PRINCE Harry’s Invictus charity has received a whopping £500,000 grant from Kate Middleton and Prince William – who are delighted at its ‘success’.
It comes as the Duke of Sussex is backing a major human rights campaign which aims to represent the world’s 1.2billion disabled people.
The Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge gave the grant despite Prince Harry and Meghan Markle repeatedly – and very publicly – hitting out at the family.
But the Daily Mail reported the Duke’s charity had seen its best year yet thanks to the grant from the Cambridges.
A courtier told the publication that the Cambridges had “always supported Harry’s efforts to establish Invictus” and the couple are “delighted that it has been a success”.
It added that “the huge transfer of £560,984 meant that Invictus could boast an income of £1.77 million last year in newly published accounts.
“That’s a huge jump on 2019 when its income was £1.06 million.”
Prince Harry set up the multi-sport Invictus Games for wounded military personal from allied nations.
The Games support the rehab and recovery of wounded veterans.
Prince Harry’s Invictus Games will return in the Hague, Netherlands, from April 16-22 in 2022, before heading to Germany the following year.
It comes days after the royal family was said to be braced for the publication of Harry’s memoirs next year, which he has written “not as the prince I was born but as the man I have become”.
Harry and wife Meghan Markle’s pal Omid Scobie, who co-authored their biography Finding Freedom , said the couple are about to enter a new era of visibility.
He revealed that the “thriving” pair are “really excited” about the busy schedule ahead following the end of their parental leave.
“They’re a couple who do very well in those moments of human interaction. They need to be on the ground,” Scobie told PEOPLE.
“They say that the proof is in the pudding, and what we are about to see is that pudding.”
Cambridge’s generous grant also comes as Prince Harry supports a mammoth worldwide campaign to represent 1.2billion disabled people.
‘WeThe15’ – denoting the percentage of the global population living with disabilities – will launch ahead of the Tokyo Paralympics in the hope of ending discrimination by striving for visibility, accessibility and inclusion.
Prince Harry, patron of the Invictus Games Foundation, said in a statement: “One of the reasons why I was inspired to create the Invictus Games was to help destigmatise physical and invisible injuries and give the men and women who have experienced them a platform to show the world that they and we can accomplish anything, when we put our mind to it.
“Everybody at the Invictus Games Foundation is honoured to join the WeThe15 campaign and believe in its mission to inspire meaningful change in communities around the world.”
To mark the launch, more than 125 world landmarks – including the London Eye, Empire State Building and Colosseum in Rome – were lit up in purple on August 19, the colour associated with the disability community.
A 90-second film promoting the campaign will be played during next week’s Paralympic Games opening ceremony.
Just last year Harry said sport can “bring you back from the darkest places” as he praised the Paralympics in a Netflix documentary.
Speaking in the film Rising Phoenix, he said: “There isn’t anything else in the world that can bring you back from the darkest places than sport.
“Yes, lives are being changed on the track.
“But lives are also being changed on the stands.”
LIFELONG PASSION
Sport has been a lifelong passion of Prince Harry’s, with the royal setting up the Invictus Games in 2014.
The event for wounded service personnel sees thousands of fans flock in from over 20 countries.
In an inspiring speech about Invictus athletes in 2019, Harry said: “I think, in the last five years, these guys have completely changed how we view disability, how we view mental health. This is all them.
“We merely created a platform in order for them to shine and it’s genuinely been one of the greatest honours of my life to get to know all you guys and to see you through this process.
“We’ve had some laughs, we’ve had some tears, and I can’t ever thank you enough for the impact that you have had across the world, to be able to create better understanding for those people who put the uniform on.”
