The British royal family are renowned for keeping a stiff upper lip, rarely showing emotion in public.
However, in recent years, we’ve witnessed some touching moments when the Duke of Sussex has been visibly moved in public.
It’s often been for causes close to Prince Harry’s heart or talking about become a father to Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
And in 2022, there was understandable sorrow as the royal family mourned the loss of Queen Elizabeth II.
It’s not just sadness that Harry has expressed publicly – he looked genuinely touched by the crowds on his wedding day to Meghan Markle in 2018, and full of pride at the Invictus Games.
© GettyTears of joy
Harry appeared glassy-eyed as he and his new wife, Meghan, rode through the streets of Windsor in a carriage procession following their wedding at St George’s Chapel on 19 May 2018.
© Getty
WellChild Awards 2019
Harry blinked back tears as he gave an emotional address at the WellChild Awards in October 2019. The Duke has been patron of the charity, which helps seriously ill children in the UK, since 2007
Speaking about that moment in his memoir, Spare, released in January 2023, Harry recalled: “I walked onstage, began my brief remarks, and caught sight of Meg’s face. I thought back to a year ago, when she and I attended this event just weeks after taking that home pregnancy test.
“We’d been filled with hope, and worry, like all expectant parents, and now we had a healthy little boy at home. But these parents and children hadn’t been so lucky.
“Gratitude and sympathy converged in my heart, and I choked up. Unable to get the words out, I held the lectern tight and leaned forward. The presenter, who’d been a friend of my mother, stepped over and gave my shoulder a rub.”
Invictus Games The Hague 2022
It had been a long road to the Invictus Games in The Hague in 2022, which had to be postponed for two years amid the pandemic.
Meghan’s sweet tribute to her husband almost brought Harry to tears as she introduced him on stage:
“Now it is my distinguished honour to introduce someone who I think you’ll be excited to hear from. He has spent many late nights and early mornings planning for these games to make them as perfect as possible for each of you, she said.
“I could not love and respect him more and I know many of you feel the same because he is your fellow veteran having served two tours of Afghanistan, and ten years of military service and the founder of Invictus Games and the father to our two little ones, Archie and Lili.
“This is dedication and this is the Invictus family. Please welcome to the stage my incredible husband, Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex.”
In response, an overwhelmed Harry gave his wife a kiss before replying: “Thank you, my love.”
© Getty
Harry’s opening speech
Speaking to the Invictus Games competitors, he said: “To be role models, or the role models, that each of you are takes strength and it takes courage. When I talk to my son, Archie, about what he wants to be when he grows up, some days it’s an astronaut, other days it’s a pilot – a helicopter pilot, obviously. Or Kwazii from ‘Octonauts’.
“But what I remind him is, that no matter what you want to be when you grow up, it’s your character that matters most. And nothing would make his mom and me prouder than to see him have the character of what we see before us today.”
© Getty
Paying tribute
The Duke also looked emotional as he paid tribute to team Ukraine, who attended the Invictus Games in the Hague in April 2022 amid Russia’s invasion of their nation.
“Your bravery in choosing to come and for being here tonight cannot be overstated,” Harry said.
© Getty
Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral
Harry was seen wiping back tears as he and wife, Meghan, attended the state funeral of the Duke’s grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, at Westminster Abbey 2022.
In a tribute to the late Queen days after her death, the Duke said: “Granny, while this final parting brings us great sadness, I am forever grateful for all of our first meetings – from my earliest childhood memories with you, to meeting you for the first time as my commander-in-chief, to the first moment you met my darling wife and hugged your beloved great-grandchildren.”
© Getty
Invictus Games Dusseldorf 2023
The Duke delivered an emotive five-minute speech at the closing ceremony for the Invictus Games Dusseldorf 2023.
In his remarks, the Duke shared an emotional moment from his time at the Invictus 2025 tent, hosted by the Canadian team, when he spoke with Master Corporal James Gendron, with the Prince noticing a set of bagpipes in the corner of the tent.
“Some of you may know what bagpipes mean to me, so I couldn’t help but hope they’d be played!” he said in the speech.
Bagpipes were a favourite instrument of the late Queen, with the Duke sharing in his memoir, Spare, that she loved to be awoken to the sound of the instrument and for them to played at mealtimes.
Harry went on to say that the instrument had a particularly poignant connection for the Master Corporal, as he shared: “Little did I know that thirty minutes later, it would be James picking them up and offering to play – yet I had NO idea what they meant to him. Nor did I know what memories they triggered for him. In Afghanistan he played 63 ramp ceremonies. For 63 caskets. For 63 souls. For 63 families.
“For four years after that last ceremony, he couldn’t touch them. This week he wasn’t sure whether he could bring himself to PLAY them. But he did. What had once haunted him, dare I say it, may now be what helps heal him.”
