PRINCE William has been “surprised” by the success of Prince Harry’s “passion project” Invictus Games, according to a royal expert.
The Duke of Sussex launched the sporting event in 2014 for international wounded, injured, and sick service personnel and veterans.
Next year will be the seventh Invictus Games and for the first time will be a winter games - held in Vancouver and Whistler - with over 550 competitors from 25 nations.
This month we saw the Duke and Duchess of Sussex celebrate the One Year to Go event in Canada ahead of the 2025 competition.
However a royal author has claimed that the Prince of Wales may even be a little “jealous” with how well the sporting competition has gone over the years.
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Speaking in a new ABC News special, Prince Harry's Mission: Life, Family and Invictus Games, Robert Jobson said: "It's been very successful since its outset.
"It doesn't come cheap, it costs a lot of money, and he's been able to continue to raise that money throughout this period, which is impressive.
"But I think there was a degree of jealousy about how well it had gone.
"I do think that William was surprised how much this had been such a success and how much money was being thrown into it and how many governments were getting involved."
In 2020, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stepped down from their senior working royal roles and relocated to California, where they now live with their children, Prince Archie, four, and Princess Lilibet, two.
They now run their own philanthropic foundation, Archewell, which champions causes close to their hearts.
Royal commentator Victoria Murphy explained: "Harry is no longer a working royal.
“Invictus no longer sits under the umbrella of organisations that the royal family officially are part of and therefore, they haven't mentioned it at all since Harry stepped back as a working royal."
However, when Invictus was launched in 2014 at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London., Prince Harry’s father, the now-King Chales was in attendance, along with other members of the royal family.
Meanwhile, for the second Invictus Games, the late Queen Elizabeth participated in a video with Barack and Michelle Obama.
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I do think that William was surprised how much this had been such a success and how much money was being thrown into it and how many governments were getting involved
Robert Jobson
However, Prince Harry’s family members have had little participation since.
The Vancouver Whistler games - which are due to take place between February 8 and 16 next year - will include alpine skiing, Nordic skiing, skeleton, wheelchair curling, indoor rowing, sitting volleyball, swimming, wheelchair basketball, and wheelchair rugby.
Prince Harry created the Games after he was inspired following a visit to the US Warrior Games in 2013 - a similar sporting event for injured service personnel.
At the time of launching the Games, Prince Harry said: "I have witnessed first-hand how the power of sport can positively impact the lives of wounded, injured and sick Servicemen and women in their journey of recovery.
"I am extremely proud that we are bringing an event like this to the UK for the first time and believe it can have a long lasting impact on the well-being of those who have served their nations so bravely.”
