Prince Harry and Meghan Markle dazzled fans with their huge public displays of affection at the Invictus Games, but what are they really like behind the scenes? The Mirror’s Patrick Hill spent four days with the Sussexes and delivers his verdict

It was a moment that involved no speech, yet said more than a million words ever could.

After months of speculation about their marriage, Meghan leaned into Harry and tenderly put her head on his shoulder as they held hands. They may have been surrounded by more than 40,000 people at the Invictus Games opening ceremony, but despite the gaze of many being on them, it was clear they only had eyes for each other.

While enjoying a shared moment of satisfaction in what Harry, 40, has achieved to change the perception of injured military veterans worldwide, they were also sending a message of love, unity and togetherness about themselves.

The pair shared a loving kiss at the Invictus Games opening ceremony in Vancouver on Saturday ( 
Image:
Samir Hussein/WireImage)

The Duchess of Sussex watches the wheelchair basketball match between the USA v Nigeria during day one of the 2025 Invictus Games ( 
Image:
Karwai Tang/WireImage)
Some may baulk at the former actress and Harry’s public displays of affection during these Games, including a kiss worthy of ending any Hollywood movie. But watching them together here in Canada I have absolutely no doubt every single one is absolutely genuine and heartfelt.

I have been lucky enough to see them up close, as an accredited journalist, at three previous Invictus Games, including the one held in Toronto when they were pictured together for the first time. I was sent to Windsor to watch as they blissfully paraded through the streets after getting married in May the following year.

And I also saw them at events during their royal style tour of Colombia in August last year. But in all that time, I have never seen them looking so happy and in-step with each other as they have here in Vancouver and Whistler.

Outside temperatures have at times plunged as low as -12, but everywhere they have been together they have radiated genuine warmth and happiness.

The couple were in good spirits despite freezing temperatures on Tuesday ( 
Image:
Humphrey Nemar)

They laughed together on stage in Whistler after Harry joked Meghan was about to sing ( 
Image:
Humphrey Nemar/staff Photographer.)Harry publicly addressed rumours about he and Meghan’s marriage in December last year, as well as speculation about why they had chosen to carry out some work independently of each other. He laughed as he said: “Apparently we’ve bought or moved house 10, 12 times. We’ve apparently divorced maybe 10, 12 times as well. So it’s just like, what?’.

“It’s hard to keep up with, but that’s why you just sort of ignore it. The people I feel most sorry about are the trolls. Their hopes are just built and built, and it’s like, ‘Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes,’ and then it doesn’t happen. So I feel sorry for them. Genuinely, I do.”

During the same sit-down chat on stage in New York City, Harry also spoke of how he loves his life in Montecito, California, with Meghan, 43, and their two children Archie, five, and Lilibet, three. He added: “I feel as though it’s the life that my mum wanted for me.

“To be able to do the things I’m able to do with my kids that I undoubtedly wouldn’t be able to do in the UK — it’s huge. I’m hugely grateful for that.”

Harry and Meghan watching wheelchair curling in Whistler on Monday ( 
Image:
Humphrey Nemar)
There have been recent negative headlines about Meghan’s upcoming Netflix TV show, titled With Love, Meghan, and she and Harry have been upset by a new book and a cover piece in Vanity Fair, which included a string of lurid claims.

And everyone it seems has an opinion about Harry and Meghan and the way they are publicly perceived, including a group of women linked to the Nigerian Invictus team, who refused to speak to British journalists at one Invictus event on Sunday due to their belief they are against Meghan.

Biographer Tom Bower, who wrote a best-selling book about the couple and their separation from the royal family and was sitting in the press seats at the opening ceremony, also came in for some tough treatment from a Harry and Meghan fan in Vancouver earlier this week.

But broadly, everywhere Harry and Meghan went during their five-day trip together, there was nothing but positivity. From the very first moment they were first spotted arriving here in a cavalcade of cars, they have been seen almost constantly smiling and laughing, while enjoying each other’s company.

Meghan enjoyed Harry’s impression of a Canadian moose ( 
Image:
Humphrey Nemar)
At the wheelchair basketball finals on Sunday night, Meghan couldn’t help bursting out laughing at Harry’s goofy impression of a Canadian moose. She chuckled heartily, before jokingly admonishing him, after he joked that she was about to follow in their close pal Michael Buble’s footsteps by singing on stage to a crowd of more than 1,000 people on Monday.

And she was also seen visibly amused at the thought of him racing ten-year-old Australian schoolboy Hamish Greenstreet down the slopes in Whistler, before celebrating with a triumphant “yes!” at the finish line on Tuesday.

Cynthia Phelps, whose husband James served alongside Harry at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan in 2012, perfectly summed up the mood here about Harry and Meghan. She told me: “Meghan is always personable and very down to earth and just really cares about us. Every time she talks to us it’s very visible and genuine.

“They genuinely care about the healing journey of every single one of the competitors. It’s a blessing to be able to spend time with them.”

Former Suits star Meghan, who held Cynthia’s seven-month-old baby Laramie in her arms as she told how she was missing her own children, is now back in California on motherly duties.

For her, this year’s Invictus Games is over. But the memories she and Harry made here and the message it sent to the world will continue to be poured over and remembered for a long time to come.