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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Catherine Wylie & Milo Boyd

Invictus Games: Harry swerves obstacles in Land Rover as proud Meghan Markle watches

The Duke of Sussex has been putting the pedal to the metal during a driving challenge in the Netherlands.

Meghan Markle watched on as her husband burned some serious rubber during a driving challenge held by Jaguar Land Rover at the Invictus Games in The Hague.

Prince Harry navigated a course of bridge structures, ramps and rocks in front of a large crowd which cheered wildly as he made it over a particularly difficult looking bump.

The couple were dressed in casual clothes for the event on Saturday afternoon, which took place in blazing hot sunshine.

Meghan wore a £2,400 Celine jacket, pairing it with £266 jeans, £660 Chanel ballet pump shoes and a £1,950 Celine handbag.

A specially designed course has been built at the Zuiderpark in The Hague where all the events involving 500 competitors from 20 countries will take part.

Harry seem completely immersed in the challenge (Humphrey Nemar)
Harry and Meghan arrived in the Netherlands for their first public appearance in Europe in two years (Getty Images for the Invictus Ga)

After jumping out of the full sized Land Rover - which sponsors the event - Harry and Meghan hopped into the passenger seats of two miniature off roaders.

The Duke and Duchess beamed as they were driven round a small track by young Dutch and Italian representatives respectively.

Meghan was driven around by five-year-old French girl Mya Poirot, while Harry was driven by four-year-old Dutch girl Scarlet Vroegop.

At one point Meghan appeared to praise Mya for her driving as she could be seen applauding.

Harry and Meghan are set to address the audience at a televised event in The Hague later this evening to mark the start of the games.

The opening ceremony will feature live performances by the Kaiser Chiefs, the Johan Willem Friso royal military band, singer-songwriter Anneke van Giersbergen, and rock band DI-RECT.

Princess Margriet, Prince Pieter-Christiaan and Prime Minister Mark Rutte are among those expected to attend, with Mr Rutte scheduled to give a speech on the importance of the Invictus Games.

A crew has joined Harry and Meghan at the games as part of filming for a Netflix documentary called Heart Of Invictus – a series from Archewell Productions following people who are competing at the event.

Harry and Meghan are driven around a track in mini cars (Humphrey Nemar)
The couple beams as the two youngsters drive them around (Humphrey Nemar)

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The Invictus Games Ukraine team manager – who is set to appear in the documentary – said she has discussed the importance of “having a voice” with Meghan.

Oksana Horbach, 39, is in the Ukraine Armed Forces working in supply chain in Kyiv, supplying meals to servicemen and women.

She said: “I spoke with Meghan about the importance of having a voice and she totally understood that – be heard, be vocal, have a voice, just tell your own truth, your experience. It’s very important to her.

“And she told me that it is something that they support profoundly, with full heart, to have this platform, Invictus Games platform, for the nations, especially for Ukraine, to be able to have that voice.”

Ms Horbach said the Netflix team was filming for the Invictus documentary on Friday, adding that at this stage she does not know how prominent she will be in the series.

“The goal is to make a nice film. What we want to do is to do a nice movie, such as that people around the world know more about Invictus values, and about Ukraine as a nation participating in Invictus Games and what we are going through to actually make it happen for us,” she said.

Meghan cheered on Harry during the challenge (PA)
The pair wore casual wear for the occasion (Samir Hussein/WireImage)

Harry founded the Invictus Games to aid the rehabilitation of injured or sick military personnel and veterans from across the globe, by giving them the challenge of competing in sporting events similar to the Paralympics.

Harry and Meghan’s trips to the UK and the Netherlands come after the pair were absent from the Duke of Edinburgh’s memorial service in London last month.

Harry is bringing a claim against the Home Office after being told he would no longer be given the same degree of personal protective security when visiting from the US, despite offering to pay for it himself.

The duke wants to bring his children to visit, but he and his family are “unable to return to his home” because it is too dangerous, his legal representative has said.

The opening ceremony will be shown on the BBC.

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