The injured veterans charity, Help for Heroes, will no longer lead Team UK at The Duke of Sussex’s Invictus Games after it was revealed that the Ministry of Defence has stripped the charity of its responsibilities. Going forward, the Royal British Legion will take over leading Team UK at the injured veterans event.
The Ministry of Defence said the decision to give the responsibilities to the Royal British Legion had been made because the Legion could “provide more personnel, secure funding and commit to support the team in the future.”
Help for Heroes have emphasised that this decision was out of their hands. Lis Skeet, Services Director at Help for Heroes commented, “Help for Heroes is incredibly proud to have trained, supported and delivered Team UK for the past five Invictus Games. However, following extensive discussions, it has been decided by the MOD that the Royal British Legion will lead the end-to-end delivery of Team UK to the Invictus Games for the next five years and will also be the main funder of the programme. Unfortunately, therefore, we will no longer be directly involved in Invictus Team UK.”
The Duke of Sussex, who is Patron of the Invictus Games Foundation, came up with the idea of the games after witnessing the impact that sport had on wounded soldiers at the Warrior Games in the United States.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence said, “The Royal British Legion was able to offer secure funding, more personnel to support the team and a commitment to supporting Team UK into the future. We remain enormously grateful for all the work Help for Heroes has done to take Team UK to the Invictus Games and continue to work with them to support the Armed Forces community.”
The Invictus Foundation have said they were not a part of this decision and will continue to work with the charity.
Prince Harry has yet to comment publicly on the Ministry of Defence’s decision.
Photo: Ministerie van Defensie