The Invictus Games opened last night in Orlando, Florida. Prince Harry – who has been there for days now – made a speech near the end of the opening ceremony. Michelle Obama (Harry’s BFF) and Laura Bush, President George W. Bush were also in attendance. ESPN2 covered the opening ceremony live, and basically it feels like Harry really pulled it off, with some help from the First Lady’s office and the American military. The opening ceremony featured black hawks and fireworks. And Harry’s speech:
Watch Prince Harry's @InvictusOrlando #OpeningCeremony speech!https://t.co/awg3lrayXh
— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) May 9, 2016
I like the way he pivoted to mental health issues too, and that’s smart. For so many veterans, it’s not the physical scars they carry, but the emotional and psychological scars. Meanwhile, ahead of the opening ceremony, Harry was doing wall-to-wall press in Florida. And he even answered some questions about girlfriends and potential wives.
Harry’s paranoia. He said he has “massive paranoia that sits inside” of him about all the public scrutiny and attention any girl he speaks to in public must endure. “If or when I do find a girlfriend, I will do my utmost … to ensure that me and her can get to the point where we’re actually comfortable with each other before the massive invasion that is inevitably going to happen into her privacy. The other concern is that even if I talk to a girl, that person is then suddenly my wife, and people go knocking on her door.”
He doesn’t have much of a private life. “There is very little private life. I’m not putting work before the idea of a family, marriage and all that kind of stuff. To be fair, I haven’t had that many opportunities to get out there and meet people. At the moment, my focus is very much on work. But if someone slips into my life then that’s absolutely fantastic.”
The void left by his mother’s passing: “That probably is subconsciously very much part of my mother – trying to fill that void.”
Harry isn’t work-shy: “I don’t get any satisfaction from sitting at home on my arse”…But after leaving the military, he found most jobs he looked at ‘were not going to work’ combined with royal duties and some jobs were ‘not even on the table’. He added: ‘I’m in this privileged position and I will use it for as long as I can, or until I become boring, or until George ends up becoming more interesting.’
He worries about the kids today: “I had an imagination [when I was growing up], now it’s like, ‘There’s an iPad, off you go’. It’s all created for you. All you have to do is press buttons. That worries me.”
[From People Magazine, The Daily Mail]
I absolutely loathe the fact that the British press lumps Harry in with William when it comes to the “work-shy” label. In point of fact, Harry has been quietly working for months to launch this second Invictus Games. Unlike William, Harry does a lot of work in the background, so when we don’t see Harry for a few weeks, we can and should give him the benefit of the doubt and believe that he’s actually working behind the scenes. William, on the other hand, has pissed away all of his benefits of the doubt. As for Harry’s paranoia about the ladies and wanting to protect any potential girlfriend… we’ll see. I think Harry would benefit from getting out of his comfort zone of aristocratic-ladies-in-London.
Photos courtesy of Instagram, Getty, Fame/Flynet.
Hey now, don’t get your Tampa readers’ hopes up! The games are in Orlando.
Very articulate, this one. I think he does as hard of work as he’s meant to, or as he can.
“If or when I do find a girlfriend, I will do my utmost … to ensure that me and her…”
*cringe* I love Harry, but come on! That was awful.
I had a boss, a highly paid, highly educated young guy, who said this ALL the time. The grammar fanatic in me would die a little every time.
I guess we should cut Harry a little slack since he was talking off the cuff about an uncomfortable topic…?
Agreed–I love Harry but cringed at “me and her” also. He should have been taught better than that.
Egh, we all understood what he was saying. IMHO, grammar mistakes only become cringe-worthy when a message can’t be conveyed because of poor grammar. But Harry has never presented himself as an intellectual — he has other talents.
It almost feels like he is throwing a little shade towards William.
Right! Love it!
And that picture with the war monger GW Bush is the first picture he doesn’t look pleasant in.
I noticed that too. It’s an awkward photo, since GWB himself is responsible for many, if not most, of the disabilities at the Invictus Games. In a way, he’s Team USA’s biggest sponsor!
Eh, you don’t have to like W at all to respect the care and consideration he has always shown the troops and wounded vets. It’s not a political thing for him, it’s a real thing. And as far as him being at the event, he’s an Honorary Chair this year.
Not all people that disagree politically or make decisions you don’t like are horrible human beings.
“Or until George becomes more interesting.” Lol, very cute. Love him, love looking at these photos.
Honk!
Love him.
That’s all….
He’s so much more mature than Wills. By leaps and bounds.
Yes, he comes across as an adult who understands his place in the world and intends to make the most of it. Honks for Harry!
He sounds like a thinking human being, not like a PR crafted speech. And it’s great that he’s giving interviews instead of playing “I’m so above you” like his bro.
I was so impressed by his 15 minute interview posted yesterday. He is passionate and informed.
And I agree that any woman will have a hard time as his gf – look at what the press did to Fergie. But I also agree that he needs to move past rich aristocratic girls. Find a woman who runs her own charity and isn’t afraid to roll up her sleeves and get dirty. Can you imagine? The Anti-Kate.
What is wrong with rich, aristocratic girls? Diana was a rich aristocratic girl. Kate is a middle class girl. Which one is more useless?? You can’t get more anti-Kate than Diana.
We should hope for a gf or wife for Harry of good character.
The rest is simple class (and wealth) prejudice.
Agreed LAK. The other heirs have married a mix of middle class, upper class (money-wise), and aristocracy. Some are great, some are lousy, it depends on the individual.
With the money-problems many aristocrats face with massive homes crumbling to ruin, they aren’t idle. They are working hard to earn livings, work the land and resources, and make those old piles break even. A hard worker, regardless of background, would beat the middle class girl who never worked in her life.
Who else watched the opening ceremony? It was amazing. There were so many emotional moments but seeing the Staff Sergeant jump out of the helicopter and be reunited with his dog really got me.
I wanted to but was not allowed to break away from Mother’s Day dinner. Maybe some good highlights are available; I’ll go look today.
re: Harry,
compared to his speech in 2014, this one is leaps and bounds better. either he has found a way to make peace with a teleprompter or has worked hard to memorize it… he pulls it off better.
i appreciate that a lot from him. he understands the importance of the situation and that the way to honor those in attendance is by acting professional and mature.
Yes. Much better.
1) Always remember Americans are a gazillion times better at this sort of thing than reserved Brits, even royal ones, so we operate from a handicap level! For an establishment Brit, this was great.
2) Normal Bill could not have done that.
@Sixer,
Establishment Prince, lol 😀
he sounds very civil servanty just then.
This is my favorite quote. “…what I learned through serving was that the extraordinary privileges of being a prince gave me the extraordinary opportunity to help my military family.”
I haven’t seen his 2014 speech but this one was excellent. This didn’t seem like a Jason-written speech. Maybe it was, but it was Harry’s delivery (sincere and heart-felt) that made it seem so different than a Bill or Cathy speech.
here it is: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Im-5ey1-siY
but maybe he was also nervous since it’s the first go round and his dad was there 😀
He must have worked like a dog to put on the Invictus Games. He found something close to his heart and created this event out of thin air. Good for him.
This site seems to be all royals, all the time. More variety please!
Shhhh!! Just HONK for Harry.
excellent! and yes.. just HONK!
Eh, I love Harry. I will admit the daily progress reports on Catherine’s outfits in India and Bhutan were not my thing….but Harry??? All day, every day baby!
And here I thought it was all Kardashian all the time! 🙂
I love the royals, bring it on but “Snarknado” the name/alias just made my day!
THIS GUY! I am happily married and he’s making my panties drop.
William must know that he’s being overshadowed? That the people want Harry? I mean, COME ON.
William knows he is being overshadowed from way back when.
Harry went on his gap year as a teenager same like William; but two years later Harry *founded* his Sentebale with Seesio and now ten years after that will expand to Botswana and fasttracking several more countries.
meanwhile, William came back from his gap year… with nothing to show for.
Harry and William attended the same pilot training following Harry’s aborted first tour, but it was Harry who then went to El Centro and aced his tests and became best in class, did a full tour in Afghanistan the second go-round.
Harry still had 2 years of active duty left when he went to Colorado Springs and got inspired to set up Invictus. He was mostly not in England when the baby Invictus was born! And now, three years after he *founded* another cause, Invictus which is in its Second year of International-level sports with a third already booked.
meanwhile during the same time period, granny has had to buy William a helo and he still won’t fly.
so, in a stretch of 10 years, Harry has founded and built 2 outstanding charities from the ground up… while William…. erm… well…
i am being mean. William has a very applaudable cause: The Wheels on the Bus Trust, and its tagline “throwing you under buses since time immemorial” Whine Whine Whinge Whinge.
caveat: i am glossing over sooo many flaws and bad attitude from both sides, but this is not an academic journal.
The wheels on the bus trust!!! LOL. Love it. Co-opting it. Wait, isn’t that the ethos of the trust? To co-opt that which you had no input and pretend it’s yours? 🙂
What?! My ginger sexy has no flaws!
The wheels on the bus made me chuckle. Very witty lcd.
When you put it like that, deb . . . . . . .
Although in William’s defense he wasn’t allowed to serve in combat situations. I *think* he wanted to.
LOL @ LAK, the shameless plagiarist who actually owns it!
I don’t remember William being overshadowed when he was younger (and just as lazy), but he was good-looking back then. Back then, I vaguely remember people wanting the monarchy to skip Charles to go to William. Whoa, how times have changed.
I actually didn’t know that Harry had done all that other stuff (and I follow the royals to some degree). I think it’s only now that I’m learning the kinds of stuff Harry does, and maybe that’s because there’s nothing to say about William and so the press are now telling us what Harry is doing.
wait @LAK! as Shadow Under Some-Secretary of our Trust you don’t go owning up to every co-o.. cop- coppe.. cop.. ahem anyway. Rule number one of the Bus is there is no Bus… or some such thing.
@Bluhare, yeah I think William would probably welcome that as well, and probably do a bit good for him? i don’t know. it’s hypothetical now, because he’s absolute pants in his RAF/EAAA job which is no less heroic and beneficial to society.
btw, i saw a long time ago a doco about Harry in Afghanistan, the one where he said “i think my brother would agree too, if its ok for these guys are getting shot at in the front lines, for sure it should be ok for us to be shot at as well”. i think some of his RPO were cringing off camera.
Harry seems to have his olden day fairy tale view of a chivalrous royal. charge headfirst into battle, and some such.
although, and maybe some of the historians here can elaborate more: why in movies, the king has the biggest most garish tent amongst all his men? like why advertise, here me the big zit amongst beige tents. shoot me. if i were a king i’d be sleeping in the bushes.
LOL and yes, Lower-case Deb. So true and so funny. If LAK can use the Wheels on the Bus Trust, may I co-opt “[…] but this is not an academic journal” for any and all future debates I may have with just about anyone?
It seems that Harry has figured out that he has to do something with his time, so he may as well make it worthwhile. It really is too bad his work doesn’t count as official royal work, though (and even if it did, all of his hard work would maybe just count as a handful of engagements!).
Lower-case deb: gosh, how interesting!!
Keep the ideas coming!!
😁
I’ll quietly slip into your life any time you want me, my zingy little Ginger Snap. Sigh… I adore this man. I have an actual, physical yearning to meet him and shake his hand. So intelligent and articulate, good head on his shoulders, hard-working and proud of it, making jokes about his crazy nephew, that smooth butterscotch voice… Why can’t I has you, King Harry? At the very least, why can’t the UK has you? Every time he speaks I feel more and more that he’s the rightful future King of England.
You took the words right out of my brain……I would love nothing more than to get a chance to look down into his beautiful blue eyes.
” I think Harry would benefit from getting out of his comfort zone of aristocratic-ladies-in-London.”
Does he have much choice in that regard? He probably will have to marry someone who moves within his circles, at least. I know Kate was a commoner blah blah blah, but at least she moved within the kind of circles William did to meet him. The last time he tried, he moved out of the aristocratic circle he was caught naked.
Yeah, naked billiards was not his best idea. But other royals have seemingly successful marriages with middle class spouses and some were from chance encounters. So I think he could go outside the 1% zone.
Aren’t those royals from other countries or some royals further down the totem pole though?
I know Edward married a PR lady, but Edward has never seemed to generate any attention whatsoever. Even Princess Anne seems to have more glamor attached to her. (And she divorced).
The British royals who are higher ranking seem to move in circles that isolate them a bit (or a lot) more. I figure Harry is isolated even further by being the son of the most glamorous princess of the 20th century. I don’t think his situation is really comparable to anyone else’s, especially because of the acrimonious way in which his parents split. He and William have more pressure on them to make their marriages work and pick someone “suitable”. William hardly does any work so if he and Kate do split in the future, then….uh, well, good luck to him. There won’t be anything to anchor him whatsoever. At least Charles had his charity work to buffer marriage scandals. My apologies for going off on a tangent. I just think Harry is in a more unusual position given his popularity, fame, and being Charles and Diana’s son.
for the longest time, i thought about what if Harry married Madeleine of Sweden. they’re only about a year or so apart in age. she’s sooo beautiful and fairytale princess like.
but then she got married and have kids.
and her mom in law used to date Charles lol 😀 (or so the grape vine said).
perplexed, many of the European heirs married people from chance encounters. A few might have been pre-arranged meets (the couple of aristo brides in the mix), but the others were just two people meeting. Okay, Felipe was said to have fallen for Letizia watching her on tv, then had his friend arrange a dinner party including her so they could meet.
10-15 years ago was a different landscape for famous people courting. Felipe and Letizia dated, went out to dinner to public restaurants, and no one exposed them. She was one of the most famous news broadcasters in the country, he was the Crown Prince, and the public didn’t know they were dating until they announced their engagement.
10 years ago, everyone wasn’t armed with a cell phone video camera and the ability to upload that video in seconds to a global audience. William had the luxury of the media blackout when he started dating and living with KM. As Harry basically said, if he so much as looks at a woman the press has him married off to her in 5 minutes.
He needs to marry me!!! LOL An American who would love to shake things up.
I love Harry…that is all. Carry on…
Oh look, George W Bush, wasn’t he the president who sent all those soldiers off to be maimed, paralyzed and psychically scarred in a completely unnecessary war to serve his daddy fixation and the imperialist/oil domination dreams of his heartless vice president and insane secretary of defense? Wasn’t he the one whose small-government, trickled-down economics left veterans’ health care scandalously underfunded? Whose policies left no jobs or affordable housing for them when they came home, and left their families on food stamps?
I hate to be bitter but he earned it. He should be in jail, not smiling stupidly at these ceremonies.
Love Harry though. He’s doing this for the right reasons, with as much compassion as one hot ginger prince can muster, and as a royal he can do it politics-free.
Yes, to all you say, Who.
Bush makes me angry every time I see his useless face. I will never forget the image of him flying over the Katrina disaster or the criminal Iraq War. He should be too ashamed to show himself in public.
Agree with what you said. I loathe this man. Monster with an idiots face.
I was horrified when I saw that he would be there. Whose idea was that? I can’t imagine it was the Invictus organizers, so it would have to have been GWB’s people’s, and I know he’s trying to rehab his image, but this just shows how shameless he really is.
Been thinking about him, Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, and Condi Rice and Colin Powell frequently thinking about the Invictus Games. “We don’t want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud.” Freaking fearmongers.
if you go by the speeches and thanks at the Bush Center Invictus Game Symposium on Invisible Injuries, it appears that the American organizer of the Games, Fisher House linked up with GWB Center due to their work with PTS servicemen.
Harry said at the symposium, that the aim of the first Invictus in London was to highlight the visible wounds because it seems the ‘easiest way’ to draw awareness. but for subsequent Games, more and more attention will be paid to PTS and other invisible injuries because that’s where the area still need a huge amount of attention. which is why Harry welcomes the Center’s work.
the Symposium was around 3 hrs long.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=B-DLfEbV8Gw
skip to minute 30 for the start of the recorded stream.
Thanks for the info, @lower-case deb! I’ve seen the commercials for Fisher House watching on the ESPN app, and am impressed by their service for our service members. My family stayed at Ronald McDonald house while my son was in a children’s hospital after birth, so I know how much it means to families to be in a caring environment. So I feel like I want to give them a pass for connecting up with Dubya because of the good work they’re doing.
I still feel it’s disingenuous of GWB to be involved in veteran’s affairs while not apologizing for his role in their injuries and traumas. But I won’t bother holding my breath for that.
Thx all wasn’t sure I was being a Bitter Betty but man, that whole crew was horrible and we are still dealing with their inhumanity and incompetence.
Agree 100% It makes me sick to think he is responsible for these people coming back physically and psychologically destroyed from his war(s) of choice and yet, he gets to sit in the stands with that nauseating beady eyed smirk! At the very least he should personally pay for these people to rehabilitate and rebuild their lives but if justice truly existed he would be in jail where he belongs.
On another note, Lots and LOTS of honks for Harry and I love Michelle Obama.
Agree. Bush is a war-profiteering criminal.
Did you forget war criminal? I got you covered, just In case.
And I love that this is the only picture Harty doesn’t look happy in!!
Of course he doesn’t look happy, I’m pretty sure he didn’t want them there, but politics and diplomacy.. I mean that guy started a war, involved other countries, all based on lies, ugly awful lies..
Honking for Harry.
I am truly proud to be both a Brit and a member of the armed forces right now.
Both Harry and Michelle gave heartfelt speeches that truly made me emotional watching and I gave them both huge rounds of applause!
Good luck to all those who are competing.
Thanks for your service Rae!
And yes to watching Harry and his buddy and friend Michelle.
I hope the games are successful and bring much attention to all our veterans – who voluntarily signed up of this.. for that I’m forever humble as I could not be so brave.
I sincerely hope the games grow in success and stature each year too. The personnel involved deserve all the plaudits.
His mother would be so proud of him. I know I would be if he were my son.
I hope that Prince Hot Ginger Snap and his new BFF Michelle still hang out when she is not FLOTUS.
Also, Still considering abandoning my husband for him. I know he’d be a good step daddy to my two little boys which makes the decision easier.
I’ve had mixed emotions over the years about how Diana has been…sanctified (struggling with word choice this rainy Monday) and her flaws have been whitewashed over the years. But yes, she did have an undeniable charisma and gift for charming people and while William does not have it, Harry most certainly does.
HONK FOR HARRY!!
Oh, I’m with you Susan! She was cray-cray. I really think that he and his brother are promoting their mental health charity because they are aware of their late mother’s mental health issues.
What caught me here was the comment about him acknowledging his privilege and wanting to use it in service to a good cause. There isn’t anything worse in someone’s personality than the lack of understanding about our position in the world, what we can or can’t do to our community, both in small and big scale. This shows how great his character is, just like his mother and father, who also does a pretty good job.
About him getting married, I feel there may be some mom issues, understandably so, that may undermine his attempts in finding a good partner. Maybe an older and foreigner woman will get the gold when he’s older or mature enough to handle the attention the relationship will draw.
PS: all this good stuff about him makes me wonder what’s flawed about this guy… 🤔
ME!! i’m 35 an American living in Canada. He needs to pick me!
Well done, Harry! The opening ceremonies were well done and very emotional.
Harry does a great job with the Invictus games and his work with veterans. He has a natural charm and seems to empathise with those less fortunate than himself. However I wish he would stop going on about lack of privacy as he is running the risk of being likened to his whiny brother. Everything has a price and lack of privacy is the price to pay for a life of immense wealth and privilege.
I could be wrong, but I get the impression he was asked about it. Something about his phrasing seemed to give off the vibe that he got asked if he had a private life.
There was a BBC interview where the interviewer asked him if he was able to have a private life with people chasing him around taking pictures on their camera phones whenever he stepped out of doors into a public space. That’s what he was complaining about. His complete inability to do anything without being stalked by both professionals and amateurs. He seems perfectly willing to go along with the official press and photography necessary for his causes. I do have a bit of sympathy for him on that, because surely sometimes he just wants to go to the pub!
Harry doesn’t *usually* complain as William does. He doesn’t make threats, withhold access, file lawsuits, and shut down publishers as William does. Harry mostly plays well with the established press.
When Richard Palmer complains about the focus on injured vets and how people don’t want to hear about it? When Harry has been doing loads of interviews and saying some very personal things in them. Then he’s smacked down by royal reporters because he’s working instead of talking about his love life? That must be incredibly frustrating.
The beautiful enthusiasm of his face in that first photo – bravo Harry for making a life that is yours uniquely. HONK!!!!
I love the way you phrased that, so I am honking for you and Harry.
He’s gorgeous.
Oh. ginger snap, ginger snap I love you so.
Love him! I have a feeling his future girlfriend is going to be just as much a show stopper in the public eye. (I don’t think Kate will mind a bit haha.)
HONK!!!
That’s all.