Meghan Markle and Prince Harry locked lips and shared a quick kiss after her unexpected speech at the Invictus Games reception on Friday, February 7.
Attendees were pleasantly surprised when the Duchess of Sussex, 43, took the stage and shared an unscripted and heartfelt speech about Harry, 40, and how much the annual games mean to him in a video shared by a fan on X.
Meghan told the crowd that she “wasn’t planning on speaking” at the event before offering her thanks and admiration to the competitors. She added that she and Harry were “thrilled” to be there at the reception before beginning the Duke of Sussex’s introduction.
“I would be remiss if I didn’t take the opportunity to introduce someone who means a lot to me and I know means quite a lot to all of you,” Meghan began. “You will see him throughout this week. You will see him at the games, you will see him probably curling with you and cheering you on at wheelchair basketball.”
The mom of two went on to share a personal story regarding how Harry had been juggling being an involved father with their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, as well as handling his duties for the Invictus Games.
“With families … the big rush in the morning and getting ready for school and packing the lunchboxes and making breakfast and my husband is in all of that with all of us,” Meghan explained to the audience. “And then he’ll be on his phone, and Archie will be like, ‘Papa, why are you on your phone?’ and he says, ‘Because it’s Invictus, I’m getting ready for Invictus.’”
The former Suits star continued, “It means so much to him. You are his family just as we are his family. And I hope you recognize how much of his heart he has poured into every single beat that has gotten all of you to this week, that’s going to be spectacular.”
Meghan concluded her impromptu speech by welcoming Harry to the stage.
“I need you to know that, how much it means to him and how much each of you mean to him. It is my entire pleasure and complete honor to introduce to the stage my husband, the father of our very sweet, excited children who are cheering you on from California, Prince Harry, founder of the Invictus Games, the Duke of Sussex.”
Harry founded the Invictus Games in 2014 after he returned from duty in Afghanistan as a British army captain. After seeing some of his friends return with injuries, he wanted to start something similar to the U.S. Armed Forces’ Warrior Games. By 2017, Meghan and Harry had been dating for a year and they made their first official joint appearance at the Invictus Games that year.
In recent months, rumors have swirled that the couple was experiencing trouble in their marriage after they hadn’t been seen together in public in months. However, Harry quickly put the rumors to rest when he spoke at the New York Times DealBook Summit in New York City in December 2024.
“Apparently we’ve bought or moved house 10, 12 times,” Harry told Andrew Ross Sorkin at the event. “We’ve apparently divorced maybe 10, 12 times as well. So it’s just like, what?”
