Jill Biden will skip Prince Harry’s upcoming Invictus Games and instead attend a farewell dinner for American athletes next week, the White House announced Friday.
The first lady opts not to travel to the veterans event in Düsseldorf, Germany, where Harry and Meghan will be attending, and instead speak to the competing Americans next week.
Jill Biden, a staunch advocate for veterans, will still mark the Games by addressing 60 wounded, wounded and sick military members and active-duty veterans in Belvoir, Virginia, the East Wing confirmed Friday.
She has had a close friendship with Harry for many years and they have bonded over their support of veterans.
But recent developments in their relationship suggest she’s starting to keep her distance.
According to a source close to her, the First Lady wanted to attend the April 2022 Games in The Hague, but ended up insulting the British royal family, DailyMail.com revealed exclusively in July.
Prince Harry and Jill Biden have had a close friendship for years, with the First Lady regularly expressing her support for the Duke’s Invictus Games – especially during the 2017 Invictus Games in Toronto.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will attend this year’s Games, which will take place from September 9-16.
“The Duke will be present throughout the games and will be joined by the Duchess shortly after the games begin,” the Sussexes said in a statement.
This year’s Games will be the sixth edition of the event. Ahead of the opening ceremony, Prince Harry launched a new Netflix documentary showcasing incredible heroic stories from veterans who took part in the Games.
The five-part documentary Heart of Invictus follows a group of former soldiers on their way to the Paralympic sports competition Invictus.
Prince Harry created the Invictus Games to honor wounded warriors. The first event took place in 2014.
The Games were the connecting point between Harry, an Afghanistan veteran, and the Bidens, whose son Beau served in the Delaware National Guard.
Prince Harry’s new documentary Heart of Invictus is on Netflix – above, Harry is at his California home for a zoom meeting about game preparations
Harry and Meghan in the Netflix documentary Heart of Invictus
President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden have distanced themselves from Harry and Meghan since entering the White House
Jill Biden has attended past sessions of the Invictus Games, as has Joe Biden. Both Bidens attended the games when they were held in Canada in 2017. And Jill Biden attended the 2016 games in Florida.
According to a source close to her, the First Lady wanted to attend the April 2022 Games in The Hague, but in the end could not avoid insulting the British royal family, the DailyMail.com exclusive revealed.
Through her Joining Forces Initiative, Jill Biden is a strong supporter of the military and their families. And despite their 33-year age difference, Jill and Harry have bonded over their shared interest in veterans’ issues.
However, British officials told National Security Council staff in a working-level conversation that they thought the idea would go badly, a source said.
“She wanted to go,” a person familiar with the event told DailyMail.com about the First Lady, but noted that the East Wing feared the palace could be injured if she attended.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and his husband Chasten led the US delegation instead.
At this point, the Duke and Duchess were seen as individuals and had no official state status, given their departure from the Royal Family.
Harry and Meghan have seemingly tried their own White House lobbying campaign, including desiring a ride back to the United States on Air Force One after the Queen’s funeral — a request that was turned down, as revealed exclusively by DailyMail.com .
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, with Invictus Games trustee and Paralympian Dave Henson (right), attend the 2022 Invictus Games in The Hague, Netherlands
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and his husband Chastain led the US delegation to the Games in the Netherlands
Harry and Meghan with Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg (second from right) and other officials at the 2022 Invictus Games
Harry shakes hands with Joe Biden, as Jill watches, at the 2017 Invictus Games in Toronto
However, since entering the White House, the Bidens have kept their distance from the couple, who have settled in California.
Jill was scheduled to attend the September 2021 Warrior Games in Orlando, Florida along with Harry, who was already living in California at the time.
Harry was inspired to start his Invictus Games after attending the 2013 Warrior Games in Colorado.
However, the 2021 games were changed to a Zoom event as in-person events were canceled due to the COVID pandemic.
During the online meeting, Harry and Jill praised each other.
“Thank you for your services and your continued support all these years,” Harry told her. “It was fantastic to see you in action in different parts of the world and give everything you have to so many people, not just those who wear the uniform, but also the families. Many of them wouldn’t be here without you, so thank you.’
In turn, she thanked the duke for his dedication to “uplifting servicemen from all over the world.”
Jill and Harry’s long-standing friendship dates back to May 2013, when they met at a reception for American and British wounded soldiers in Washington, DC.
They seemed to bond instantly when Jill traveled solo to London the following year for Harry’s first Invictus Games, where they were pictured beaming together at various events.
And the First Lady, a voracious reader, is known to have read Prince Harry’s memoir Spare.
Despite their 33-year age difference, Jill and Harry have bonded over their shared interest in veterans’ issues. They are pictured at the 2017 Invictus Games
The duo both have strong ties to the armed forces; Harry served ten years in the British Army (left), while Jill’s late stepson Beau was a major in the US Army (right)
In September 2014, Jill flew to London to attend the first Invictus Games, and her obvious bond with Harry prompted Joe to joke that he was ‘a little concerned’.
Joe Biden even joked that he was “a little worried” about the amount of time Harry and Jill spent together, a joke the then-vice president repeated in 2016 when his wife met the prince again at the Orlando Games.
Jill went to London for the last Games. She spent too much time with Prince Harry,’ he said.
And Jill was a public advocate of the Prince’s passion for helping veterans.
During a June 2020 visit to the UK for the G7 summit – where she met separately with Kate Middleton, the then Duchess of Cambridge, and Queen Elizabeth – Jill Biden praised the great work of Prince Harry’s Invictus Games as she welcomed British veterans as part of its Joining Forces Initiative.
Harry and Meghan had formally relinquished their royal duties at the time.
She had kind words for the games Prince Harry created for disabled veterans and for Walking with the Wounded, another veterans group he supported.
‘I’ve done a lot with the Invictus Games and Walking with the Wounded. Joe and I met them. So there are so many connections and that’s why it was important to hear their stories and learn how they triumphed,” she said of her interest in veterans’ causes.
Jill Biden was a patron of Walk of America, a 2018 expedition led by Walking with the Wounded, a group of which Prince Harry was a patron. Harry walked with six veterans – three Americans and three British – on one of their British legs.
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