What I noticed from inside Harry's Invictus ceremony
The royals were conspicuous by their absence
Hi everyone!
I was inside St Paul’s Cathedral yesterday, as Prince Harry joined around 1,000 guests to reflect on and celebrate 10 years of the Invictus Games Foundation.
It was a beautiful and deeply moving ceremony, packed with familiar faces from the six international tournaments the organisation has produced so far.
As well as the competitors, veterans and IGF staff, there were people close to the Duke who were on the Invictus journey with him at the very start – former police protection officers, palace staff, advisors and supporters including his close friend and mentor Mark Dyer, all brought together under the cathedral’s magnificent dome.
Harry sat directly in front of Earl Spencer and Lady Jane Fellowes, the brother and sister of his late mother Diana, Princess of Wales, along with his cousins George McCorquodale, Louis Spencer and Ned Spencer. He turned around to chat to them at several points during the service.
But what stood out to me was the fact that close royal family members were conspicuous by their absence as he celebrated perhaps his greatest achievement in public life.