PRINCE Harry’s Invictus Games will be held in Birmingham – meaning the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will return to the UK.
The West Midlands city will be opened today in a ceremony and flag raising.
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Harry will not attend the ceremony, but he and Meg are expected to return for the games, which will take place in 2027.
Meghan, 42, has joined Harry, 39, at every Invictus Games while they have been together, following their first appearance at the 2017 games in Toronto.
She has avoided the UK since the late Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral in 2022, as well as spending just a few hours at Heathrow while changing flights ahead of the couple’s “pseudo-royal” trip to Nigeria in May.
The last time Harry held his games for injured soldiers in the UK in 2014, the London games were attended by William, Camilla and Charles.
It turns out that Invictus CEO Dominic Reid has stepped down from his role and next year the Invictus Games will be in Whistler and Vancouver, Canada.
Prince Harry said: “Congratulations to Birmingham, UK, on winning the bid to host the 2027 Invictus Games.
“Your city’s strong ties to the Armed Forces community made it a formidable candidate from the start.
“Over the years, we have seen each city bring a unique spirit and vision to life for the competitors, their families and spectators.
“We have no doubt that the people of Birmingham will come together to celebrate the unwavering respect and admiration we have for our veteran and service community, showing the world how their courage ignites hope and unites us all – something that your city knows well.”
Harry and Meghan do not have permanent residency in the UK after being evicted from Frogmore Cottage.
It comes after controversy erupted over Harry’s latest trip to the UK to mark the 10th anniversary of his Invictus Games.
The duke flew from his £2million apartment in Montecito to attend the star-studded bash at St Paul’s Cathedral in May.
Doubts were cast over whether a meeting would be held with King Charles, as the monarch hosted a garden party at Buckingham Palace just a few miles away.
Despite speculation that the Royal Family’s health shocks could bring father and son closer together, the two have not met.
Prince Harry’s last visit to the UK
PRINCE Harry touched down back in Britain for a quick trip to the UK – but he didn’t see King Charles.
The Duke of Sussex traveled from California for a service at St Paul’s Cathedral to mark the 10th anniversary of his Invictus Games.
Harry flew to the UK alone, without Meghan or their children Archie and Lilibet.
He revealed he would not be seeing his father, King Charles, after they gathered at Clarence House in February for their first face-to-face meeting in 16 months.
The duke said he “hopes to see your father soon.”
He also hasn’t seen his brother, Prince William.
Charles, 75, resumed public duties a week earlier, for the first time since beginning cancer treatment.
It was rumored that he would meet Harry as he was due to attend the first Buckingham Palace garden party of the year.
But a spokesperson for Harry said that was not the case.
They said: “Unfortunately it will not be possible due to Her Majesty’s full programme.
“The Duke, of course, understands his father’s schedule and various other priorities and looks forward to seeing him soon.”
A spokesperson for Harry said Her Majesty’s schedule was “too busy” to accommodate her son.
However, sources close to Carlos claimed that he extended an olive branch to the duke and offered him a stay in a royal residence.
Sources claimed this was rejected by Harry, who opted to book a hotel.
Father and son last met in February this year, after the duke made a 24-hour transatlantic trip for a 30-minute reunion.
It is not known whether the Royal Family will open its doors to Harry and Meghan when they arrive in Birmingham for the next Invictus Games.
A royal expert has claimed the Sussexes would never be invited to a family gathering again.
Royal correspondent Sarah Hewson told The Sun’s Royal Exclusive program how the current state of family affairs is “a mess, and it’s a very regrettable mess”.
However, others speculated that Harry and Charles could repair their fractured relationship over time due to the king’s cancer diagnosis.
Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams told The Sun: “A serious illness is the big change, despite everything that has happened, given the gravity of the situation anything can happen.
“There may be something that surprises us all. You could have all the Sussexes here, it’s entirely possible a reunion could happen.
“Next week, next month, next year, you could achieve something you never dreamed you could achieve.”
However, there remains a big question mark over the Duke and Prince William’s “firmly cemented feud” following vile attacks made in Harry’s memoir Spare.
A timeline of Prince Harry and William’s ‘rivalry’: Brothers ‘at war’
In 2018, the Sun told how the “simmering tension” began when William questioned the speed of Harry and Meghan’s engagement.
The first signs of friction emerged after William was introduced to Meghan when she was staying at Kensington Palace.
Once she returned home to Canada, William and Harry sat down for a sibling chat.
He knew Harry was already crazy about her, but it was claimed he advised him to take it slow.
The younger prince reportedly didn’t take the advice very well, with a royal source saying he “went crazy.”
Then, in June 2019, Harry and Meghan officially split from the charity they shared with William and Kate.
The Royal Foundation will be split between the Sussexes and the Cambridges, while the couples focus on their own separate charitable efforts.
Prince William and Prince Harry first established the Royal Foundation in 2009, before Kate joined two years later, shortly after their engagement was announced.
The trio often appeared together at events and the Foundation has had huge success with projects such as the Invictus Games for injured veterans and the Heads Together mental health campaign.
The Royal Foundation said the decision was made after completing a review of its structure – but added that the two couples would continue to work together in the future.
Harry and Meg lived near Kate and Wills on the Kensington Palace estate, but moved to Frogmore Cottage in Windsor before baby Archie was born.
The move further fueled rumors of a fallout.
Harry, 39, also hinted in his ITV documentary “Harry and Meghan, An African Journey” that he and his brother had grown apart.
This came after Prince Philip called Meghan “DOW”, after the Duchess of Windsor – the American divorcee who led Edward VIII to abdicate.
And he warned the late queen to be “cautious” with Harry’s then-fiancée, claims a royal author.
Ingrid Seward revealed in new book My Mother And I that Prince Philip felt it was “strange… how much Meghan reminded him of the Duchess of Windsor”.
In 2021, Harry and Meghan gave their bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey, where Harry accused his father of holding him back financially.
Harry then flew back to the UK to join William in unveiling a statue of his mother, Princess Diana, in the grounds of Kensington Palace. But sources said William did not want to attend the memorial amid the fallout.
In 2022, shortly before the death of her grandmother, the Queen, sources claimed that Kate acts as a “peacemaker” between the siblings.
Last year, Harry claimed his brother “knocked him to the ground” during an argument about Meghan.
In his book Spare, Harry claimed that William called Meghan “rude” and “difficult” during a fight.
Harry claimed that William “grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace, and…knocked me to the ground.”
He claimed he was left with a visible injury to his back following the 2019 argument at Nottingham Cottage, in the grounds of Kensington Palace, where he lived at the time.
In January this year, Harry flew to be with Charles following the shock of the monarch’s cancer diagnosis.
Harry flew back to the US the next day – without seeing Wills.
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