On Friday, 4 June, Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark participated in a symbolic medal ceremony for the Invictus Games in Svanemøllen’s Barracks in Copenhagen.
Prior to the medal ceremony, His Royal Highness met with several personalities connected with the Games, including Danish Defense Minister Trine Bramsen and the leader of Team Denmark at the Invictus Games, Claus Bodilsen.
Connected to this occasion, the Crown Prince also presented five Danish veterans with the Danish Defense Medal for the Fallen and Wounded in Service, while Lt. Gen. Kenneth Pedersen presented the Invictus Coin.
This is the week in which the Invictus Games were supposed to occur, already postponed from 2020 due to the uncertainty surrounding the global health situation. 2021 saw the Games being moved again, this time to 2022, and the host city will still be The Hague. Denmark has decided to still honour service members who were supposed to participate in the sporting events by holding this symbolic medal ceremony.
The Invictus Games were founded by Prince Harry in 2014, after having been inspired by the Warrior Games held in the United States.
The first edition of the Games was in London in 2014; the second was in Florida, United States, the third in Toronto, Canada, and the fourth in Sydney, Australia. The Hague was supposed to host the 2020 edition of the event and will hopefully get its chance to do so in 2022.
Friday also created a special and coincidental connection: the 4th of June was when Prince Harry’s second child, a baby girl named Lili Diana, was born at 11:40 am in a Santa Barbara hospital. It feels special that, given Prince Harry’s strong connection to the event, Crown Prince Frederik managed to honour the founder of the Invictus Games with such a special ceremony.
