Prince Harry Practices His Invictus Games Speech in Front of Meghan Markle During Royal Tour of Australia

Prince Harry practiced his speech for the Invictus Games opening ceremony as Meghan Markle sat alone in the audience. The couple are in the middle of their royal tour of Australia.

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Royal tours give new meaning to the idea of a working vacation. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been in Australia for less than a week now on their first official royal tour, and they have already done so much. When news broke on the first day of the tour that Meghan was pregnant with the couple's first child, some wondered if she might adjust her busy tour schedule, but she definitely did NOT.

In their first five days in Australia, Harry and Meghan have met with the Governor General and his wife (and accepted an adorable stuffed kangaroo toy that Meghan described as "our first baby gift!"), met with high school girls to talk female empowerment, discussed mental health and pregnancy side effects with fans on Bondi Beach, and put their own baby fever on full display, among other things.

On Friday, Harry and Meghan turned their focus to the Invictus Games, a sporting event for wounded and disabled veterans that Harry started himself. The 2018 Games are being held in Sydney and coincide with Harry and Meghan's visit. Harry climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge with Australia Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Invictus Games competitors on Friday ahead of the official start of the event.

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Then, on Saturday night (Australia time), Harry took the stage at the Invictus Games' opening ceremony to address the crowd:

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Even royals don't just wing a speech to a crowd of thousands though. Just hours before he was scheduled to speak, Harry got on stage in the then-empty stadium and practiced his speech—while Meghan Markle sat alone in the crowd and watched. Awwwwwwwww.

Kensington Palace released a photo of the sweet moment, captioned, "Almost time for the @InvictusGames2018 — The Duke of Sussex makes his final speech preparations ahead of tonight’s Opening Ceremony."

It's clear from the outfits Harry and Meghan are wearing that this moment happened just before or after they attended the 2018 Jaguar Land Rover Driving Challenge on Cockatoo Island.

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(Image credit: Getty images)
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Kayleigh Roberts
Weekend Editor

Kayleigh Roberts is a freelance writer and editor with more than 10 years of professional experience. Her byline has appeared in Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, ELLE, Harper’s Bazaar, The Atlantic, Allure, Entertainment Weekly, MTV, Bustle, Refinery29, Girls’ Life Magazine, Just Jared, and Tiger Beat, among other publications. She's a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.