Why Did Meghan Markle Leave Prince Harry’s Invictus Games Five Days Early?

After five days of a mini-masterclass in snow bunny dressing, Meghan Markle has officially left the Invictus Games in Canada for home in California and the two kids she shares with husband Prince Harry.

Harry—who founded the Invictus Games in 2014—will stay behind at the Games until they conclude over the weekend. Though this is not the Games’ first iteration in Canada (while the competition is in Vancouver and Whistler this year, they were in Toronto in 2017), it did mark a milestone for the event: its first foray into winter sports, which debuted earlier this week.

Meghan’s early exit from the Games was always planned, sources said, and she flew home to Montecito and kids Prince Archie, 5, and Princess Lilibet, 3, on February 11. Harry and Meghan were in Canada by February 7, and the Games officially ran this year from February 8 to February 16. Harry will stay until the closing ceremony on Sunday, The Telegraph reported.

“This was always planned,” a source close to the couple told the outlet. “Meghan is going home to be with her children.”

Referring to the 2023 Invictus Games in Germany, “Meghan left the Games in Düsseldorf early after five days to go home,” the source continued. “This is Prince Harry’s event and she is here to support him, but this was planned.”

The Telegraph reported that Meghan told well-wishers at a wheelchair basketball game in Vancouver on February 9 that she was missing Archie and Lilibet.

Meghan wrapped up her time in Canada at a family-and-friends tubing event in Whistler on Tuesday before departing. At the event, Meghan wore an Aritzia coat, a Rag & Bone sweater (which she also wore to a February 8 Invictus Games event), white pants, Sorel boots, a Moncler beanie, and Miu Miu sunglasses, according to What Meghan Wore. In a video capturing Meghan’s turn down the slope, she said, “No, no, I really don’t want to do this,” while Harry can be heard telling her she’ll be fine and giggling in the background, shouting, “Feet up, feet up, feet up!”

In addition to tubing, Harry and Meghan snuck in a double date with singer Michael Bublé and his wife Luisana Lopilato at Il Caminetto, an Italian restaurant in the heart of Whistler, where Meghan changed into a Carolina Herrera cape over her ensemble and Aquazzura pumps, a longtime favorite brand of the Duchess of Sussex. Though she and Harry will be apart for Valentine’s Day this year, she wore a sentimental pair of diamond Maya Brenner earrings from last Valentine’s Day—a gift from Harry, according to Town & Country.

And their dinner date to Il Caminetto was actually where the couple spent February 14, 2024, as they were in Whistler for the Invictus Games’ winter training camp and one-year countdown celebrations, according to People. While there, they dined on a special four-course holiday menu curated by executive chef Mark Mcloughlin, where for $109 per person they dined on dishes including squash risotto, duck breast, and oysters, and dessert options ranging from salted caramel pudding, tiramisu, and strawberry and chocolate gelato with chocolate-covered strawberries included.

Read the original article on InStyle