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The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are in Vancouver and Whistler for the Invictus Games 2025’s One Year to Go celebrations
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are spending the week anticipating the 2025 Invictus Games.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex ventured up to Canada for the Invictus Games Vancouver Whistler 2025’s One Year to Go celebrations. The royal couple will be on-site at Winter Training Camp to participating athletes from various nations set to compete in the winter adaptive sports competition next year.
The 2025 Invictus Games in British Columbia will be the first winter edition of the athletic trials and seventh-ever tournament since Prince Harry founded the adaptive sporting event in 2014.
See photos of Prince Harry and Meghan on the ground in Whistler, where they’re meeting service personnel and veterans demonstrating how much one can achieve post-injury.
Cooling Off in Canada
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The couple bundled up in warm winter clothes to brave the icy temperatures in Whistler, where they spoke with athletes in adaptive skis and their guides.
The Countdown Begins
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Ahead of the 2025 Invictus Games, the Duke and Duchess are visiting the participating nations’ Winter Training Camp to chat with members set to compete next year.
The Full Experience
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During their trip, Prince Harry got to experience a taste of the competition when he got into an adaptive ski and tried a run for himself.
New Opportunities
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Seventh Year Running
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Challenging Feats
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On the ground in Canada, PEOPLE spoke to several new and season Invictus athletes about how they’re preparing for the competition in 2025.
Ivan Morera — who represented Team U.S.A. in Germany last year — is learning how to ski and snowboard for the upcoming games.
“I love to challenge myself just to build resilience and show that I’m still capable of being physically active even with my adaptation. I’ve had a great time here,” he told PEOPLE.
Meet & Greet
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Morera, who is a single-arm amputee following an incident while he was serving Afghanistan, told PEOPLE he has “a lot of respect” for the Duke of Sussex.
“I look forward to meeting Prince Harry, just shaking his hand and, ‘Hey, thank you for your service and thank you for this opportunity,” Morera said at Winter Training Camp.
‘Like a Family’
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Rosa Sanchez Bermudez, the Invictus Games’ first female competitor from Colombia told PEOPLE, “Invictus Games are like a family.”
This week marks her first time meeting Prince Harry and Meghan, even though she competed in Germany in 2023. “I’m happy and proud about that,” said Sanchez Bermudez, who was injured in her work as a police officer.
Overcoming & Achieving
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Nearly two years ago, Prince Harry opened up about how the Invictus Games changed his life in an exclusive PEOPLE cover story.
“Life is full of extraordinary gifts and challenges, many that can be seen as lessons,” he said in April 2022, when the postponed 2020 Invictus Games commenced. “Over time, I’ve learned that how we mentally approach and react to the ups and downs — those gifts and challenges — is what helps to define our own outcome.”
An Honorable Sacrifice
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Prince Harry continued, “When I was in the Army, I promised myself I would be out before having a wife and kids, because I couldn’t imagine the heartache of being apart for so long during deployment, the risk of possibly getting injured, and the reality that my family’s lives could be changed forever if that happened.”
“Every member of the Invictus community has experienced varying degrees of these things,” the royal told PEOPLE. “I have tremendous respect for what they and their families sacrifice in the name of service.”
