Despite visiting the NFL Honors a few days earlier, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle did not plan to attend the Super Bowl on Sunday, according to reports.
On Thursday, Harry, 39, made a surprise appearance at the NFL Honors in Las Vegas, where he presented the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year award to Pittsburgh Steelers defensive player Cameron Heyward.
However, his appearance did not precede his attendance at the Super Bowl. Harry recently returned from a quick trip to the U.K. to meet his father, King Charles, who was diagnosed with cancer. He and Meghan, 42, want to travel to Canada together soon. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will attend the Invictus Games Vancouver Whistler 2025’s One Year to Go celebrations on February 14-16.
The Kansas City Chiefs’ game against the San Francisco 49ers in Las Vegas is a short flight from the couple’s property in Montecito, California, where they live with their son Prince Archie, 4, and daughter Princess Lilibet, 2. In November 2023, Harry and Meghan attended the final show of Katy Perry’s Play stint in Las Vegas.
Last Monday, Buckingham Palace announced that King Charles had been diagnosed with “a form of cancer,” and Prince Harry rushed to see him the next day. The King, 75, personally told his sons, Prince Harry and Prince William, prior to the official revelation, which came in a 138-word statement published one week after the monarch left the hospital following a three-day stay for surgery for a benign enlarged prostate. However, the palace confirmed that Prince does not have prostate cancer.
Harry returned from his vacation only hours before taking the stage at the NFL Honors in Las Vegas. As he delivered the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year award, which recognizes a player’s service and charitable work, he said, “I really like how you stole rugby from us and made it your own.” Instead of passing it backward, simply pass it forward. Why not wear pads and a helmet? Of course, having offensive and defense makes logical. And why not pause every 15 seconds? And you know what? Instead of a 10-month season, let us make it 18 weeks. Genius.”
“All kidding aside, what you guys do on and off the field is truly remarkable,” Prince Harry added. “You serve as role models for millions of others through the way you conduct yourself and give back. This final award, the ultimate accolade, is all about helping your community. We’d like to pay respect to one remarkable man right now. A player who goes above and beyond, and whose incredible dedication to helping others mirrors his own journey.”
Heyward responded to the presenter, saying, “Man, Prince freaking Harry.” Man, I’m shocked. “That is Prince Harry.”
The affair was not his first encounter with the NFL. Harry attended the 2022 Super Bowl in Inglewood with his cousin, Princess Eugenie.
During Meghan and Harry’s three-day trip to Canada, they will attend the participating nations’ Winter Training Camp, which allows members of the International Invictus Community, including team managers, coaches, and competitors, to experience winter adaptive sports ahead of the Games next year.
Prince Harry, a former British Army captain, established the worldwide adapted sports competition for wounded, injured, and sick service people and veterans in 2014.
The Invictus Games will return to Canada in 2025 for the first time after cycles in London (2014), Orlando (2016), Toronto (2017), Sydney (2018), the Hague (when COVID-19 put the tournament back to 2022), and Düsseldorf (2023).
The Invictus Games in Vancouver-Whistler will also be the first to include winter adaptive sports with some of the core sports from past Invictus Games.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have a special connection to Canada, and the Invictus Games were a pivotal point in their relationship. The couple made their official debut as a couple at the 2017 Invictus Games in Toronto, where Meghan lived while filming Suits.
“I had always wanted to share these incredible moments with someone special, and having Meg by my side means everything,” Prince Harry told PEOPLE in 2022 about how important the Invictus Games had been in his relationship with Meghan.