The Duke of Sussex was welcomed by enthusiastic supporters of his Invictus Games, as he arrived at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham.

But he was not accompanied by his wife Meghan, who was originally planned to be here, but now is not going to be at any public events in the UK this week.

It’s been a bumpy return to the UK for Prince Harry, in a week that was meant to promote the Invictus Games for injured service men and women.

Instead it’s been overshadowed by his court defeat against Associated Newspapers and confusion over whether Meghan and their children will be coming to the UK.

Prince Harry’s appearance at the NEC is at an event marking the countdown to the Invictus Games, which will be hosted in Birmingham next year.

He is watching a showcase of the games which will be played at Invictus, including wheelchair rugby and pickleball, which combines tennis, table tennis and badminton.

Prince Harry tried his hand at pickleball, playing in a doubles game, watched by competitors, families and supporters and a bank of press cameras.

These games for injured military veterans, and the inspiring stories of competitors, are a cause close to the heart of Prince Harry, who has worked hard to promote this as a regular international event.

But his return to the UK this week has been dogged by chaos and changes of plan.

Two weeks ago, details of the visit were published, announcing that Meghan would be appearing at events in London and Birmingham, which would have been her first appearance in the UK since 2022.

But after a dispute over levels of security, Meghan pulled out of events in London – although the possibility of her appearing at events later in the week in Birmingham was left open.

On Thursday it was then announced that she would not be at any public events at all in the UK.

Her representatives are not commenting on any private meetings, which could still mean that King Charles could be meeting his grandchildren, Archie and Lilibet, along with Prince Harry and Meghan.

Even before the week of events had officially started there was confusion over whether Prince Harry was going to stay in Buckingham Palace.

His team had announced that he had accepted an invitation to stay at the Palace, but that was then swiftly rejected by the Palace, who said Prince Harry had already been told that he would not be allowed to stay there.

The first engagement on Tuesday, promoting the Invictus Games, had then been overshadowed by the result of Prince Harry’s court case against Associated Newspapers, where he lost on all his claims of unlawful information gathering.

A subsequent event in London was then closed to the press.

On Thursday, the visit had seemed to be getting back on track, when Prince Harry had received a warm welcome at a children’s hospital in Birmingham.

His team will hope that the event at the NEC on Friday, where he is surrounded by people who have praised his work for injured servicemen, will once more return the focus of the trip to the Invictus Games.

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