Meghan Markle has disappeared from the media schedule at the Invictus Games, prompting confusion around what role, if any, she will take at the event.
The official guide for the games, which will begin in Dusseldorf in Germany this weekend, suggested Meghan was set to “take to the stage” for the closing ceremony. She was due to host a segment about the competitors.
Howver, according to the Daily Mail, there is no mention of the Ducess of Sussex’s role in a separate listing on the website. A “detailed schedule” suggests presenter Hadnet Tesfai will replace the duchess.
The now-deleted passage allegedly said the duchess would “‘take to the stage to host the intimate and moving glimpse into the extraordinary journeys of the Invictus Games competitors.”
Daily Mail sources suggest the original entry however was an error.
Prince Harry, 38, who founded the paralympic-style competition for injured military personnel and veterans, is set to deliver a welcome speech at the opening ceremony. While Meghan, 42, who has children Prince Archie, four, and Princess Lilibet, two, with Harry, will join him at the eight-day event later in the week.
The duchess only made a brief appearance in Prince Harry’s recent Netflix documentary, Heart of Invictus, where he discusses the 2020 games at The Hague. At the 2022 competition, Meghan took to the stage to pay tribute to the competitors – she then introduced her husband to the crowds.
Harry’s arrival in Dusseldorf on Saturday is set to coincide with a protest, says the Daily Mail. Activists there claim the German military will use the games to target students and recruit them to the armed forces.
Organiser Lukas Baumer told the Rheinische Post that the Invictus Games contribute to “the constant normalisation of war”. He says it is a “big advertising tour for the Bundeswehr” – the German military – who are co-hosting the competition with the City of Dusseldorf.
A spokesman for the Invictus Games said one of its “aims is to stimulate social discourse on the topics of the military and foreign missions” and insisted “there are – at no time – elements of recruitment for the Bundeswehr”.
