Prince Harry loses ‘Help for Heroes’ support for Invictus Games

Prince Harry’s Invictus Games have lost support from ‘Help for Heroes’ after five years as a veterans’ charity training competitors from the UK

The charity, which normally raises around £27million a year, will no longer support players at future games. According to The Sun, the Ministry of Defense (MoD) stripped the charity of its contract. Instead, the Royal British Legion (RBL) will take over as they can provide “more secure funding, more staff to support the team and a commitment to support the UK team in the future”.

A Ministry of Defense spokesperson said in a statement that it “believes this would be the best choice for the UK team. Our priority is always to ensure that the UK team and our wounded, injured and ill service members and veterans get the best experience. We remain extremely grateful for all the work Help For Heroes has done to bring the UK team to the Invictus Games and continue to work with them to support the armed forces community. »

Meanwhile, Lis Skeet of “Help for Heroes” said the decision to terminate the association’s contract with Invictus Games was beyond their control. But the group are “incredibly proud to have trained, supported and delivered the UK team over the past five Invictus Games”.

Skeet said the Ministry of Defense had decided, after “extensive discussions”, that the Royal British Legion would “lead the end-to-end delivery of the UK team to the Invictus Games”. It will accompany the players for the next five years. He will also be “the main funder of the program” and that “Help for Heroes” will “no longer be directly involved with Invictus Team UK”.

Skeet added: “We would like to emphasize that this was not a decision that we made ourselves. We know that the Games continue to play a unique role in highlighting the abilities of injured veterans. The Ministry of Defense has reviewed the proposals from the Invictus UK partnership and has chosen this path to move forward. »

Now ‘Help for Heroes’ aim is to ‘help more people across the UK, within their communities’ as part of its promise to be there for injured veterans for as long as necessary. He will also continue to support the Invictus Games and Team UK in future competitions.