Meghan Markle steals the show from Harry as she shares candid family moment in impromptu speech at Invictus Games launch

of the opening night shared on X by an attendee, Meghan introduced her hubby Harry.

She honoured him and also gushed about her return to Canada just hours after they landed.

Meghan said: "I was not planning on speaking tonight. We just arrived a couple of hours ago and I touched Canadian soil and I went, 'feels like home.'

"We are so excited and we also recognise most of you are probably so exhausted from how much travel you've done, how much adrenaline you have pumping, how excited you are for what is going to be one of the most outstanding, memorable, unforgettable, and connected weeks probably for you and your families.

"We are just thrilled to be here and I would be remiss if I didn't take the opportunity to introduce someone who means a lot to me and I know means quite a lot to all of you.

"You will see him throughout this week. You will see him at the games, you will see him probably curling with you and cheering you on at wheelchair basketball."

She also revealed how Harry has juggled organising the Invictus Games while fathering Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.

Meghan continued: "With families...the big rush in the morning and getting ready for school and packing the lunchboxes and making breakfast and my husband is in all of that with all of us.

"And then he'll be on his phone, and Archie will be like, 'Papa, why are you on your phone?' and he says, 'Because it's Invictus, I'm getting ready for Invictus.'

"It means so much to him. You are his family just as we are his family.

"And I hope you recognise how much of his heart he has poured into every single beat that has gotten all of you to this week, that's going to be spectacular.

"I need you to know that, how much it means to him and how much each of you mean to him.

"It is my entire pleasure and complete honour to introduce to the stage my husband, the father of our very sweet, excited children who are cheering you on from California, Prince Harry, founder of the Invictus Games, the Duke of Sussex."

Meghan then shared an intimate kiss with Harry on stage as he opened the Invictus Games.

She stood behind Harry wearing a brown dress while he gave a speech to cheers.

He jokingly asked the audience if anyone was tired and was greeted with shouts of "no".

Harry, 40, laughed and replied "well obviously team Canada is not tired, everybody else had to travel half way round the world to be here!".

The seventh edition of the games, established by Harry in 2014, has brought together more than 500 competitors from 23 nations.

It is the first time the games will include winter sports.

Meghan's attendance is understood to underscore her support for her husband and the mission of Invictus, a cause that is deeply personal to them both.

Her focus at the games will be on uplifting her husband, the competitors and sharing their stories.

The couple famously appeared in public together for the first time at the Toronto Invictus Games in 2017, pictured hand-in-hand at a wheelchair tennis event.

In 2023, Meghan and Harry cheered on athletes among the crowds at the Invictus Games in Dusseldorf, Germany.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were sitting side-by-side clapping and also reacting to the game tensely as they watched the wheelchair basketball with Australia supporters.

While Meghan is understood to have several projects on the horizon, her family remains her top priority and she is determined to continue to stand together with Harry to support the causes they care about.

The couple visited Colombia for a four-day tour last August, with the trip focusing on tackling cyber-bullying and online digital violence as well as promoting women's leadership.

They also embarked on a three-day visit to Nigeria earlier in 2024 at the invitation of the West African nation's chief of defence staff.

British veterans and serving personnel who were injured during service departed for Canada earlier this week for the games.

The 62 competitors - all veterans and serving personnel who sustained life-changing injuries and illnesses while serving in the UK Armed Forces - left the country from Birmingham Airport on Thursday.

The games aim to "inspire recovery, support rehabilitation and generate a wider understanding and respect for those who have served their country", the Royal British Legion said.

The games have previously been held in London in 2014, in Orlando in 2016, Toronto in 2017, Sydney in 2018, The Hague in 2022 and Dusseldorf in 2023.