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After more than two years in production, Netflix has released a new Archewell Productions docuseries, Heart of Invictus, and to celebrate, Prince Harry made a surprise appearance in an unexpected part of Southern California. Harry joined a crowd full of USO volunteers at a sneak preview of the documentary at an AMC theater in Chula Vista, where he spoke about the meaning of the documentary—and posed for a few selfies.
“Harry is every bit as gracious in person as in the media in his mission to support veterans across the world,” said one crowd member on Instagram. “As a military spouse, USO volunteer, and someone who is passionate about military advocacy, this event was one of a kind and I am so thankful for the experience.”
At midnight Pacific time, the series premiered on the streaming platform, and though it primarily focuses on a handful of veterans as they prepared for the 2022 Invictus Games in the Hague, Harry makes a few appearances to discuss his own experiences as a soldier and the life events that led him to found the Invictus Games in 2014.
He discussed the 1997 death of his mother, Princess Diana, and his initial inability to process his grief. “I can only speak for my personal experience, my tour of Afghanistan in 2012 flying Apaches, somewhere after that there was an unraveling and the trigger to me was actually returning from Afghanistan,” the prince said in one scene. “I suppressed it like most youngsters would have done—but then when it all came fizzing out I was bouncing off the walls, I was like, ‘What is going on here? I am now feeling everything as opposed to being numb.’”
In another scene, Harry makes a sweet reference to his two young children, Archie, and Lilibet. “On any given day, I’m a dad of two under three-year-olds, got a couple of dogs, [I’m] a husband, I’m founding patron of Invictus Games Foundation,” he said. (Since the scene was filmed, Archie has celebrated a birthday and is now four years old.) “There’s lots of hats one wears, but I believe today is all about Invictus.”
The sixth edition of the Invictus Games, a sporting competition for wounded veterans, is set to begin on September 9 in Düsseldorf, Germany, and Harry is planning to attend. His wife, Meghan Markle, is set to join him at the event for the last few days.
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