The Invictus Games is an international multi-sport event first held in 2014, for wounded, injured and sick servicemen and women, both serving and veterans. The word 'Invictus' means 'unconquered', chosen as an embodiment of the fighting spirit of the wounded, injured and sick service personnel and what they can achieve, post injury. The Invictus Games were founded by Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex. The inspiration came from his visit to the Warrior Games in the United States, where he witnessed the ability of sport to help both psychologically and physically.

Launch

The Games were launched on 6 March 2014 by Prince Harry at London's

Copper Box The Copper Box Arena is a multi-sport venue built for the 2012 Summer Olympics, located in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London, England. Previously known as the Handball Arena, it was renamed because, aside from handball, it hosted mod ...

arena, used as a venue during the

2012 Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. Having seen a British team competing at the US Warrior Games held in

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

in 2013, the prince wished to bring the concept of a similar international sporting event to the United Kingdom. With the backing of Mayor of London

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...

, the

London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games The London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) was the organisation responsible for overseeing the planning and development of the 2012 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games. It was jointly established by the UK Gov ...

and the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

, the event was put together over ten months. £1m of funding for the project was provided by

The Royal Foundation The Royal Foundation of The Prince and Princess of Wales is a charity which supports the work of the Prince and Princess of Wales. Their projects revolve around conservation, the early years, mental health, and the emergency services. History ...

, a charity established by Prince Harry along with the

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...

and Duchess of Cambridge, with an equal amount being pledged by

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

George Osborne from

Treasury A treasury is either *A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry. *A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be state or royal property, church treasure or in p ...

funds generated by fines imposed on banks as a result of the Libor scandal. The Games were also sponsored by Jaguar Land Rover. Speaking at the launch, the Prince said that the Games would "demonstrate the power of sport to inspire recovery, support rehabilitation and demonstrate life beyond disability". He also said that their long-term objective was to ensure that injured troops are not forgotten as Britain's involvement with the War in Afghanistan comes to an end.

Host cities

Invictus Games Foundation

The Invictus Games Foundation is the owner of the brand and the selector of future Host Cities. It is responsible for sport and competition management, rules, categorisations and branding. The bidding process for future games started in November 2014.

Governance

The people who govern the foundation are: *Patron: The Duke of Sussex *Chairman:

Charles Allen, Baron Allen of Kensington Charles Lamb Allen, Baron Allen of Kensington, (born 4 January 1957) is a British businessman and broadcaster, and the chairman of THG plc, Global Radio, 2 Sisters Food Group, ISS and Advisory chairman at Moelis & Company. Lord Allen was chi ...

;Trustees *

Sir Keith Mills Sir Keith Edward Mills, (born 15 May, 1950) is an English entrepreneur and deputy chairman of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Early life Mills was born in Brentwood. He attended St Martin's School, Br ...

(formerly chairman) * Dave Henson (British Team Captain of the 2014 Invictus Games) *

Debbie Jevans Deborah Jevans CBE (born 20 May 1960) is a British former tennis player and current sports executive. Jevans is a former junior Wimbledon champion and played in ten Grand Slam singles draws between 1979 and 1983, with her best result being the fo ...

(formerly Director of Sport for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games; Organising committee member Invictus Games 2014) *

Edward Lane Fox The Royal Households of the United Kingdom are the collective departments that support members of the British royal family. Many members of the royal family who undertake public duties have separate households. They vary considerably in size, ...

(former Private Secretary to Prince Harry) *Guy Monson (Trustee, The Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry) *Paddy Nicoll (Trustee, HALO Trust; formerly Army,

Row2Recovery Row2Recovery is a British unincorporated association of volunteers which assists military adaptive-rowing. The Association has completed four Atlantic adaptive-rowing crossings and, when a charity, supported a national adaptive-rowing programm ...

and Invictus Games 2014) *Mary Reilly (also on the Board of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, organising committee member of Invictus Games 2014) Staff: *Chief Executive: Dominic Reid (was responsible for the operational delivery of the Invictus Games London 2014) *Operations Director: Richard Smith

Ambassador

Lewis Hamilton, a seven-time Formula One World Champion, was appointed as the first ambassador; he visited

Tedworth House Tedworth House, also known as South Tidworth House, is a 19th-century country house in Tidworth, Wiltshire, England. It is a Grade II* listed building and is used by the charity Help for Heroes. The house and its grounds were in Hampshire until ...

before the announcement. In July 2015, Lewis invited some Invictus Games athletes to the

British Grand Prix The British Grand Prix is a Grand Prix motor race organised in the United Kingdom by the Royal Automobile Club. First held in 1926, the British Grand Prix has been held annually since 1948 and has been a round of the FIA Formula One World C ...

History

2014 Invictus Games

Wheelchair rugby at Invictus Games 140912-N-PW494-279

The first Invictus Games were held on 10–14 September 2014. Around 300 competitors from 13 countries which have fought alongside the United Kingdom in recent military campaigns participated. Competitive events were held at many of the venues used during the 2012 Olympics, including the Copper Box and the

Lee Valley Athletics Centre The Lee Valley Athletics Centre is located at the Lee Valley Leisure Complex formerly known as Picketts Lock in Edmonton, London Borough of Enfield. The centre cost £15m to build, and was officially opened on 16 January 2007 by Minister for ...

. The Games were broadcast by the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

. 14 countries were invited to the 2014 games, 8 from Europe, 2 from Asia, 2 from North America and 2 from Oceania. No countries from Africa were invited. Teams from all the invited countries, except Iraq, took part. The closing concert was broadcast on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

, hosted by

Clare Balding Clare Victoria Balding (born 29 January 1971) is an English broadcaster, journalist, and author. She currently presents for BBC Sport, Channel 4, BT Sport, is the current president of the Rugby Football League (RFL) and formerly presented the ...

and

Greg James Gregory James Alan Milward (born 17 December 1985) is an English radio and television presenter, comedian and author. He is the host of BBC Radio 1's breakfast show, co-presenter on the cricket podcast '' Tailenders'' alongside Felix White and ...

. The concert was hosted by

Nick Grimshaw Nicholas Peter Andrew Grimshaw (born 14 August 1984), also known as Grimmy, is an English television and former radio presenter, podcaster and author. He became known for having hosted a variety of shows on BBC Radio 1. He is also known as a t ...

and

Fearne Cotton Fearne Wood ( Cotton; born 3 September 1981) is an English broadcaster and author''.'' She began her career in the late 1990s presenting various children's television shows for GMTV, CITV and CBBC. In 2007, she presented '' The Xtra Factor'', ...

, with live performances from

Foo Fighters Foo Fighters are an American rock band formed in Seattle in 1994. Foo Fighters was initially formed as a one-man project by former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl. Following the success of the eponymous debut album, Grohl (lead vocals, guitar) re ...

, Kaiser Chiefs,

James Blunt James Blunt (born James Hillier Blount; 22 February 1974) is an English singer, songwriter and musician. A former reconnaissance officer in the Life Guards regiment of the British Army, he served under NATO during the 1999 Kosovo War. After l ...

Rizzle Kicks Rizzle Kicks are a British hip hop duo from Brighton, England, consisting of Jordan "Rizzle" Stephens (born 25 January 1992) and Harley "Sylvester" Alexander-Sule (born 1991). Their debut album, '' Stereo Typical'', was released in 2011. As o ...

, Bryan Adams and

Ellie Goulding Elena Jane Goulding ( ; born 30 December 1986) is an English singer and songwriter. Her career began when she met record producers Starsmith and Frankmusik, and she was later spotted by Jamie Lillywhite, who became her manager and Artists and ...

2016 Invictus Games

On 14 July 2015, Prince Harry, Patron of Invictus Games Foundation, announced the 2016 Invictus Games would take place from 8–12 May 2016 at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...

. On 28 October 2015, Prince Harry, USA's First Lady

Michelle Obama Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama (born January 17, 1964) is an American attorney and author who served as first lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017. She was the first African-American woman to serve in this position. She is married t ...

and Second Lady Jill Biden launched Invictus Games 2016 at Fort Belvoir. In order to bring Invictus Games to the US, Military Adaptive Sports Inc. (MASI) was created, and worked to build on the success of the Invictus Games 2014 held in London. Ken Fisher served as chairman and CEO for Invictus Games Orlando 2016. All 14 countries from the 2014 Games were invited back, while Jordan was the only new invitee.

2017 Invictus Games

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

hosted the 2017 Invictus Games in September 2017 during Canada's

sesquicentennial An anniversary is the date on which an event took place or an institution was founded in a previous year, and may also refer to the commemoration or celebration of that event. The word was first used for Catholic feasts to commemorate saints. ...

. Building from hosting the

Pan American Pan-American, Pan American, Panamerican, Pan-America, Pan America or Panamerica may refer to: * Collectively, the Americas: North America, Central America, South America and the Caribbean * Something of, from, or related to the Americas * Pan-Amer ...

and Parapan American Games in

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

, Toronto's organizers planned to feature more competitors, nations and sports—such as ice events—than previously. Unlike prior games which were hosted at a single site, multiple venues around the

Greater Toronto Area The Greater Toronto Area, commonly referred to as the GTA, includes the City of Toronto and the regional municipalities of Durham, Halton, Peel, and York. In total, the region contains 25 urban, suburban, and rural municipalities. The Greater T ...

hosted the 12 sporting events and opening and closing ceremonies. The

Air Canada Centre Scotiabank Arena ( French: ''Aréna Scotiabank)'', formerly known as Air Canada Centre (ACC), is a multi-purposed arena located on Bay Street in the South Core district of Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the home of the Toronto Rap ...

hosted the ceremonies. Fort York National Historic Site hosted the archery; Nathan Phillips Square hosted wheelchair tennis; Ryerson University's Mattamy Athletic Centre hosted the indoor rowing, powerlifting, sitting volleyball, wheelchair basketball and wheelchair rugby;

St. George's Golf and Country Club St. George's Golf and Country Club (originally ''The Royal York Golf Club'') is a golf course and country club located in Etobicoke, Toronto, Ontario, Canada in the west end neighbourhood of Islington. History The club was originally established i ...

hosted the golf;

The Distillery District The Distillery District is a commercial and residential district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, east of downtown, which contains numerous cafés, restaurants, and shops housed within heritage buildings of the former Gooderham and Worts Distillery. ...

hosted the Jaguar Land Rover driving challenge; High Park hosted cycling;

Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre The Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre (TPASC; ) is a sports complex in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Co-owned by the City of Toronto and the University of Toronto Scarborough, it is operated by TPASC Inc., with programming offered by both the university an ...

hosted swimming, sitting volleyball and wheelchair basketball; and York Lions Stadium hosted the athletics. Michael Burns was the CEO for the 2017 Games, and the official mascot for the Games was Vimy, a Labrador. All 15 countries from the 2016 Games were invited back, with new invitations going to Romania and Ukraine.

2018 Invictus Games

Bids to host the 2018 Invictus Games closed in December 2015. The

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

in Australia announced its intention to bid, using facilities built for the

2018 Commonwealth Games The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that were held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, bet ...

. In November 2016,

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, Australia, was announced as the host city. Patrick Kidd was the CEO. The Royal Australian Mint released a commemorative $1 coin featuring Braille text in the lead-up to the Games. All 17 countries from the 2017 Games were invited back, with an invitation extended to Poland.

2020 Invictus Games

The games were to be held on 9–16 May 2020 at the

Zuiderpark Stadion Zuiderparkstadion (, Dutch for ''Southern Park Stadium'') was an 11,000-seat stadium in The Hague, Netherlands. It was the home of football club ADO Den Haag. For many years after the club's inauguration in 1905, they played football in many d ...

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

, Netherlands, but were postponed to 2021 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. They were then postponed again to the Spring of 2022. The new dates were 16 April to 22 April 2022. In April 2021, it was announced that ''Heart of Invictus'', a

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

documentary series in partnership with Invictus Games and

Archewell Archewell Inc. is a Beverly Hills-based public organization registered in Delaware and founded in 2020 by Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex. The group includes the couple's nonprofit charitable foundation, as well as ...

, would surround the competitors from the 2022 Invictus Games. Prince Harry would executive produce the series and appear on camera. The funding from the documentary series would go to the Invictus Games Foundation, and their work supporting international wounded, injured and sick service personnel and veterans.

2023 Invictus Games

Games were to be held in 2022 in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

, Germany, in the

Merkur Spiel-Arena Merkur Spielarena (stylized as MERKUR SPIEL-ARENA), previously known as the Esprit Arena (until 2 August 2018), the LTU Arena (until June 2009), and as the Düsseldorf Arena (during the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest), is a multi-functional footba ...

. Following the postponement of the 2020 Games to 2022, the Düsseldorf Games have now been postponed to 2023.

2025 Invictus Games

On 22 April 2022, Prince Harry announced that the 2025 games will take place in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

and Whistler, Canada. It is planned to be the first games to feature winter adaptive sports, including alpine skiing, Nordic skiing, skeleton and wheelchair curling. The bid to host the games was submitted by True Patriot Love Foundation, in partnership with the Government of Canada, the province of British Columbia and the two Canadian municipalities and in partnership with the local Lil'wat,

Musqueam The Musqueam Indian Band ( ; hur, xʷməθkʷəy̓əm ) is a First Nations in Canada, First Nations band government in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is the only First Nations band whose reserve community lies within the boundari ...

, Squamish, and

Tsleil-Waututh The Tsleil-Waututh Nation ( hur, səlilwətaɬ ), formerly known as the Burrard Indian Band or Burrard Inlet Indian Band, is a First Nations band government in the Canadian province of British Columbia. The Tsleil-Waututh Nation ("TWN") are Coa ...

indigenous nations.