Prince Harry Surprises Invictus Games Competitors From New Montecito Home

All settled in! Prince Harry unexpectedly joined a virtual call with a group of Invictus Games competitors from his and Meghan Markle‘s new home in the Montecito enclave of Santa Barbara, California.

Harry, 35, spoke with the group on Saturday, August 15, which included Jen Warren from the United Kingdom, Bruno Gruevremont from Canada, Mark Reidy from Australia and team captain JJ Chalmers. The members had recently completed the At Home Superhero Tri — a virtual triathlon.

“I tried to book Captain America, but I managed to get Captain Wales instead,” Chalmers joked when the prince entered the call. Harry quipped back, “The banter certainly hasn’t improved in the last few months, that’s for sure.”

Harry Surprises Invictus Games Competitors From New Montecito Home
Prince Harry Shutterstock

The former military pilot addressed how the coronavirus pandemic has affected the Invictus Games, which he founded in 2014 for wounded, injured and sick servicemen and women.

“With lockdown and everything else that’s been going on and [the 2020 Invictus Games at] The Hague being postponed as well, surely this was an amazing opportunity for you guys to come together not only to do the physical side, which is improving your mental fitness, but to be together as a team doing something like this, and having a goal and a purpose and to some extent a distraction from the day to day life,” he said.

Harry also encouraged the Invictus online community to lean on each other during this difficult period.

“It’s so important to know that if you’re going to have a bad day, if you’ve had a bad week, or you’ve experienced more trauma or another loss, or more stress in your life that you’ve got at your fingertips, whether it’s a WhatsApp group, whether it’s an online support group or whatever it is, or whether it’s just the Invictus community, you’ve always got one, well not even one, you’ve got at least a handful of people that you can reach out to,” he said.

Harry Surprises Invictus Games Competitors From New Montecito Home
Prince Harry YouTube

Although Harry joined the call from his new home, he didn’t reveal much of the house except for a white wall and cabinet in the background. The Eton graduate and Meghan, 38, reportedly took out a $9.5 million mortgage to purchase the estate in June. The couple moved to Montecito from Los Angeles in July along with their 15-month-old son Archie.

A source told Us Weekly on Friday, August 14, that Harry wanted to move out of Los Angeles because he “absolutely hated it” and felt his family “lacked privacy.”

“Meghan visited Montecito in her teens and fell in love with the picturesque scenery and stunning architecture,” the insider said. “An added bonus is that Montecito is only just over an hour’s drive from L.A., which is where a majority of their work is based, yet far enough away to escape the crowds, paparazzi and tourism in Hollywood.”

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source: usmagazine.com