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British Prince Harry, on the left, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, the second on the left, and representatives of Invictus Games climb the Sydney Harbor Bridge in Sydney on Tuesday, October 19, 2018. Prince Harry and his wife Meghan celebrate the fourth day of their 16th birthday. day trip to Australia and the South Pacific. (Steve Christo, Pool / Associated Press)
SYDNEY – Prince Harry climbed the Sydney Harbor Bridge on Friday to raise a flag marking the arrival of the Invictus Games, his original idea and the center of his royal tour of Australia and the South Pacific.
The sporting event, founded by Harry in 2014, begins Saturday. It gives sick and injured members and veterans the opportunity to participate in sports such as wheelchair basketball and find inspiration to recover.
The fact that the Duchess of Sussex never planned to climb with her husband on the largest steel arch bridge in the world fueled the speculation that she would be pregnant. Speculation was confirmed on Monday when Harry and the former Meghan Markle announced that their first child was due to give birth in northern spring.
Harry, Prime Minister Scott Morrison, four members of the Australian team and the widow of an Australian veteran climbed over 1,000 steps to the rear of an arch to hoist the flag of the Invictus Games in Sydney 2018.
"The Sydney Harbor Bridge is an Australian icon and I do not see any better place to raise the flag …," said Morrison in a statement.
During the descent, Harry hugged his fellow mountaineer, Gwen Cherne, ambassador of the games whose husband, Peter Cafe, a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, committed suicide in February.
"We were talking about mental health and were really working to change the way our global community views mental health and trafficking," Cherne said later.
The flag will fly 134 meters above Sydney Harbor until the games close on 27 October.
Harry and his former American actress will attend the opening and closing ceremonies of the games. Approximately 500 athletes from 18 countries will be competing around Sydney.
Earlier on Friday, the couple walked barefoot on Bondi Beach to meet a group of surfers focused on mental wellness.
The group, OneWave, meets weekly in a "bad mood circle" on the sand.
While the group was dressed in noisy and scandalous fluorescent outfits, Harry and Meghan were more moderate, but their message to the group was clear.
"They are super passionate about mental health. They show that mental health does not discriminate, "said OneWave co-founder Grant Trebilco.
Charlotte Connell, a member of OneWave, said Harry had recounted his own consulting experience more than 20 years after the death of his mother, Princess Diana, in a car accident in a Paris tunnel in 1997, at the 39, 12 years old.
"Harry said that it had not taken him six months, but 18 months to find the right person to talk to. "You're not going to find the right person to talk to right now," Connell said.
Harry and Meghan both used exercise as a way to keep fit, Connell said.
"Even in her jet lag, she got up in the morning and did yoga at 4:30," Connell said.
"She said it was so good for healing her mind," Connell added.
After Bondi, the couple made an unannounced visit to Parramatta Girls' High School Macarthur in central Sydney.
The screaming students welcomed the couple as a rock star in a school assembly.
"When they came in, I had the impression that my heart had stopped. Their presence shocked everyone, "said Rhiannon, a 15-year-old student.
The couple ended the day by holding official meetings with Morrison and opposition leader Bill Shorten.
Harry and Meghan will also travel to Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand during their 16-day tour.
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McGuirk has been reported in Canberra, Australia.
Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, disseminated, rewritten or redistributed.
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