British Prince Harry (37) and his wife Meghan (41) are coming to Düsseldorf today. They are promoting the Invictus Games, Paralympic competitions for war veterans, which will take place in a year's time.
Harry and Meghan - officially the Duke and Duchess of Sussex - are scheduled to arrive in Dusseldorf at noon. First, they attend a reception at City Hall, where Harry gives a speech and, like Meghan, signs the town's Golden Book. Also present are the Lord Mayor of Düsseldorf, Stephan Keller (CDU) and the Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Defense, Siemtje Möller (SPD). The Invictus Games are organized by the city of Düsseldorf together with the German Armed Forces.
No journalist questions for Harry
After that, a boat trip across the Rhine is planned. According to the organizers, Harry and Meghan want to talk to participants in the Invictus Games. In the afternoon there will be a press conference in the Merkur Spiel-Arena, the Düsseldorf stadium with space for more than 54,000 spectators. A large part of the sports festival from September 9th to 16th, 2023 will be held in this arena. Harry attends the press conference and gives a speech, but no questions are allowed to be asked. From this you can see that the prince is not a normal celebrity.
As a young man, Harry himself served in a crisis area in Afghanistan. When the British press found out about the operation and reported accordingly, it was withdrawn for security reasons. A soldier who had lost an arm and a leg to a bomb attack while on patrol was also on the plane he was flying back to England in. These and other encounters are said to have contributed significantly to Harry co-initiating the Invictus Games. The first games were held in London in 2014. Orlando followed in 2016, Toronto in 2017, Sydney in 2018 and this year The Hague. In 2023, Düsseldorf will be the first German city to do so. The topic has become depressingly topical as a result of the war in Ukraine.
home in California
Harry and Meghan had broken away from the closer circle of the royal family in 2020 and had moved to the other side of the Atlantic. The couple lives with their two children Archie (3) and Lilibet (1) in Montecito, California near Santa Barbara. The relationship with the rest of the Royals is considered partially tense.
Home visits had become rare in recent years, not only because of the corona pandemic. Harry is also in litigation with the UK Home Office over whether and how he can still get police protection for himself and his family in the UK. The visit to Düsseldorf will definitely be "accompanied by the police," as a spokeswoman for the Düsseldorf police confirmed. After the day in the North Rhine-Westphalian state capital, the couple then have follow-up appointments in Great Britain.
