Prince Harry encouraged veterans getting ready for last year’s Invictus Games to ‘just cry’ if they get emotional as he gave Team UK athletes an inspirational speech, a new program has revealed.
During a video call shown during the third episode of Netflix’s Heart of Invictus, which aired today, the 38-year-old Duke of Sussex thanked former soldiers for their work and encouraged them to immerse themselves in the moment.
“You did it every day while wearing a uniform and for some reason that uniform had to be hung up,” the royal family told the huge group, led by Team UK captain Rachel Williamson, just weeks before the games from last year in April 2022.
“That service that is in your blood, in our blood – that never leaves the body. It’s there.
“So if you’re out there hitting a ball, trying to win a medal or just having fun and making your family incredibly proud – if you feel that feeling in your throat and feel like you might want to cry – then just fucking cry , Okay? I mean it.
Prince Harry had encouraged veterans preparing for the Invictus Games last year to ‘just cry’ if they got emotional as he gave Team UK athletes an inspirational speech
‘Take care, take care of yourself, take care of each other too.’
In the show’s third episode, veterans of national teams around the world laid bare the realities of living with their injuries, both physical and mental.
All five episodes of the docuseries were made available at 8am UK time (midnight California time), following previous speculation that Netflix had canceled the show.
The limited series was released ahead of next month’s Invictus Games, which will take place in Dusseldorf over eight days from September 9 and will be attended by Harry and Meghan.
Harry is the executive producer and the show is part of the Sussexes’ deal with Netflix – with the main output so far being last year’s controversial Harry & Meghan documentary, which included a series of swipes at members of the royal family. contained.
The Invictus documentary is under pressure to become a viewing success after the couple’s other lucrative media deal with Spotify ended in June after one season of Meghan’s podcast Archetypes. Netflix unveiled the first trailer for the series on August 16.
It comes after Netflix paid £3 million for the movie rights to Carley Fortune’s romance novel Meet Me At The Lake, which Harry and Meghan will produce for the service.
During the new Invictus series, Harry talks about post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and trauma in war zones in a segment, providing insight into his own experiences.
During a video call as shown during the third episode of Netflix’s Heart of Invictus, which aired today, the 38-year-old Duke of Sussex thanked former soldiers for their work
In the show’s third episode, veterans of national teams around the world laid bare the realities of living with their injuries, both physical and mental.
He says, “Look, I can only speak from my own experience, but flying Apaches on my 2012 tour of Afghanistan in 2012, something unraveled sometime after that.
And the trigger for me was actually the return from Afghanistan, but the things that came up dated back to 1997 from the age of 12. Losing my mother at such a young age, the trauma I had, I was never aware of.
“It was never discussed and I didn’t really talk about it and I suppressed it like most other young people would have. When it all came out I bounced off the walls – what’s going on here? – I now feel everything instead of being young.
“The biggest problem for me was that no one around me could really help. I didn’t have that support structure, network, or expert advice to identify what was really wrong with me.
“Unfortunately, like most of us, the first time you consider therapy is when you’re lying on the floor in a fetal position, probably wishing you had dealt with this sort of thing sooner. And that’s what I really want to change.’