Invictus Games are Prince Harry’s ‘last role of the dice’ after bruising post-royal years

The first trailer for the Duke of Sussex’s Heart of Invictus series has come out – and it could be make or break for the troubled royal.

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Let’s get one thing straight, and I will brook no dissent, argument or debate – the Invictus Games are bloody amazing.

The wounded, injured and sick military personnel (both serving and veterans) who compete and the very Games themselves are incredible, awe-inspiring stuff, the whole thing a testament to the power of the human spirit.

We’re all agreed? On the same page? Goodo.

But when it comes to the fortunes of the Games’ founder, Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex? Hello messy, hello thorny, hello complicated.

The first trailer for Harry’s executive-produced, five-part docuseries about the games, Heart of Invictus, landed on Thursday and it’s time to get out the rosary beads, the rabbit’s foot and dig out one’s solid gold four-leaf clover.

Because this is it. The last role of the dice. Harry’s final play to prevent his post-royal, post-truth career toppling off the reputational cliff, irrevocably taking him from lauded Samaritan to déclassé celebrity status, from respected crusader into has-been territory.

(Haz-been?)

Netflix has dropped a trailer to Prince Harry's new Invictus Games docuseries. Picture: Netflix

The Sussexes, in only three and a bit years, might have acquired more toilets than God and more People covers than the Kardashian-Jenner industrial complex, but in the US, respect and widespread support for the Sussexes remains an elusive quarry.

Consider the fact that it made news this year when their popularity ratings tipped back over into net positive territory, so abysmal had they been post-Harry & Meghan and Spare, or that according to Gallup, Prince William is the most-liked public figure in the United States.

The fault here rests with the duke and duchess, who turned excavating emotional hurts and family squabbles into a small-scale industry at the expense of building a truly innovative, meaningful charity powerhouse that was their primary focus.

It was their choice to turn their every hurt feeling and resentment into mass-market content, the whole thing seemingly motivated by a hodgepodge of self-righteous anger and the need to keep the lights on.

Meanwhile, as the duke and duchess waged a PR battle against The Firm, they were squandering the peak cultural momentum that had them riding high in 2020.

Which leaves us here. With Harry and Meghan occupying deeply charged, complicated positions in the US public landscape, better known for a history book-worthy family falling out than anything meaningful they have done themselves.

Prince Harry's documentary – which follows veterans as they prepare for the Invictus Games – will be released on August 30. Picture: Netflix

Thus enter Heart of Invictus. This limited series is Harry’s best – and only – bet to park that all and to remind the world that years before he was telling us about todgers, broken dog bowls and his “arch nemesis” Prince William, he had actually achieved something unimpeachably great.

What Heart constitutes is the 38-year-old’s last-ditch opportunity to firmly remake his image into one of a diehard, dedicated humanitarian and not the view of him as a whiny, over-privileged boy who spent the final years of his grandmother’s life laying into his family.

And Heart may very well end up being the channel-change and the reset that Harry needs oh-so-bloody-badly right now. It is made by the Oscar-winning combo of director Orlando von Einsiedel and producer Joanna Natasegara, and the trailer is deeply moving and beautifully shot.

If I was a betting woman, and heaven knows I am, then I reckon there will be some sort of shiny gold award that will be winging its way into Harry’s hands next year.

But there are two sticking points here. Firstly, like Spare or Harry & Meghan, is this another instance of a one-off successful outing? When the Sussexes arrived in the US in 2020, he had ready-made charity fodder, perfect for the glossy Netflix treatment. Which is to say, he never had to go out and find an actual idea or come up with some fresh subject matter himself.

It’s the royal’s last chance to prove himself after a brutal couple of years. Picture: Ben Stansall/AFP

However, after Heart, he will have to do exactly that if he wants to keep making docos – but does he have the producing chops and creative nous to spot a great project? Maybe or

maybe not. (This is the man who had the spiffo idea of interviewing Mr Murder Vladimir Putin and Mr Coup Donald Trump about their childhood hurts).

Next, the second sticking point – the Games are not only a reminder of the awesome power of the human spirit, but the awesome power of royalty too.

Imagine if, back in 2013, it had been Captain Harry Wales who had wanted to get this sort of event off the ground. Imagine the red tape he would have had to wade through, the unanswered messages, the ignored emails and the scrabble for funding and commercial support.

However, as Prince Harry, the fourth in line to the throne back then, he had the resources, support, staff and the door-opening power to make this happen, to take it from a powerful idea to incredibly impressive reality in only a year.

Every single account of that time makes clear how hard Harry worked.

But would Coldplay have penned an anthem, would there have been a Red Arrows fly-past, would then-British Prime Minister David Cameron have returned from Scotland to attend, would the opening be covered by every national UK newspaper and TV station, and would former US First Lady Michelle Obama have recorded a message if it was anyone but a member of the royal family behind this?

Prince Harry pictured with Charles at the Opening Ceremony of the Invictus Games back in 2014. Picture: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images

The Games are testament to what a man with a title, an ancient institution and unbeatable, unparalleled pulling power behind him can achieve.

Here we get to today’s big, meaty existential question: Now that he is no longer part of Crown Inc, now that Harry can no longer wheel out his HRH or have the Prime Minister return his calls, can or will Montecito’s most famous rate payer ever achieve something as meaningful and life-changing for so many people as the Games?

The same holds for Meghan, who in her 20-month stint on the royal clock launched a fundraising clothing collection for SmartWorks, helped put out a charity cookbook and gave one of the best speeches in modern royal history? (“I am here with you as a mother, as a wife, as a woman, as a woman of colour, and as your sister. I am here with you, and I am here for you”).

This is the challenge the duke and duchess face in the months, years and decades to come, and at the same time, they have to keep finding ways to bring in plenty of cashola.

For now though, there is one person who has a huge job ahead of them – the duchess’ stylist. Someone is going to need a hell of a dress for next year’s Golden Globes and for the Emmys too, methinks.

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.

Originally published as Invictus Games are Prince Harry’s ‘last role of the dice’ after bruising post-royal years