WeAreInvictus - X

[ConstantGarden1]

A fitting endorsement from Fred Hargreaves OBE who on X wrote, “As ever, a genuine and heart-felt speech from the Duke of Sussex - the driving force and passion behind the #InvictusGames. So good to see this Award, and share the stage with Elizabeth, Kirsty and Israel.”

From the Royal Website, how the ‘driving force’ - Harry - brought Invictus into being:

https://www.royal.uk/invictus-games

Positive Harry posts have been flooding X. Haters were out too. Some negatively posting in a quasi-forensic manner. No ‘gotcha’ revelations, however, nor tens of thousands of likes which the repost of Harry’s speech on ESPN by the knowledgeable Robert Griffin III now has. In less than 2 days 51+K likes and still rising.

I also checked out some (too many) #Sussexsquad posters. It revealed teachers, veterans, different nationalities, colours, creeds, nurses, retired folk etc etc. Thus I formed a completely different understanding about the use of the hashtag to support the Sussex family. There were also very strange users of the hashtag too. The hashtag was additionally utilised to send the message out on X to put the anti-Harry and Meghan posters or ‘derangers’, as they are often called, on mute and not to engage. Quite a restrained and civil position to promote and many did just that. Invictus awareness was successfully brought to those who had never heard of the international fraternity of veterans with disabilities and injuries by this hashtag alone.

Watching the videos on X I saw Harry speak with sincerity and humility under pressure. His words, “The truth is, I stand here not as Prince Harry, Pat Tillman Award recipient, but rather a voice on behalf of the Invictus Games Foundation and the thousands of veterans and service personnel from over 20 nations who have made the Invictus Games a reality. This award belongs to them. Not to me.”

Harry has now been awarded, by a very diverse online presence, a new respect. And I do believe he’s also a jolly good fellow…and so say many, many, many of us. 😊💙

I am so glad I went on my very new X twitter account for I was disgusted with the Daily Mail’s use of Pat Tillman’s mother to denigrate Prince Harry as it was totally uncalled for. Call it for what it was - a hit piece of journalism designed to create a mini storm online. We know nothing about the context of how they obtained words supposedly said by Pat’s mother about Harrry. I was aghast too at how Pat’s widow has also been treated by some online posters. Her foundation may not be perfect but she does more than anyone to honour him. Pat’s mother also did not go on any mainstream American media either where her complaints would have been listened to and would have provided the much needed context for the hate motivated article by a newspaper under the spotlight for its nefarious journalism and click bait articles about Harry.

Harry’s response was beautiful. The way Harry acknowledged Pat’s mother went further than him being a royal. It was a standout out moment of what being human is all about. I do believe he’s also a jolly good fellow…and so say many, many, many of us. 😊💙

Ick

Washington DC is not exactly a safe city.

https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/crime/dc-violent-crime-stats/65-dd6634de-9b66-4209-86c8-e765950f6c5f

Yip it’s Diana’s watch. It’s the bag that Diana had named after her, she was wearing the other day, She has DSOS embroidered on it. She also wears the two tone Chanel pumps, when Di was known for wearing the style.

She dresses how she thinks rich people should look. It’s all brands. Rich people don’t dress like that.

Shes desperate to have a Carolyn Kennedy/casual Di aesthetic that she thinks will land her on the best dressed lists. But with her figure and clumsy attempts of dressing ‘rich’ it’s not going to work.

I find it fascinating she hasn’t had an American vogue cover. Love her or loathe her- it’s would sell! But she doesn’t have that effortless fashion vibe that lands you a cover. I think this must annoy her- she loves fashion and thinks she’s great at it, but it just doesn’t work for her.

Washington DC and the crime it’s currently suffering would be too much for paranoid Harry

Surely it's safer than Westminster Abbey?

@DelectableMe 😂😂😂

Well done Birmingham! Great news. I hope to see Harry there. Such a fantastic Invictus family that he is very much a part of.

I’ve been all round Washington DC. I had a great time.

I was there in 1998 also.

Hopefully not when the snipers were on the loose! 😳

Nothing against Birmingham hosting Invictus, but I do wonder how long cities will be willing to bid for these large sporting events. At some point the cost is going to outweigh the benefit.

Someone mentioned upthread (or it may have been on another one) that even the Olympics are receving fewer bids to host, which I honestly didn't know

Probably no surprise though; for all the talk about regeneration and getting people into sport you have to wonder if the cost is worth it - and that's before you get to the endless grandstanding if folk don't like the host country's policies in whatever area

Even more interested in there being more transparency into the accounts and what is spent on what, now that our money will be being spent on hosting it in 2027.
I doubt Meghan will miss it. It will be strictly controlled though, as the trip to Nigeria was. Only chosen and cherry picked journalists, photographers and publications allowed. No general public appearances, so it will be the Invictus crowd and Sussex Squad cheerleaders only which will create a bubble around them so their visit will be again seen through a controlled lens and therefore judged a “huge success”.

The biggest issue with Meghan coming here thougj is that Harry has repeatedly said that he would t bring his family to the UK because it “isn’t safe”. There is going to have to be some Olympic standard pretzelling to get round that one, especially if they want to do a 12 months to go thing again. He might get away with claiming that it’s ok for her to be at the games because there is inbuilt security, but I’m not sure that would work for a jolly and a fashion parade 😆

I don't think they can control the media as they did in Nigeria. That trip was just for them but Invictus is international, it would be like controlling the Commonwealth Games, impossible.

@smilesy Harry can do an about turn on anything he has said previously, he'll probably just deny he said it.

Probably, but inconveniently for him he is currently fighting a court case all about it 😆

He’s probably hoping that his appeal will be successful……I’m pretty sure it should have concluded before then.

This won’t stop them from trying. They controlled it in Canada.

"We never said that! That was the British Press."

Just realised how daft this post reads! Of course he’s hoping to be successful. Doh!

I should have put that he’s probably assuming his appeal will be successful.

That's interesting. I wonder if it's a symptom of the constantly increasing standards and expectations surrounding these events? I was watching Chariots of Fire at the weekend and it struck me how simple things were in 1924 compared to now! All you basically needed to supply as host nation was a stadium with a running track and some (far fewer than now) hotel/hostel rooms.

I suppose the Olympics have been getting more and more ambitious in terms of facilities and accommodation etc and with increasing numbers of competitors and spectators with every Games. And clearly the result is that a decreasing number of nations and cities can afford to stage them.

I'm actually speechless that she has "DSSOS" embroidered on her bag. Is it in case she forgets who she is, perhaps?

Linked not ranked, indeed.

ETA appears she was using said bag in 2021.

For someone who is so disrespectful when referring to other members of the RF ( Kate, Harry’s grandmother etc) she certainly likes to remind everyone that she has a royal title .
Utter hypocrisy.

It all changed in 1984, when the Los Angeles games turned a profit of $250m and it became seen as a money-making venture with lots of bells and whistles to draw people in, get them to go "wow" and spend, spend, spend.

The return is far from guaranteed these days, but the consumerist-era expectations haven't died away yet.

The Commonwealth Games is the other biggie, and people do still compete to host that as well. But as profit margins become tighter, it's not as sought-after as it once was.

Other events, not so much. So you're left with a circuit of places with existing facilities and good travel connections.

They don't seem to have hammered out the finances of IG Birmingham yet, but must be confident that they can cover venue hire and core costs.

I'd be quite surprised if either city was bidding in the way cities do for the Olympics or Commonwealth Games. It strikes me as more likely that the venues (NEC for Birmingham) put together a bespoke tender document, as they would for any large prospective client, showing their basic costs and price list of additional services, rather than going in to full-on civic (let alone national) wooing mode.

H4H has a very large veterans sports (for community and rehabilitation) programme, and I was wondering if there are synergies there.