Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have returned to Sydney just in time to watch the final day of the Invictus Games before they head to New Zealand for the last leg of the Commonwealth tour. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrived the wheelchair basketball final at the Quay Centre just after the match started at 2.10pm, receiving a standing ovation from the crowd.
Pregnant Meghan was positively glowing, and chose a $550 maroon crepe knit wrap top by Australian designer Scanlan Theodore with a Remembrance Day poppy on her left side, teamed with black tapered pants and high heels for the event. Harry donned a black Invictus Games polo shirt to show his support for the athletes from the U.S. and the Netherlands, along with grey trousers and brown shoes. Dozens of fans grabbed their phones and cameras to snap photos of the royal couple as they made their way down the steps between the stands to their seats, while others shook Harry's hand. They didn't join Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Defence Minister Christopher Pyne, and retired sport stars David Beckham and Ian Thorpe in a reserved area, instead sitting with a group of uniformed soldiers. Beckham, who also attended the athletics on Friday night, was accompanied by his youngest son, Cruz, 13, but was without his wife, Victoria Beckham. The couple handed out the gold and silver medals after the match, which was won by the U.S. team 29-17. Meghan bent down to loop the medals over the American players' necks and shook their hands alongside Harry.
The royal couple will later attend the closing ceremony where they will both make speeches, as Harry did at the opening a week ago. Harry, who created the Games for wounded veterans after his time in the British Army, will likely take time out to meet some of the 500 competitors from 18 countries, as he did last weekend. The couple's afternoon start to the weekend followed a late Friday night for the pregnant Duchess where they attended the Australian Geographic Society gala awards at the Shanghai-La hotel. Meghan dazzled the ball in an $18,000 black and white Oscar de la Renta cocktail dress and accepted a toy wombat and numbat as gifts for her upcoming baby. Harry accepted an award for 'outstanding contribution' to global conservation on behalf of his grandmother Queen Elizabeth II, and made an impassioned speech about the plight of the world's forests. 'We cannot stand by and let our wildlife disappear from the earth and our fish from the seas. I think we can agree tonight that there cannot be any more excuses,' he said.
The event was just hours after their plane aborted its landing into Sydney Airport. Their Qantas charter flight from Tonga, a Boeing 737, pulled up from the runway seconds before touching down. Its pilot, Nigel Rosser, explained over the tannoy system that another plane on the runway had been 'slow to roll' and the two aircraft were too close so he decided to 'abort the landing'.
No comments:
Post a Comment