Harry pictured ‘looking happy again’ as he leaves Meghan behind for Invictus Games trip

Prince Harry has been pictured “looking happy again” during a solo trip for the Invictus Games without wife Meghan in tow.

Sometimes I am forced to type sentences that at any other point in history would be insane, verging on the committable.

A sentence like, Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex has just released a video showing himself getting a neck tattoo.

At any other time, writing this would be the moment the nice men in pristine white would be turning up with a very straight jacket for me, but it’s 2024, so this is not some lunatic rantings, but just a good old-fashioned stating of facts.

Well, partly, that is, because while the new video released on Wednesday shows the duke getting inked for the very first time – and by Billboard-topping singer Jelly Roll no less – all is not quite what it seems.

The obvious though expletive-riddled and very funny stunt was done to promote the next Invictus Games, to be held in Vancouver and Whistler in February.

But what makes this all worthy of a second, and a third and, hell, a fourth look, is that the release of this video has capped off several days that have shown a marked shift in the man.

The Duke of Sussex is really looking happy again.

The Duke of Sussex is looking happy again.

For decades of Harry’s life, he was the fun one, the joker in the rigid Windsor pack who seemed to see the inherent humour in the madness of a monarchy in a modern age. He was in on the joke with us, and, outwardly anyway, appeared to be having a ball while doing it.

Then came the thundery years when truth-telling and money-making, often at the same time, collided to transform the duke from adored son to scarlet letter-wearing Buckingham Palace defector. The father-of-two had points to make – about power and unconscious bias and the press and his family and dog bowls and the fundamental iniquities of a system based on inherited privilege that appear to have only recently occurred to him – and bills to pay.

And so he made his points, again and again, across six hours of television, a 400-plus page book and more TV interviews than I can bother listing.

Harry has had quite a few thundery years. Picture: CBS Sunday Morning

The bottom line: Harry has been banging the same drum for so long the skein has split and much of the world has firmly jammed their fingers in their ears.

All the while, the duke’s former persona as happier-than-Larry’s-chirpier-cousin has been boxed up and mothballed, lost in a Californian attic like some sort of Dorian Gray of joy.

But looking at these new photos from this week, it would seem that Harry has gotten some of his old mojo back.

Laughing with primary schoolers at the Seaforth Armoury for the launch of the first Invictus schools program and taking to the field for an interview at the Grey Cup, Canada’s version of the Super Bowl, his grin was remarkably like that of old and he looked well pleased to be back doing what he does best.

It was all reminiscent of an earlier, simpler time.

Like the time in 2016 when he convinced the late Queen to appear in a similarly stunty video to drum up publicity for the Games. Is it just me, or does this tattoo/Jelly Roll video feel like a certain harking back, like he is angling to recapture some of that magic?

He’s been pictured looking glum on countless occasions. Picture: Danny Lawson – WPA Pool/Getty Images

It was a marked change from his early years. Picture: Matt Dunham/Pool/AFP

Harry’s trip north of the border is also noteworthy for another reason, marking the first major promotional event he has done outside of the UK for the massively successful Games without Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex.

Since 2017, from Colombia to Nigeria, to Germany and the Netherlands, the Duchess of Sussex has been with her husband, busy rustling up support for his Games, a sporting event which has changed untold thousands – if not tens of thousands – of lives. The former actress has cheered on Harry at an Invictus-adjacent baseball game, diplomatic reception, a driving challenge, glitzy opening and closing ceremonies, while he bob-sledded, at a snowy training camp and on the sidelines of courts, pitches and stadia.

The Games even provided the backdrop to their very first official outing as a couple, with the then Suits star joining ‘Aitch’ at a wheelchair tennis match at the 2017 Toronto Games, turning up in ripped jeans and a white shirt, bestilling every fashionistas beating heart with such soignée insouciance.

Recently, Harry seems to have got his mojo back. Picture: Ethan Cairns/Getty Images

Only this time last year, Meghan was with Harry when he visited the city to promote the Vancouver Games, joining him with her longtime friend Markus Anderson to take in an ice hockey match.

No details have emerged about why the 43-year-old stayed at home this time around, however, it comes after she stepped out last week for the launch of her colourist Kadi Lee’s new Highbrow Hippie hair range, a business in which the duchess has herself invested.

In August, a friend told People that the Sussexes are now pursuing a “a twin-track approach” to their careers and it would also seem to their public lives.

He’s been on a solo trip to Canada to promote the Games without Maghan. Picture: Rich Lam/Getty Images

This twin-tracking was put on display in September when Harry jetted off to undertake philanthropic events in New York, London and Lesotho while Meghan walked the red carpet at the Children’s Hospital of LA gala in October.

It’s interesting that the Sussexes are pursuing these parallel but separate tracks at a time when their American idyll has lost much of its razzle and/or dazzle.

The fat deals of yesteryear are a thing of the past, with Netflix reportedly set to part ways with them when their contract runs out in 2025, and Harry is busy trying to regain his global humanitarian cred while Meghan focuses on her thus far dust-collecting brand American Riviera Orchard.

At least for now though, we can say this: Harry looks happy and Meghan’s hair has never looked better. Really, what more could you ask for you in life?

Daniela Elser is a writer, editor and a royal commentator with more than 15 years’ experience working with a number of Australia’s leading media titles