Invictus Games: Prince Harry poses with BUDGIE SMUGGLERS gifted to him

A sheepish Prince Harry posed with skimpy budgie smugglers gifted to him by the cheeky Australian Invictus squad.

The Duke of Sussex laughed as athletes representing Team Australia presented him with a pair of swim briefs, as shown in photos from the reception shared by Aussie Invictus on Twitter.

Harry even appeared to stretch out his new green-and-yellow budgie smugglers, emblazoned with ‘Team Aus Down Under’ on the back, to make sure that they are the right size for him.

Team Australia said it wanted to keep up the ‘tradition of gifting stunning new budgie smugglers to the Duke’ – a nod to the 2018 Invictus Games, when Harry tried to wear similar briefs over his jeans.

A sheepish Prince Harry posed with skimpy budgie smugglers gifted to him by the cheeky Australian Invictus squad

The Duke of Sussex laughed as athletes representing Team Australia presented him with a pair of swim briefs, as shown in photos from the reception shared by Aussie Invictus on Twitter

The duke delighted his Aussie fans when he struggled to put the smugglers over the top of his trousers during an ABC TV Australia interview at the competition for injured veterans four years ago.

Aussie Invictus, the official Twitter account for Team Australia, posted photos of Harry posing with the briefs, writing: ‘Now that the Duke of Sussex is living in California, Team Australia thought it was appropriate to continue the tradition of gifting stunning new budgie smugglers to the Duke’.

At the 2018 Games, Harry was gifted the swimwear by Invictus Games competitors Nicole Bradley and Matt Model and paralympian Dylan Alcott at Admirality House in Sydney.

Footage of the moment Harry decided to try on the swimmers was shown on Invictus Games Today, with the royal laughing as he was given the present.

He exclaimed: ‘Oh, look at those. It doesn’t get any better than that, does it? This type of silky camouflage… only in Australia would you get something like this. It’s so wrong, but it’s wonderful.’

Prince Harry donned the Budgie Smugglers over his jeans and posed for a picture with smiling Invictus Games competitors and paralympian Dylan Alcott (right)

The royal inspected his gift and gave them a stretch before trying them on over his clothes

Meghan will carry out a ‘secret reading’ of her picture book The Bench for children at the Invictus Games before jetting back to California

Meghan Markle is set to stage a ‘secret reading’ of her debut book The Bench to children at the British Embassy tent at the Invictus Games tomorrow before jetting back to her luxurious £11million mansion in California, insiders have revealed.

The Duchess of Sussex last year proudly announced that she was inspired to write her £12.99 children’s pictured book after writing a poem for Prince Harry’s first Father’s Day in June 2019, the month after their now two-year-old son Archie was born.

Upon its release last year, The Bench topped the New York Times Bestsellers List for children’s picture books, but sold just 3,212 copies in the UK its first week – behind books by footballer Marcus Rashford and TV personality Richard Osman at the time.

Early reviews for the book were not universally positive, though one cooed that ‘the book’s storytelling and illustration give us snapshots of shared moments that evoke a deep sense of warmth’. Another described it as ‘soothing, loving, although a little schmaltzy in places’.

Insiders have told The Sun that Meghan will carry out a ‘secret reading’ of the book to children at the British Embassy tent on the Games park in Holland, where they are filming a Netflix documentary about the competition for injured military veterans. It is not known if the reading will feature in the new programme, entitled Heart of Invictus.

Posing for a photograph, Harry said: ‘With or without the budgie smugglers? It’s so tempting’ before putting them on over his jeans.’

Dylan Alcott, who is a Paralympic gold medallist in wheelchair tennis and wheelchair basketball, said at the time: ‘We gave him a gift. One of the athletes, Matt [Model], gave him a pair of budgie smugglers. And he put them on, over his jeans. It looks awesome.

‘He said: “Shall I put them on?” We said: “One hundred per cent.” So he put them on. Good on him.’

Harry and Meghan are set to address the audience at the televised event in The Hague, the Netherlands, which will be attended by members of the Dutch royal family and the country’s prime minister.

The couple made their first public appearance together in Europe since quitting as senior working royals more than two years ago when they attended a reception at the games on Friday.

Their appearance at The Hague’s Zuiderpark came after they visited the Queen and met with the Prince of Wales in Windsor on Thursday, having flown in from their home in the US.

Ahead of the opening ceremony on Saturday night, Harry and Meghan will watch the Land Rover Driving Challenge. Jaguar Land Rover provides financial backing for the games.

The opening ceremony will feature live performances by the Kaiser Chiefs, the Johan Willem Friso royal military band, singer-songwriter Anneke van Giersbergen, and rock band DI-RECT.

Princess Margriet, Prince Pieter-Christiaan and Prime Minister Mark Rutte are among those expected to attend, with Mr Rutte scheduled to give a speech on the importance of the Invictus Games.

A crew has joined Harry and Meghan at the games as part of filming for a Netflix documentary called Heart Of Invictus – a series from Archewell Productions following people who are competing at the event.

The Invictus Games Ukraine team manager – who is set to appear in the documentary – said she has discussed the importance of ‘having a voice’ with Meghan.

Oksana Horbach, 39, is in the Ukraine Armed Forces working in supply chain in Kyiv, supplying meals to servicemen and women.

She said: ‘I spoke with Meghan about the importance of having a voice and she totally understood that – be heard, be vocal, have a voice, just tell your own truth, your experience. It’s very important to her.

‘And she told me that it is something that they support profoundly, with full heart, to have this platform, Invictus Games platform, for the nations, especially for Ukraine, to be able to have that voice.’

Ms Horbach said the Netflix team was filming for the Invictus documentary on Friday, adding that at this stage she does not know how prominent she will be in the series.

Harry was seen smiling broadly and waving as he walked to the reception tent to meet dignitaries and athletes at the event

Harry and Meghan arrive at the Sportcampus Zuiderpark, The Hague, Netherlands, ahead of the Invictus Games 2022

‘The goal is to make a nice film. What we want to do is to do a nice movie, such as that people around the world know more about Invictus values, and about Ukraine as a nation participating in Invictus Games and what we are going through to actually make it happen for us,’ she said.

Harry founded the Invictus Games to aid the rehabilitation of injured or sick military personnel and veterans from across the globe, by giving them the challenge of competing in sporting events similar to the Paralympics.

Harry and Meghan’s trips to the UK and the Netherlands come after the pair were absent from the Duke of Edinburgh’s memorial service in London last month.

Harry is bringing a claim against the Home Office after being told he would no longer be given the same degree of personal protective security when visiting from the US, despite offering to pay for it himself.

The duke wants to bring his children to visit, but he and his family are ‘unable to return to his home’ because it is too dangerous, his legal representative has said.

The opening ceremony will be shown on the BBC.

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