Prince Harry will arrive in Toronto on Monday to launch the Invictus Games. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will also be present to help officially launch the games that will be held in the city in September 2017.
The two will have a private meeting at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel on Monday morning. In a more public affair, Premier Kathleen Wynne, Mayor John Tory of Toronto and 27 sledge hockey players will join the duo later on.
Trudeau and His Royal Highness are set to spend most of the day together by attending an ice sledge hockey event in the afternoon, according to CBC News. The visit of Prince Harry to Canada marks a rare appearance since he has only been to the country twice as a child and as a teenager for military exercises.
Harry makes the stop to Toronto before heading to Orlando, Florida for this year's host of the games. The Invictus Games was founded by Prince Harry, which will feature adaptive sports competitions for wounded, injured and sick soldiers and veterans.
Prince Harry initiated the idea after seeing the Warrior Games staged in Colorado in 2013, according to The Guardian. Invictus Games ensures that UK troops would not be forgotten even after Britain involvement in Afghanistan came to an end in 2014.
The 31-year-old prince formerly served as an Apache helicopter pilot to the British armed forces in Afghanistan. The royal used to make headlines for his partying ways but has now found new focus in his charitable work. He also has a special intent in offering support for people who have been of service and to their families.
Prince Harry is extremely invested in this cause, according to Michael Burns, chief executive officer of the Invictus Games 2017. Burns explains that the royal saw for himself the horrors of war along with the challenges and struggles of what people had to go through.
Burns also noted that the chance to host the Invictus Games in Canada is a once in a lifetime opportunity. "There is nothing we could create or manufacturer in this country that could possibly equal the kind of attention and awareness [of] these games with the prince and with this cause combined," said Burns.
