success.

I hope the games were a success and they continue as such in the coming years. I'm not into sport of any kind (didn't even watch women's world cup) so I didn't watch it.

I'm simply pointing out putting up obviously bullshit numbers, helps no one, least of all the games.

Oof, honest opinion… I didn’t like the closing ceremony dress. The cut and fabric were lovely, but I just didn’t like it strapless.

I think my favourite “look” of the tournament was the Ralph Lauren cricket-style sweater and white trousers. It was very simple but worked so well, and I thought it was a subtle nod to Team GB!

My other fave was the look she did with the beige Cuyana trenchcoat and trousers.

Dear God, what had this got to do with Invictus? Really? It’s not a fashion show.

Title of the thread is Harry and Meghan at Invictus 👋🏽

The thread is specifically about Meghan and Harry at Invictus though?

I thought she looked amazing in the green dress but 'vegan leather' aka usually plastic always makes me feel like it's got to be uncomfortable and plastic like to wear.

I've seen this video on Twitter of M marching with a soldier and some athletes walking behind her. It looks odd. Has anyone seen this and explain what the context is? I don't like to engage with people on Twitter.

Not Megan's clothes at Invictus.

I just have a real Thing against strapless dresses! The fabric print was nice though.

Why not?

I agree.

I am not a fan and me and my DDs ditto. You can look too thin, too fat, too bony, too muscular in a strapless dress. Just my opinion of course. I have no wish to offend before anyone starts on me!

Meghan can look fabulous in all sorts, the strapless dress wasn't what she can look best in, in my honest opinion. I've seen her in so many dresses I prefer.

I think she prefers strapless because she had the straps taken off that gold Hertz dress. It’s still an amazing dress and she looks good in anything but oh man… I think it would've looked even better with the straps. I am just very anti-strapless and I don’t think I can be persuaded 😂

I agree about strapless, she looked great regardless but I think as I find them so uncomfortable I'm just not a fan generally.

I disagree about strapless gowns. IMO all women can pull them off. I recall Donna Karan saying that the shoulders are an area where women age slower in their shoulders so it's a good area to show off. M clearly works out though so can show off her shoulders.

@JSMill Whoever gives out the medals (both civilians and military backgrounds) slow down their steps try to walk in step/unison with the ones carrying the medals.

I watched it live and tbh I saw so many of them by then that I thought nothing of it. I didn’t even register it. It’s not a big deal IMO.

If I had arms like hers I’d wear strapless too.
Those days are over for me, I fear 😭

I loved the colour. It suited her.

Congratulations to all veterans for an incredible show, thanks to Dusseldorf too

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