Prince Harry says he wants to teach Archie and Lilibet the importance of ‘finding their purpose’
Two-year-old Archie is already a fan of the Invictus Games
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Your support makes all the difference.Prince Harry has shared the valuable life lessons he hopes to pass down to his son Archie and daughter Lilibet.
The Duke of Sussex is currently in The Hague, Netherlands, to attend the Invictus Games, a sporting competition for wounded army veterans which he founded in 2014.
He was also joined by the Duchess of Sussex over the weekend, marking the couple’s first public appearance together in Europe since stepping down as senior royals and moving to California in 2020.
As the games draw to an end on Friday, Harry – who served in Afghanistan as an Apache helicopter co-pilot gunner during 2012-13 – has reflected on his own time in the military and the advice he plans to share with his children.
“That I am grateful for every experience I had in and out of my uniform,” he said in a new interview with People, adding that he wants both Lilibet, 10 months, and Archie, 2, to know about his years of service.
“That I learned how to be in true service for others. That finding your purpose is one of the most gratifying experiences. And that working hard should be fulfilling and rewarding at the same time.”
The next Invictus Games are set to take place in 2025, with Harry announcing on Friday that the event will be hosted in Vancouver, Canada.
He said he hopes to bring his children to the games someday, and that he has already introduced Archie to the competition.
“I showed Archie a video of wheelchair basketball and rugby from the Invictus Games in Sydney, and he absolutely loved it,” he said.
“I showed him how some were missing legs and explained that some had invisible injuries, too.
“Not because he asked, but because I wanted to tell him. Kids understand so much, and to see it through his eyes was amazing because it’s so unfiltered and honest.”
The duke, who married Meghan Markle in 2018, also spoke about the emotional toll on families when a mother or father is deployed to the army, sharing that he “promised” himself he “would be out [of the Army] 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,” he said.
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