He first started playing football in South-West Senegal when, aged 13, he watched Liverpool’s famous comeback against AC Milan in the 2005 Champions League final on its red earth-lined streets and sandy pitches.
He has since won the prestigious trophy and the Premier League with the Reds, as well as the Africa Cup of Nations title with the Teranga Lions.
In the 2021 edition’s final, Mane scored the winning penalty and described it as “the best day of my life and the best trophy of my life.”
Following that victory, Sedhiou, a stadium was named after him in the city of Sedhiou in recognition of his accomplishments.
The forward now has a chance to win a second Afcon title when Senegal takes on Morocco on Sunday at 5:00 pt. m. et in Rabat, and the forward could also walk out of the tournament in ablaze of glory.
Mane’s second-half goal earned Egypt its place in the final four, saying, “We know how to play the final.”
A final is meant to be won, the statement goes. I’m thrilled to participate in my final Afcon final, enjoy it, and help my nation triumph.
Mane, who he called “a legend of Senegal,” is being persuaded by the squad to change their minds and attend at least the 2027 edition of the game in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.
The 26-year-old Villarreal man told BBC Afrique, “We’re going to try to keep him with us a little longer because he still has some fantastic years to give.”
a day ago
18 hours ago
A man who is modest and giving
Images courtesy of Getty
Mane, 33, still has his roots in Saudi Arabia and works for Al-Nassr, despite having a glitzy trophy cabinet.
He made a million dollars in Bambali through his charitable acts, including giving money to build mosques, hospitals, and funds to support the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
Prior to Real Madrid’s 3-1 victory in the 2018 Champions League final, he also sent 300 Liverpool shirts to his hometown.
On a recent visit to the village, Fode Boucar Dahaba, the president of a regional league, told BBC Sport Africa, “Sadio behaves very humbly, on a level with the people in Bambali.”
He doesn’t want to appear distinctive. The village reciprocates his entire love.
He is characterized as a “good Muslim” and “working for everyone” by his family.
When he assisted in the cleaning of the bathrooms at a mosque in Toxteth following a Liverpool victory, that was immediately apparent during his time in the top flight.
The imam at Al Rahma Mosque, Abu Usamah Al-Tahabi, said, “He wanted to stay quiet and wasn’t doing it for publicity.”
He doesn’t seek fanfare, he says. There is no such thing as arrogance.
In the run-up to the final, Senegal’s Moussa Niakhate praised Mane as “an incredible man.”
Senegal “anticipates” Mane’s contributions.
Images courtesy of Getty
Mane has over 120 caps and has scored 53 goals for his nation.
He intends to play at the World Cup later this year, where more wonderful memories could be made, because he has so frequently been the hero on the pitch in recent years.
In the first half of the 2021 Afcon final, he saved an early penalty kick, but he stepped up once more to decide the match with Egypt in Yaounde.
He also handled the 2022 Fifa World Cup play-off against the Pharaohs in the same manner, though he ultimately missed out on the tournament in Qatar due to injury.
Although he hasn’t been particularly creative at the Afcon finals this year, his 78th-minute strike against Egypt, who were once more gifted with Mane’s magic, was enough to place the Teranga Lions in the final.
Idrissa Gana Gueye, the player’s decisive intervention in Tangier on Wednesday, told the BBC World Service, “That’s what we expect from him.”
We want to give this trophy to him.
Images courtesy of Getty
Mane may not be Senegal’s captain and may speak with a modest demeanor, but his teammates will take note.
He “motivated all of us” before playing Egypt, according to Pape Gueye in his pre-game speech.
He spoke the right way to ensure that our match was completely focused.
He also has the knowledge of calming us down because he has watched a lot of matches. He instructs us to remain calm, even after we score or if we concede a goal, as you can see from his gestures.
Mane won the majority of his international caps under Aliou Cisse, who led the West Africans from 2015 to 2024, but it is understandable that Pape Thiaw wants his talisman to continue playing for the nation.
I believe he made his decision in the midst of the moment, and I, the national team’s coach, do not at all concur, Thaiw said.
We want to keep him as long as possible.
Senegal is in opposition to the host nation, but the team has additional motivation to defend Mane.
Defender Niakhate remarked, “We owe it to him to bring that second star back, which would unquestionably make him one of the greatest players the continent has ever known.”
He “adds so much to this team,” Pape Gueye continued.
After making a significant move with his wife Alison, gardening legend Alan Titchmarsh faced a significant “challenge,” and he urged his fans to follow him in “living dangerously.”
Assistant Editor of Trendswatch, Robin Cottle
3 images to be seen
A significant life change was recently witnessed by Alan Titchmarsh and his wife Alison (Photo: Dave J. Hogan/Getty Images).
TV gardener Alan Titchmarsh has lifted the lids on the “challenges” he has faced in his new garden after making a major change with his wife.
The former Gardeners’ World presenter and his wife of 50 years Alison put their £4million Hampshire home on the market last year. They have lived at the Grade II listed property for 23 years but felt it was the right time to downsize as their kids have flown the nest,
Alan described the “challenges” he has encountered in their new garden as he adjusts to changes in soil that affect the plant life.
Writing in BBC Gardeners’ World magazine, he touched on the importance of “living dangerously” every now and then.
By doing this, Alan continued, “I don’t mean planting a bog plant in dry, sandy soil in the name of reason; I’m thinking about growing a few things that will challenge you to produce the right conditions and increase your level of satisfaction.”
After growing plants in chalky soil for more than 40 years, our new garden has taught me that “all this has been done.”
Because of my alkaline soil, rhododendrons, azaleas, camellias, and other acid lovers would turn up their heads and turn up their toes before becoming yellow and stunted in my compost pots, I’ve had to grow them.
Alan advised readers to grow things that “don’t completely fly in the face of the right plant, right place” but encourage you to provide the conditions they will like with very little effort this year.
Alan explained the rationale behind putting their property on the market in an interview with Gardeners’ World magazine.
The 76-year-old and his wife have two daughters, Camilla, 43, and Polly, 45, both of whom are now parents to their own children.
According to Alan, “[It’s] time to downsize a little,” as is frequently believed to be the case for those in relatively seniority.
We didn’t intend to move, to be honest. Moving on is bound to be a wretched experience when you renovate an old house and plant a garden around it.
Savills sold the property for $ 3.95 million. A stunning garden can be found on the property.
Continue reading the article.
According to Country Life, Alan and Alison want to be closer to their daughters and grandchildren in addition to their desire to downsize.
Kayed Rajabi, who is largely unmarried, spends most of his time on the family’s roof gazing at Al-Aqsa Mosque, which is located across the Silwan valley during his final days in the only home he’s ever known. “Smoke, smoke, smoke”, Rajabi says anxiously, a cigarette in his hand. That is the only thing we can do.
A street sweeper for Jerusalem’s municipality, Rajabi has stopped going to work, afraid his family might be thrown out of their home while he’s out. Both his children and those of the other families facing eviction have stopped attending school. Everyone is terrified about what might happen if they leave their homes for even a moment – while trying to have a last precious few moments together.
“I’m fifty years old. I was born here”, says Rajabi as he looks across the valley of Silwan. In this house, I opened my eyes. My laughter, my sadness, my joy, and all my friends and loved ones are in this neighbourhood”. The pigeons in the coops he and his brother care for on their shared roof squirm him while he is quiet for a moment.
After a moment, he resumes. They want to raze the house I dreamed up in a second and install a settler in our place, which is all I remember. This is an enormous pain in the heart, a pain you can’t imagine.
They want to erase memories, not buildings or real estate, because they are not building or property that will be destroyed.
Kayed Rajabi looks out from the rooftop of the home he has been ordered to leave so Israeli settlers can move in]Al Jazeera]
“Continuous psychological pressure”
At the turn of the new year, the Israeli Supreme Court rejected final appeals by 150 Palestinians across 28 families in the Batn al-Hawa neighbourhood of Silwan facing eviction from their homes.
According to Israeli NGO Ir Amim, approximately 700 residents of the neighborhood, which includes 84 families, are currently facing imminent forced displacement. This would be the largest coordinated expulsion of Palestinians from a single neighborhood in East Jerusalem since 1967, when Israel’s occupation first erupted.
Twenty-four homes belonging to the extended Rajabi family alone are subject to eviction orders, affecting 250 people.
The Israeli execution office under the Ministry of Justice issued official letters to the 28 families on January 12 requesting that they leave their homes in 21 days. The family of Khalil al-Basbous, a neighbour of the Rajabis, has already been forcibly evicted from their home as a result of the latest court decision.
The rooftop of Rajabi and his younger brother Wa’il, 44, with its view over the Al-Aqsa Mosque has been a meeting place for family and neighbors to gather for breakfast and tea as long as they can remember. You’d find 50 of my family members coming here, and we’d fill the neighbourhood with our celebrations of Ramadan and Eid, “recalls Rajabi.
He rattles off the names of all the relatives and friends who were previously ordered to leave their streets and homes for the past two days.
” The memories were so sweet before the settlers came, “says Rajabi”. Our neighbors, who were replaced by the settlers, have the best memories, the best neighborhood, and the best neighbors.
A seized home bearing grafitti in Batn al Hawa, East Jerusalem]Al Jazeera]
A commotion starts outside the house terrace as he speaks. It is the settlers who recently replaced his lifelong neighbours, the family of Abu Ashraf Gheith. Before returning to the rooftop, he has his eyes open from adrenaline as he fights with them and their armed security guard.
Peering over at Al-Aqsa, he takes another puff of his cigarette.
He describes his former neighbors as “the Gheith family, they were like family to us.” We all loved each other. We opened our eyes together after we were both a couple growing up. We used to play, me and their sons and daughters.
After being thrown out of their homes so easily, I cried every day.
Now, settlers occupy all the homes bordering Kayed and Wa’il’s building. Wa’il remarked, “We are constantly under psychological pressure from the settlers.” “We are not living”.
The simple apartments for Rajabi and his brother include a kitchen, a small living room, a bedroom for their respective wives, and a second bedroom for their numerous children in the same building where they live with their mother. “This house isn’t a villa, it’s not a palace”, says Rajabi. “But here, we’re content and at ease.” The most incredible thing is to sit here, and your eyes fall on Al-Aqsa Mosque”.
[Al Jazeera] Children from the Rajabi family observe border police passing by their Batn al-Hawa, East Jerusalem, home.
For years, Rajabi, his brother and their family have walked to the nearby Al-Aqsa Mosque every week for Friday afternoon prayers – at least until recently, when their living situation went from dire to a “death sentence”, he says.
Eight other nearby families have been forced to leave their homes since November, frequently in violent circumstances, and Israeli settlers have effected the neighborhoods’ empty homes right away, causing hysterical celebrations.
These recent evictions mark a rapid acceleration of the forced displacement which has been taking place for years now in the neighbourhood.
From the bottom of the Silwan valley, a view of the Batn al-Hawa neighborhood [Al Jazeera]
Displaced – yet again
Impoverished Yemeni Jews made their way to the area of modern-day Batn al-Hawa, which is located on a hill south of the Haram al-Sherif complex, home to the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque, in the 19th century.
While good relations reportedly existed between Jews and Muslims within the neighbourhood at the time, bouts of violence in the 1920s and 1930s in East Jerusalem made movement outside the neighbourhood dangerous, compelling these Yemeni Jewish families to leave. Over time, local Palestinians eventually took over the area entirely.
Just before the 1967 war, which saw Israel seize control of East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip, the Golan Heights, the Sinai Peninsula and the West Bank, the Rajabi family was living in the Sharaf neighbourhood in the Old City of Jerusalem.
Before violence broke out in that area in 1966, the Jordanian government issued an ultimatum to the Rajabis to leave. They fled to nearby Batn al-Hawa, buying land there from the existing Arab owners. The occupying Israeli government replaced the Sharaf neighborhood with the modern-day Jewish Quarter after the war in 1967.
The signed contract showing the Rajabis ‘ purchase of their land in Batn al-Hawa in 1966]Al Jazeera]
The long-dormant Benvenisti Trust, established in the 19th century to manage land and property in the Batn al-Hawa region and provide homes to Jewish Yemeni families, was revived by Israeli courts in 2001.
The Israeli courts appointed two representatives from the settler organisation Ateret Cohanim to oversee that trust, which was historically entitled to buildings in 5.5 dunums (1.36 acres or 0.55 hectares) of land that today comprise dozens of family homes – despite the lack of any connection between these individuals and the Benvenisti Trust or the Yemeni Jewish community that had once been there.
Following Israel’s conquests in 1967, these court decisions were based on Israeli laws, which permit the return to Jewish-owned lands seized before and after the 1948 war regardless of any connection to the original inhabitants. Such rights are expressly denied to the many more Palestinians who also lost their homes in the aftermath of the wars in 1948 and 1967, including the Rajabis and other families in Batn al-Hawa.
Zuheir Rajabi, 54, the leader of the Batn al-Hawa community council and cousin of Wa’il and Kayed, remarked, “You’re turning these people away from our homes of 60 years.” “So where are our lands, our homes in Katamon, Jaffa, Haifa, the Jewish Quarter, that we were forced to leave”?
One of the main Israeli initiatives aims to replace Palestinians with Israeli settlers by moving them from East Jerusalem. Earlier, the organisation offered to buy homes from families in this working-class neighbourhood for millions of dollars apiece. Nearly all Silwan residents rebuffed. Then, as it fought through Israeli courts to assert control over the land and its buildings, Ateret Cohanim began sending eviction letters to families in Batn al-Hawa in 2015.
In Batn al-Hawa [Al Jazeera], an armed security guard accompanys a settler family.
Homes ‘ for the poor ‘
Aviv Tatarsky, a researcher for the Israeli non-governmental organization Ir Amim in Jerusalem, claims that if there were no poor Jewish families in need, other poor families would occupy these areas. But “the homes]in Batn al-Hawa] are given to ideological settlers, not to Jewish families that are poor”, notes Tatarsky. The Palestinians who are expelled are, of course, living below the poverty line. So this is a very direct, explicit contradiction to the way the trust is supposed to function”.
Multiple irregularities were discovered in the Ateret Cohanim-controlled Benvenisti Trust as part of the official investigations launched this year by the Israeli Registrar of Charitable Trusts, including the revelation that all financial transactions took place through the Benvenisti Trust’s bank accounts rather than the Benvenisti Trust. “It’s very clear that the trust is just a cover for the actions of the settler organisation”, says Tatarsky.
However, Ateret Cohanim has unabatedly worked to forcefully evict the Palestinian residents of the neighborhood. After rebuffing earlier attempts to buy them off, by Zuheir Rajabi’s account, the families in the neighbourhood have spent “hundreds of thousands of shekels” in court since 2015, attempting to reverse or at least delay eviction proceedings.
While declining to address some of the specific issues relating to Ateret Cohanim’s involvement in the Batn al-Hawa properties, Daniel Lurie, Ateret Cohanim’s executive director and international spokesperson, claimed that the current actions against Yemenite and Sephardi Jews are “righting an historical injustice by barbaric violent Arabs]and the British [in a known Jewish neighbourhood] in the 1920s and 1930s.
“Taking hate-filled violent Arabs out of any neighbourhood]based on Supreme Court rulings] or from Israel is a good thing”, his statement said.
The most recent court ruling, which rejected the final legal appeals filed by the 28 families that are currently evicted by the start of February, including Zuheir Rajabi’s, has now rounded off the proceedings.
“We’re truly exhausted”, says Rajabi, the community representative, inside his home, which is slated for eviction in the coming days. His eyes sway as he speaks as his security cameras’ video feeds travel through his home.
“We’ve been in the courts for 12 years with no results. Nothing [positive] happens for the Palestinian Arab citizen, despite the fact that everything is implemented in the interests of the settlers and the extreme right wing. It’s impossible”.
Zuheir Rajabi stands outside his home [Al Jazeera] with a gazette gazing at the Al-Aqsa mosque.
‘ They scatter us, cut us up like salad, grind us up ‘
Wa’il Rajabi claims that he is unsure of where his family will go when their home is being forcibly evicted in the coming days. Few of the low-income families here do. He declares, “We will remain steadfastly in our homes until our last breath.”
According to Wa’il Rajabi, who earns 9, 000 shekels per month, also working for the Jerusalem municipality, rent for any available homes in East Jerusalem is a minimum 5, 000 to 7, 000 shekels per month, with another 1, 000 shekels going towards electricity and water. How will you live on 2, 000 or 3, 000 shekels? What are you going to eat? What will you be drinking? What are you going to dress your child in? How will you instruct him? How are you going to go to and from work? Wa’il, the breadwinner for a family of nine, called it unreasonable. “They sentenced us to death”.
The neighborly and family bonds are being severnned as the neighborhood’s families are being forced to evict one by one, which is now moving at a much faster rate. “It feels like the community is ending”, says Wa’il.
His brother, Kayed, claims, “We were all together here, but now you don’t know where one lives: one is in Beit Hanina, one is in Shu’fat, and one is in Ras al-Amud.” “They scatter us – cut us up like salad, grind us up”.
Parents spend their nights calming their children as they deal with their nightmares about violent settlers attempting to evict them from their homes during this traumatic time.
“Sometimes I joke with them, laugh with them, tell them stories, just to make them stop being scared, to stop thinking, to ease their stress”, says Wa’il. They’ll always return to the same subject no matter how we finish the story, I know in the heart of the matter.
Joury Rajabi stands on the steps leading up to the street from their home in Batn al-Hawa, East Jerusalem, which her family has been ordered to leave]Al Jazeera]
Every second feels precious but fragile in the children’s final moments together. “I wish we could live peacefully and play like before”, laments 11-year-old Joury, Wa’il’s youngest daughter, on the family rooftop.
When armed border patrol officers walked into their impromptu football game one afternoon, one of the young girls she plays with was cartwheeling.
Moments later, a family of Israeli settlers, accompanied by armed security, passed right by them.
Another Israeli settler threw garbage at the children when they were playing in the street, according to Joury. “We defended ourselves”, she says. The settler contacted the police, they said. So since that day, we have not been able to play. The police will come in and assault and humiliate us if we stay there, and do the same.
The children spend these last days asking their parents the same questions:
Why do they require us to leave our homes? Where will we go”?
However, their parents are unable to provide any assistance for them.
However, in their last days together, the children snatch what time they can together on the stairs in front of Wa’il and Kayed’s home, playing football or paddle games.
Peter Andre acknowledged that the demise of his mother is “really hard” for him to discuss and that it is “really hard” for him to acknowledge how heartbreaking things have been for him.
View 4 Images
Peter Andre has acknowledged that discussing his mother’s passing is “really difficult” for him (Photo: Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock).
Peter Andre has shared a sad realisation following the “decline” of his mum just before her 90th birthday. The Mysterious Girl singer, 52, recently issued an update on mother, Thea, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s in 2023, and can now no longer speak.
Now, the former I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! star, whose mum lives in Australia, has explained that it is “really hard” for him to talk about, he wants to give hope to other families who might be going through something similar.
Writing in his new! magazine column, he said: “I recently gave an update about my mum no longer being able to speak, and although it can be really hard to talk about, I’m in the hope that it can be of help to others going through similar things. Mum has a combination of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.
READ MORE: Peter Andre issues devastating update on mum’s Parkinson’s as she stops speakingREAD MORE: Peter Andre’s wife Emily shares very rare photos of their daughter Amelia as she turns 12
Peter, who has Amelia, 12, Theo, nine, and 21-month-old Belle with his wife Emily, noted that his youngest is still managing to bond with her grandparents over the phone but the heartbreaking circumstances have led him to realise just how precious time is.
He continued, “I FaceTime my mother twice daily. The sad thing is that my mother doesn’t respond when I speak with her once per day. She can’t speak to her at all; she just babbles. She always frantically picks up the phone to chat with her granddad, and it’s the sweetest thing. She also has a genuine love for him.
“Mum will have just celebrated her 90th birthday as you read this. They married for 70 years, and their wedding anniversary is this year at 93. And while it doesn’t make their decline any easier, it has changed the way I view things. I appreciate it more. He shared his worries that his mother’s Christmas would be the last time her Parkinson’s would progress, and he also shared a sweet video of his young daughter, Belle, with her grandparents on FaceTime.
But the star, who also has Junior, 20, and 18-year-old Princess with ex-wife Katie Price, insisted that he “cherished every moment” with his parents and children in the sad update. In the video, young Belle was seen blowing a kiss to her grandfather in Australia, before attempting to get the phone off her father to continue showering her grandparents with love.
Moments like these are the most precious in my life, Peter told his Instagram followers. He continued, “Sadly, now that my mother is unable to speak anymore,” adding: Belle and her Bapou (Greek for grandfather) have a wonderful daily conversation, and you can tell they adore one another.
“Every time, melts my heart.” She does occasionally see her Yiayia (Greek for grandmother), but sadly, the Parkinson’s is affecting her. With both my parents and my children, I treasure every moment. His post, which has received over 21 000 likes, quickly received a lot of support messages.
Although they are so far away, one fan said, “I love that your kids can see them.” A second phrase, “Parkinson’s is a cruel disease, just remember your mother as she was,” is penned: “Treat her every day, every day.
A third writer penned the words “Beautiful Memories, What a lovely relationship they have.” Another typed: “Lovely that your children and family can keep in touch with FaceTime calls despite you being unable to obviously visit Australia every week. Belle adores her Bapou-Mags.
Peter told our sister website, OK!, while updating his mother last month. Magazine: “Of course, I worry that this might be my mother’s last Christmas.” She is very delicate. Her Parkinson’s has advanced significantly.
She’s almost gone, and it’s heartbreaking because she’s our world’s pillar of strength, and she’ll say a word or two later. Then, when I see Dad, he is 92 and spends every day with her. He’s also becoming more delicate right now, though. Although his memory is declining, I am so appreciative that they celebrated their milestone of 70 years of marriage in September.
Jewelry is always a great gift to give on Valentine’s Day, which is why we’re snaring up these genuine diamond pieces this year for less than £100.
We may link to affiliate links in this article, but we will make money off of any purchases we make. more information
View 2 Images
Only 52 pounds are needed to purchase a diamond bracelet (Image: DPT Antwerp).
Now that the holiday season is well and truly over, Valentine’s Day is the next holiday on the horizon. Now is a great time to start thinking about what to give a loved one in your life with just a few weeks until we start celebrating all things romance.
Jewellery is always a good gift, and we have what you need to give that is unique and meaningful without breaking the bank. Real diamond pieces can be purchased at DPT Antwerp for less than £100, with some starting at just £52.
Susanna Reid looks “beautiful” in a high street midi dress with a flattering fit.
Save up to £100 on The Traitors’ exact black and white loafers by Claudia Winkleman.
The Embrace Heart Cord Bracelet, which costs $ 52, has a dainty gold pendant encircling two red cord ties with a theme. Three genuine 0. 9mm white diamonds are inlaid in the middle of the heart, which is sterling silver and has been plated in 18 carat yellow gold.
The bracelet is practical enough to go with any outfit, and it is unique enough to stand out while remaining wearable. Similar designs can be found in the middle, with genuine diamonds encircling them, along with butterfly, flower, and moon pendants.
If you prefer to celebrate Valentine’s Day on Galentine’s Day instead of Valentine’s Day, they also make great friendship gifts. You can stack the Embrace Cord Bracelet in the same way you would a friendship bracelet, or you can mix and match the styles to suit your individual needs.
There are also many more affordable options for jewelry, but some of them cost more. The Eve Bracelet, which costs £128 and contains five genuine diamonds, is another affordable item. Each piece is available in a variety of gold, silver, and rose gold metals, with prices as high as £798.
The Sterling Silver and Diamond 0. 0ct Besel Bracelet, which is available at Goldsmiths for £160, features real diamonds on it and is available elsewhere. Abbott Lyon’s range of jewelry is the best option if you want something a little more affordable but extremely personal.
Continue reading the article.
From bracelets and necklaces to rings and earrings, and hundreds of its pieces can be personalized with names, birthdates, inscriptions, and birthstones. There are styles to suit everyone, and jewelry can be made of either sterling silver or gold.
One royal expert predicts that Prince Harry “desperately wants” his father to accompany him at the Invictus Games next year.
5 images to be viewed
Prince William and his brother, the King, are seen here.
When Prince Harry made a brief-but-welcome return to the UK last September, few could have predicted the significance that visit might come to hold. But it now seems his private meeting with King Charles at Clarence House reopened a door many feared had closed for good, raising hopes that father and son could be heading for a reconciliation.
Following reports that will bring joy to millions of royal watchers, it is believed Harry is now set to ask the King to play a key role at next year’s Invictus Games, which will take place in the UK for the first time since 2014. Last week royal sources claimed Harry “desperately wants Charles at Invictus”, ideally opening the event on stage alongside him.
READ MORE: Never-before-told Prince William and Kate revelations uncovered in brand new bookREAD MORE: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle quietly ‘step back’ from major project
Without a doubt, Charles’s appearance would delight royal fans and put an even brighter light on the occasion, which honors fallen military personnel and veterans, in a more meaningful way.
And while the focus might be firmly on Harry and his relationship with his father, the prospect of the Invictus Games returning to the UK also raises the question of whether his wife, Meghan, might be at his side. The duchess has previously supported Harry at Invictus events and, BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond told the Mirror, she would not want to be seen to snub a cause so close to her husband’s heart.
Jennie remarked, “Meghan is a smart woman.” She “must be aware that she may encounter some hostility in the UK,” according to the Invictus Games’ bubble.
They “love her,” so perhaps she would come to support Harry as she has always done at Invictus. Affirming otherwise would unavoidably make her presence as noteworthy as being absent. Meghan can’t stand the UK, according to the headlines, if they were needed!
Six years ago, Meghan and Harry sensationally left the royal family and are now residing in Montecito, California, with their two children, Lilibet, four, and Archie, six. However, the prince left the UK with a palpable spring following his summit in Clarence House in September, according to a spokesman who later claimed he had “loved” being back in his birth country.
His conversation with Charles was undoubtedly more enjoyable than the previous meeting, which took place after Harry flew to London in February 2024 in response to the King’s cancer diagnosis.
After losing his High Court case to get his taxpayer-funded police protection reinstated, it also gave hope that Harry is now considering making additional visits. Prior to that, which seemed less likely, Harry had previously lost his hope.
The Duke of Sussex had been hoping to overturn a decision to downgrade his security while in the UK, which came into play after he stepped down as a working royal. Following the decision, Harry publicly blamed his father for “this security stuff” and said he “can’t see a world in which I would bring my wife and children back to the UK”.
Jennie believes that this could be crucial in determining whether or not future trips to the UK are deemed worthwhile for the Sussexes because he is currently awaiting a Home Office review of the decision. The King and his grandchildren Archie and Lilibet, who he hasn’t seen since they attended the late Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee in June 2022, might also experience a long-overdue reunion.
There will be no clear reason to stop them from reuniting as a family if the security review determines the level of protection Harry demands, Jennie said. And I’m certain that King Charles will enjoy getting to know his children.
What is far less clear is whether Prince William – whose relationship with Harry has previously been described as beyond repair – would be on board with any Invictus-based reunions.
The Prince of Wales and his wife, Princess Catherine, both attended the inaugural games in 2014, but it is not thought that he has spoken to him since their grandmother’s death in September 2022. After Harry’s memoir, Spare, three years ago, in which he detailed bitter rows with his brother in obscene detail, the pair broke up spectacularly.
Jennie explained that Charles will have a problem if he supports Harry because he won’t be perceived as having favors with one son over the other.
She stated, “Invictus has turned out to be crucial. Any father would want to help his son as the games come to the UK because it is Harry’s greatest achievement and his greatest cause. However, the King’s family matters never are, which is regrettable.
It might turn out to be a classic example of a father having to choose between his conflicting sons. If Charles publicly backed Harry and the games, we can only imagine how William might feel.
Despite Catherine and Charles receiving devastating cancer diagnoses, William has bitten his lip, risen above the accusations, and remained cuffed to the job. It would be difficult to watch his father salute Harry’s accomplishments while standing on a very public platform. But the King might have to deal with that issue.
Nonetheless, organisers of the Games, which have since taken place in the US, Canada, Australia, Netherlands and Germany, have hinted they expect a healthy turnout of senior royals. Last week a spokesman said: “The royal family have been longstanding supporters of the Invictus Games since its inception in 2014.
The Invictus Games Birmingham 2027 organizers will send invitations to members of the Royal Family in due course, and we would very much welcome their presence. “While it is too early to confirm who will attend in 2027, invitations have not yet been sent out.
The week-long event will kick off at the city’s NEC on 10 July, ending on Queen Camilla ’s 80th birthday on the 17th. While this presents the King with an awkward scheduling clash, a source said last week that the games’ planning committees are well aware of Camilla’s birthday, but hope Charles would still be able to attend the opening ceremony and various events “while still honouring commitments” to his wife.
Harry is completely aware of what is happening with Invictus, according to the insider. He anticipates having his father play the opening game, and other royals are hoping to join him.
Continue reading the article.
Harry has previously described the games as a “spirit of unity,” but Jennie believes much more significant conversations will need to take place in private settings. Even if they do manage to help bridge the family rift, Jennie believes that the conversation must continue.
She said, “I believe that any reunion between the King and Harry and his family should take place quietly and behind closed doors. The King will have to consider everyone’s feelings because it continues to be the most sensitive situation.
