Sussex Snow Days
Harry and Meghan start a new chapter in Vancouver
Royal watchers have been delighted this week with a series of updates on everyone’s favorites: Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. The pair are in British Columbia, visiting sites in Vancouver and Whistler that will play a key role in the 2025 Invictus Games.
And yes, I said everyone’s favorites. It seems like whether you love them or hate them (or perhaps more aptly, love to hate them) Harry and Meghan are the only members of the Royal Family who invariably get people talking.
The pair landed in Vancouver on Wednesday, February 14, to mark “One Year To Go” until next year’s Invictus Games, which will see the games take on adaptive winter sports for the first time. The Sussexes were set to check in on-site at Invictus’ Winter Training Camp and meet participating athletes (who are either active duty or veteran service members facing illness, injury, or disability) from all around the world.
“Invictus” comes from the Latin word for “unconquered”—perhaps an apt personal ethos of Harry and Meghan as well as an official motto.
Prince Harry founded the Invictus Games in 2014, and Meghan has attended every iteration of the games since 2017. (Invictus was actually the site of the couple’s first public appearance at an official event!)
Since then, the couple have gotten married, had two beautiful children, and left their official positions within the Firm behind. But their commitment to service and duty hasn’t changed. This week, the couple reaffirmed their commitment to public-facing philanthropic work, despite not being backed by the Palace.
Harry and Meghan’s main mission on this trip was to highlight the new adaptive sports entering the Invictus Games rotation next year: alpine skiing, snowboarding, biathlon, Nordic skiing, skeleton, and wheelchair curling. Kicking off the festivities at the top of Whistler Blackcomb on Wednesday, Harry tried his hand at adaptive sit-ski for the first time.
On Thursday, the couple experienced Skeleton, a competition that sees contenders slide headfirst down the fastest ice track in the world on a small sled, reaching speeds up to 100km an hour.
An update from the Sussexes notes that “Skeleton will be the emblematic sport of IG2025, as the only “requirement” needed is courage. In spirit of this approach, The Duke took to the track this afternoon, reaching a speed of 99km/hour.
But the Duke and Duchess also ventured beyond the excitement of training camp to cultivate cultural ties with the Lil’wat Nation, whose traditional territory forms the backdrop for the 2025 Games. As part of their trip to Canada, the Sussexes took several opportunites to meet with members of the Nation.
Lil'wat Nation Chief Dean Nelson told a news outlet that “positive steps towards truth and reconciliation” were the “reason” for the couple’s Thursday visit to Mount Currie Community Centre. “[Prince Harry] has been very sincere and down-to-earth,” Nelson said. “He was inquiring about how things are…He asked what was still affecting us. I said the Indian Act and reservation are still here. That needs to be taken into consideration.”
Unfettered by the Royal Family’s requirement to stay (or at least, appear) politically neutral, Prince Harry and Meghan are uniquely poised to both center these issues through conversation and take actionable steps to help address them.
The previous evening, Harry and Meghan toured the Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre with Youth Ambassadors, Chief Nelson, and Wilson Williams.
A reception followed, attended by First Nations artists who created the official logo for the 2025 Invictus Games. This collaboration marks the first time all four First Nations have come together to develop a piece of art.
Background Noise
These latest appearances to highlight Invictus and honor the First Nations who will host them on their land was a bright spot in an otherwise bleak month for royal news. King Charles is receiving treatment for “a form of cancer,” Catherine, Princess of Wales, is off-the-grid following abdominal surgery, and Prince William has put his official duties on hold (he will, however, attend the BAFTAs in London this weekend, it has just been announced.)
Prince Harry granted a rare interview from the slopes, speaking to Good Morning America reporter Will Reeve. When asked about visiting King Charles in London last week, Harry said," “Look, I love my family. The fact that I was able to get on a plane and go and see him and spend any time with him, I’m grateful for that.”
Reeve is the son of Superman actor Christopher Reeve, who suffered a paralyzing spinal cord injury, so he’s a man who knows a thing or two about having a parent face health struggles. Reeve referenced that family illness can sometimes “have a galvanizing or…reunifying effect for a family,” asking Harry, “Is that possible in this case?”
Harry replied: “Absolutely. Yeah, I’m sure. Throughout all these [Invictus] families I see it on a day-to-day basis, again, the strength of the family unit coming together. I think any illness, any sickness brings families together.”
This is not a man who is looking to milk the Royal Family connection for all it’s worth, folks. Harry kept things light and brief and rerouted the conversation back to Invictus wherever he could. And yet, the British media responded as though Prince Harry had called for hellfire to rain down upon Buckingham Palace and said he’d sold the rights to the footage to Netflix.
“Prince Harry Stokes Anger After Saying Charles' Cancer Could Reunify Royals,” read one headline. “King's Friends Accuse Harry of 'Sickening' Abuse of Dad's Cancer” read another. Are we surprised? The resentment is becoming so predictable that I wonder if news outlets got these biting quotes from “friends” of King Charles and Queen Camilla before the GMA interview even aired.
It’s possible that, with the couple keeping it positive in the face of continued ire from the British press, we are witnessing the opening pages of the Sussexes’ next chapter, one which sees them confident and secure in their purpose.
Their new website, a landing page for all things Sussex (aptly found at the domain Sussex.com), launched on Monday. I often note that Harry and Meghan do appearances in bursts since striking out on their own, lining up public engagements to fall within a two-week span. Last week, we had Prince Harry attend the NFL Honors Ceremony in Las Vegas and celebrate a legal victory; this week provided personal/professional news about the couple in addition to their appearance at Invictus’ One Year To Go celebrations.
Media Moves
Harry and Meghan’s “for-profit” ventures, neatly nestled under the label ‘Archewell Productions’ on the couple’s glossy new website, were also in the headlines this week. The Sussexes announced before leaving for British Columbia that Meghan has signed a podcasting deal with Lemonada Media.
Lemonada will distribute Meghan’s hit podcast, Archetypes, to all platforms, and the Duchess is working on a new, yet-untitled project with the woman-owned media company.
Upon the launch of Archetypes, which features Meghan and some of her famous female friends discussing how language is used to label and denigrate women are unfairly labeled and denigrated, she told The Cut, “It's like I'm finding — not finding my voice. I've had my voice for a long time, but being able to use it.”
Meghan, now represented by powerhouse publicity firm WME, will have many more opportunities to use her voice, if teasers about other Archewell Productions are to be believed. Netflix's Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria revealed that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have several works in development. "All very early development,” she said, “With a movie, a TV show, and a couple of unscripted shows. But yeah, the movie's great."
These projects (which will likely include an adaptation of romance novel Meet Me at the Lake), follow several documentary series, including the self-titled Harry & Meghan, which provided a look at their love story, lives as working royals, and their decision to leave the U.K. There was also documentary series Live to Lead (on which Harry and Meghan executive produced but did not appear on-screen) and Heart of Invictus, which followed athletes on the road to the 2022 Invictus Games in The Hague.
It also seems likely that the couple might take on more of a physical presence within the Hollywood sphere, having attended the premiere of Bob Marley: One Love in Jamaica on January 23rd.
We outside! as my fellow commentator Alex likes to say.
And with so many “outisde” appearances in a short period, is it possible that Harry and Meghan are embracing a more forward-facing strategy with their post-royal work?
Certainly, this week’s trip to Vancouver & Whistler saw the couple embrace the media more openly than they have in the past. Reporters from Hello! were on the ground at the Invictus Training Camp—within a few feet of the couple. Some even received direct replies to questions they asked the passing Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
Perhaps tensions between the Sussexes and the press are beginning to thaw on the chilly Whistler slopes this week.
Meghan has looked a lot more relaxed and at ease in her most recent public appearances. It's good to see.