The Evolution Of Prince Harry

After his fairytale wedding, Prince Harry has found true happiness and this month the charismatic royal couple arrives on our shores. Juliet Rieden explores the maturing of the one-time party Prince, how the Invictus Games have shaped him and why his wife, Meghan, will inspire New Zealand and Australia.

- Juliet Rieden

It’s hard to believe it was only a year ago at the Toronto Invictus Games that Prince Harry introduced his new girlfriend to the world. That moment was highly orchestrated, a piece of delicious theatre by the royal’s Kensington Palace aides, but it was still 100 per cent Prince Harry – laid back yet passionate.

After intense media scrutiny and many blissful months dating in secret, Prince Harry chose the Toronto Invictus Games to let the world in. It didn’t take much. The couple simply strode hand-in-hand into the stadium and quietly sat down, joining the crowds courtside to watch a wheelchair tennis match between competitors from Australia and New Zealand.

Harry and Meghan laughed, couldn’t stop smiling and applauded, and their body language said it all. She was in ripped jeans and an on-trend white shirt tucked in on one side; His Royal Highness was snake-hipped in navy chinos and an Invictus polo shirt. Both wore shades but they couldn’t hide what was going on inside. This was a couple in love.

Dominic Reid, Chief Executive of the Invictus Games Foundation, was with Meghan on that day. “I didn’t know until perhaps five minutes beforehand that this was going to happen,” he tells The Australian Women’s Weekly. “We knew that it would probably happen sometime during the week, but the detail of it was very, very tightly guarded.”