Prince Harry issues heartfelt statement about 'courage' on trip without Meghan Markle

Prince Harry joined students at the Seaforth Armoury during his trip to Vancouver ahead of the 2025 Invictus Games where he gave a poignant speech about his emotions

Prince Harry has issued a heartfelt statement as he continues his solo trip to Canada without Meghan Markle.

The Duke of Sussex spoke of the "profound impact" that has been left on him as he launched a schools programme ahead of next year's Invictus Games. Harry travelled solo to launch the programme for the 2025 event, which is due to be held in Vancouver and Whistler in February. He marked the countdown by joining students at Seaforth Armoury, a historic military facility, where he launched an online programme to introduce the Invictus Games into schools.

In a speech, he said: "Seeing them learn about the Invictus Games has had a profound impact on me because this is where Invictus starts to go even wider outside of the Invictus community, into schools in Canada and hopefully around the world."

Harry, a former British Army captain, launched the Invictus Games in 2014 as an international sports tournament for injured and wounded service personnel and returned veterans. Addressing the crowd, the Duke also spoke of his emotions in seeing returned service personnel at the Games' opening ceremony.

He explained: "You need to understand what that means to them because that can be a life-altering moment. There's resilience that has got them there. There's teamwork that has managed to get them to the starting line, and there's courage in getting them to that point.

"For most of them, for some of them, it's very hard to walk into a busy room, and here they are walking into a stadium of tens of thousands of people." In February, the Duke and Duchess officially kicked off the countdown to the Winter Invictus Games 2025 at a special event in Whistler. Next year's games will feature the debut of winter sports including Nordic Skiing, wheelchair curling, snowboarding and alpine skiing.

On Sunday, Harry made a surprise appearance on Canadian TV during its coverage of one of the country's top sporting events. He was at the Grey Cup to watch the big Canadian football final between the Toronto Argonauts and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

During his day out at the football, Harry was seen beaming to the crowd and giving them a thumbs up before the game got underway. During his TV appearance on TSN, he was asked what he was most looking forward to about the experience of being at the Grey Cup final and said: "I'm looking forward to the game getting started - let's go!" Asked about what position he'd play if he were part of the Canadian Football League, he replied: "I think quarterback is a cool place to be."

His unexpected solo appearance in Canada came just daysafter wife Meghan also was seen out without her husband, dancing the night away at a glitzy Hollywood party. She was spotted celebrating the launch of a new haircare line by the brand Highbrow Hippie, which is co-founded by her close pal and Hollywood hair colourist, Kadi Lee.