SUPPORT OUR JOURNALISM: Please consider donating to keep our website running and free for all - thank you!

The Sussexes

Prince Harry to hand over US Soldier’s Invictus Games medal to medics who saved her life

Prince Harry will meet members of the Papworth Hospital team tomorrow during a reception at Kensington Palace.

Amongst those in attendance will be the staff who treated Invictus Games competitor, Sergeant Elizabeth Marks, who handed back the medal that she won to Prince Harry, requesting it would be given to the staff who treated her.

Prince Harry will now fulfil his promise on Wednesday morning by presenting the medal to the hospital staff.

Sergeant Marks had asked Harry to donate the gold medal she won for the 100m freestyle swimming, saying she wanted to”give something back”.

The team at Papworth Hospital administered lifesaving treatment when Sergeant Marks fell critically ill in 2014 ahead of the London Invictus Games. Elizabeth had collapsed with a serious lung condition and was placed on life support for ten days.

When she won the gold medal, she asked Harry to: “Please, give it to them”

Harry replied with “Are you sure?”, before taking the medal back from her.

Sergeant Marks later said in an interview: “They absolutely saved my life and I can’t thank the UK enough for having that kind of medical support and taking such good care of me. So I gave Prince Harry one of my medals and hope it will find its way back to Papworth.”

When Papworth Hospital heard of the news, they issued a statement saying the gesture was “extremely generous and unexpected”.

Sergeant Marks will be heading to Rio later this summer to compete in four swimming events in the Paralympics to be held there after the close of the Olympic games.

She first joined the US army at the age of 17. She lost the sensation in her left leg after a serious hip injury in 2010, however, she still serves in the military.