The Duke of Sussex has made an exciting announcement about his "inspiring international family" as he welcomed two new nations to the Invictus Games Foundation – Colombia and Nigeria – on Wednesday.
Harry, founding patron of the Invictus Games Foundation, hosted the Paralympic-style games in The Hague, The Netherlands last month. He was joined by his wife Meghan Markle at the tournament that saw 20 nations compete including the UK, USA, Afghanistan, France, Iraq, Italy, Jordan, The Netherlands and Ukraine.
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In a statement to welcome Colombia and Nigeria to the fold, he said: "The world felt the power of our Invictus community last month in The Hague and now I am delighted to announce that we have two new nations – Colombia and Nigeria – joining our inspiring international family.
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"As we continue to harness the power of sport in recovery and rehabilitation year-round, I'm proud to share that Invictus is now represented across every continent (except Antarctica).
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"The Invictus community of nations is built by the resilience of the men and women who serve or have served, and it's a distinct honour to offer even more wounded, injured and sick service personnel and veterans the opportunity to be included in the community and programming we offer."
© Photo: Getty ImagesThe couple attended the Invictus Games in The Hague last month
It's not clear whether Colombia and Nigeria will take part in the 2023 Dusseldorf Invictus Games as the participating nations for the German event have not yet been announced. More nations are expected to join over time. Members of the community get access to programmes such as the We Are Invictus platform for international wounded, injured and sick service personnel and veterans.
Amid the announcement comes the news that Help for Heroes, the charity which was responsible for the selection, training and welfare of UK competitors at the Invictus Games, will no longer be directly involved in Team UK.
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In a statement this week, the charity said the decision was not their own, but following extensive decisions, the Ministry of Defence decided that the Royal British Legion will lead the end-to-end delivery of Team UK to the Invictus Games for the next five years and will also be the main funder of the programme.
A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: "The Royal British Legion was able to offer secure funding, more personnel to support the team and a commitment to supporting Team UK into the future. We therefore felt this would be the best choice for Team UK. Our priority is always to ensure Team UK and our wounded, injured and sick service personnel and veterans get the best experience.
"We remain enormously grateful for all the work Help for Heroes has done to take Team UK to the Invictus Games and continue to work with them to support the Armed Forces community."
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