Uganda withdraws from Invictus Games after King Charles reaffirms Harry and Meghan’s private status

Uganda has pulled out of the Invictus Games just two months after joining the competition, saying it does not want to take part in an event that lacks the approval of King Charles III.

The decision, announced by General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, Uganda’s Chief of Defence Forces and son of President Yoweri Museveni, came less than 48 hours after Buckingham Palace made clear that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle remain private citizens and non-working members of the Royal Family.

The development has prompted a sharp response from Harry and Meghan’s camp, which reportedly believes the withdrawal is a direct consequence of a letter issued on the King’s instructions.

A source close to the Sussexes told ITV News that, whether intended or not, Uganda’s decision was “clearly a consequence” of guidance from the Lord Chamberlain that was released on Monday without sufficient consultation with Harry and Meghan.

The source added that the people who would ultimately suffer from the decision were the competitors taking part in the Invictus Games.

Uganda says it will not participate without the King’s approval

General Kainerugaba announced Uganda’s withdrawal on X on September 9.

He said the country wanted to avoid being seen as opposing King Charles, whom he described as a monarch Uganda deeply reveres.

He wrote that Uganda would withdraw from the Invictus Games and would not participate in anything that did not have His Majesty’s approval.

When asked by The Times why he had made the announcement, Kainerugaba said there were factions within Uganda’s Ministry of Defence supporting what he called the “Harry-Meghan nonsense”.

He said he had felt compelled to stop that support immediately and added: “I support the monarch. Period.”

The comments were described by veteran royal reporter Richard Palmer as an extraordinary intervention.

Uganda’s government has also confirmed that Kainerugaba has authority over whether the Uganda People’s Defence Force participates in the Games.

The decision is particularly striking because Uganda had only recently become part of the Invictus community.

Uganda had only joined the Games in July

On July 7, Uganda was formally announced as the 26th country to join the Invictus Games and the first from East Africa.

The announcement was made during a ceremony at Chatham House in London, where Harry met Uganda’s delegation and Defence Minister Kiryowa Kiwanuka.

Harry posed for photographs with the delegation and held a roundel bearing Uganda’s name. He jokingly handled it like a frisbee, prompting laughter from those around him.

Kiwanuka had also appeared alongside Harry at the London event, where the two countries’ involvement in the competition was celebrated.

Just two months later, Uganda has now abandoned its planned participation.

The next Invictus Games are scheduled to take place in Birmingham in 2027. Harry founded the competition in 2014 as a Paralympics-style sporting event intended to support the recovery and rehabilitation of wounded, injured and sick military personnel and veterans.

The withdrawal follows King Charles’s letter

Uganda’s announcement came shortly after a letter issued on behalf of King Charles by Richard Benyon, the Lord Chamberlain.

The letter was sent to senior government and military officials, as well as lord lieutenants, to remove any uncertainty about Harry and Meghan’s position following their return to the UK.

The King reiterated that the couple had not resumed royal duties and that their status had not changed since they stepped down as working royals in 2020.

Their His and Her Royal Highness styles remain in abeyance and are not used. Their charitable activities, the letter said, are undertaken in a private capacity.

In effect, Harry and Meghan are to be treated as private citizens with commercial and charitable interests.

The clarification was also significant because Harry and Meghan returned to the UK only a fortnight earlier after spending years living in the United States.

Their return had raised questions about whether they might resume a more formal public role. The King’s letter made clear that this had not happened.

Sussexes say they were given little warning

Harry and Meghan’s representatives were reportedly informed at 1.59pm on Monday that the letter was being released.

At 2.19pm, Team Sussex responded to Buckingham Palace, asking whether the guidance had already been distributed. Their hope, according to the report, was to establish what had happened before the media received the information and to clarify one or two points.

Harry himself was in a meeting at Tower Bridge Studios in London and could not be contacted until 3.09pm.

His team was then told that a letter had been drafted and was seeking clarification over whether it had already been distributed.

At 3.11pm, they received confirmation that it had already been sent to the media.

A spokesman for Harry and Meghan subsequently said they had been “a little surprised” not to have been informed in advance. Reuters also reported that the couple were surprised by the timing of the letter.

The episode has added another layer to the increasingly complicated relationship between the Sussexes and the Royal Household, coming only weeks after the couple returned to Britain.

Security questions are also hanging over the Sussexes

The timing of the letter was particularly notable because it came ahead of a meeting involving the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures, known as RAVEC.

The committee is responsible for decisions concerning security arrangements for members of the Royal Family and other protected individuals.

Harry has been awaiting the outcome of a threat assessment by the Risk Management Board, with RAVEC expected to consider what level of taxpayer-funded security the Sussexes should receive now that they are living in the UK again.

The security issue has been a longstanding source of dispute between Harry and the British authorities since he and Meghan stopped being working royals.

The King’s letter reinforced that their return to Britain had not changed their constitutional or working status.

A major change from Harry and Meghan’s royal life

Harry and Meghan stepped down as working royals in 2020 before relocating to the United States.

Their decision gave them greater independence over their personal and financial affairs, while they continued to pursue commercial and charitable projects outside the official structure of the Royal Family.

Their recent return to the UK has therefore created renewed questions over how their public activities should be viewed.

The King’s letter sought to settle that question by making clear that their charitable work remains personal rather than official royal business.

That distinction is particularly relevant to the Invictus Games, which Harry founded and has remained closely associated with.

Although the Games support wounded and sick service personnel, the event is not a royal institution. Harry’s involvement is carried out in his private capacity. The Palace has nonetheless made clear that King Charles supports organisations and initiatives assisting wounded service personnel.

Uganda’s relationship with the British monarchy

Uganda’s decision also comes against a longstanding relationship between the country and the British monarchy.

President Yoweri Museveni, General Kainerugaba’s father and the man he hopes to succeed as president, described Charles as a “good friend” in a condolence message following the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022.

Museveni also sent congratulations to Charles following his coronation in May 2023, referring to the “brotherly and cordial relations” between Britain and Uganda.

The late Queen made the most recent visit to Uganda by a British monarch in 2007, when she travelled to Kampala with Prince Philip to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

Against that background, Kainerugaba’s decision was presented as an expression of loyalty to the British monarch rather than opposition to the Invictus Games’ purpose.

Sussex team blames Palace guidance for the fallout

The central dispute now concerns whether Uganda’s withdrawal should be viewed as a direct consequence of the King’s letter.

Harry and Meghan’s camp clearly believes there is a connection.

The source close to the couple argued that the Lord Chamberlain’s guidance, released without giving the Sussexes enough time to respond, had created the circumstances that led to Uganda’s decision.

The source also stressed that the people most affected would be the athletes who had expected to represent Uganda at the Invictus Games.

That interpretation is disputed by the circumstances of Uganda’s announcement itself. Kainerugaba explicitly framed the decision around his support for King Charles and his refusal to participate in activities without the monarch’s approval.

The Invictus Games Foundation has reportedly been seeking clarification from its Ugandan partners following the announcement.

For Harry, the withdrawal is an awkward development at a time when he and Meghan are attempting to establish their lives in Britain again.

Harry and Meghan’s new life in Britain

The Sussexes moved back to the UK after years in the United States, bringing their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, with them.

The couple had stepped away from official royal duties in 2020 and subsequently built a separate life centred on commercial and charitable work.

Their return has reopened questions about their relationship with the monarchy, their public roles and the security arrangements that will apply to them.

The King’s letter was intended to make one point clear: returning to Britain does not mean returning to royal duties.

For now, Harry and Meghan remain the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, but their position is that of private citizens whose charitable and commercial activities are separate from the official work of the Royal Family.

Uganda’s withdrawal has brought that distinction into sharp focus.

Only two months after being welcomed into the Invictus Games as its first East African participant, the country has stepped away, with its military chief explicitly citing loyalty to King Charles as the reason. The fallout has now placed Harry’s flagship veterans’ project at the centre of another dispute surrounding the Sussexes’ place outside the working monarchy.