Prince Harry teases fans at surprise ‘Heart of Invictus’ screening appearance in California

Duke of Sussex’s new documentary series launched on Wednesday in US and UK

The Duke of Sussex surprised fans at a screening for Heart of Invictus, but he didn’t miss the opportunity to lightheartedly tease members of the audience.

To celebrate his five-part Netflix documentary, Heart of Invictus - which launched on Wednesday (30 August) in the US and UK - Prince Harry shocked fans when he arrived at a preview screening on Monday at an AMC Theatre in Chula Vista, California. The 38-year-old royal’s appearance at the screening was reportedly unplanned, according to Entertainment Tonight, as he wanted to show his support for the United Service Organisations (USO).

“You guys get to see Heart of Invictus, which has been the last two years in the making, sooner than anybody else,” Harry said in a speech before the screening, per People. “So it’ll be coming out on Wednesday. You guys get to watch it tonight, or at least two episodes [to] sort of whet the appetite for the rest of it. But it’s nice to be back in San Diego.”

The father of two also took the opportunity to poke fun at some of his fans. “It’s nice of you to dress up for the occasion,” Harry jokingly told the audience, according to Page Six. “Suits and ties - no?” he added, before thanking the moviegoers for attending the Heart of Invictus screening.

Many attendees - some of whom were active military, wounded warriors, or military family members - showed their excitement in photos and videos shared to social media. “Last night I was invited to a special screening of Prince Harry’s new documentary series, Heart of Invictus, at AMC Chula Vista, CA, and got to meet the Duke of Sussex, Harry himself,” said author GraceAnn Skidmore on Instagram, who shared a selfie with Prince Harry taken after the event.

“As a military spouse, USO volunteer, and someone who is passionate about military advocacy, this event was one of a kind and I am so thankful for the experience,” she continued. “Harry is every bit as gracious in person as in the media in his mission to support veterans across the world. Thank you USO, thank you Netflix!”

Meanwhile, her friend Bonnie Pham posted a clip of Harry giving a speech in front of the theatre, before panning the camera over to excited fans. “When it’s a random Monday night and Prince Harry crashes the premiere of his show in random Chula Vista,” she said on Instagram. “My friend Harry had to show up and crash the party, and we’re here for it!” she captioned the clip.

The five-part docuseries follows a group of service members on their road to the paralympic-style sporting competition, the Invictus Games, which Harry set up in 2014 for injured and sick military personnel and veterans. A camera crew for the project joined Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, when they visited the Games in The Hague in the Netherlands in 2022.

Prince Harry is an Army veteran who served two tours of Afghanistan. In one moment during the docuseries, he described how returning from his final tour triggered an “unravelling” following the death of his mother, the late Princess Diana, but “no one around me really could help”.

“I didn’t have that support structure, that network or that expert advice to identify actually what was going on with me,” he said in the series, adding that his return from Afghanistan unlocked suppressed grief that he was “never really aware of”.

“Look, I can only speak for my personal experience, my tour of Afghanistan in 2012 flying Apaches, somewhere after that there was an unravelling and the trigger for me was actually returning from Afghanistan,” Harry said. “The stuff that was coming up was from 1997 from the age of 12. Losing my mum at such a young age, the trauma that I had, I was never really aware of. It was never discussed, I didn’t really talk about it. And I just suppressed it as most youngsters would have done.

“But then when it all came fizzing out, I was bouncing off the walls. I was like, ‘What is going on here, I am now feeling everything as opposed to being numb’.”

The Heart of Invictus, which was first announced more than two years ago, has been made by Harry and Meghan’s Archewell Productions company. It is directed by Orlando von Einsiedel and produced by Joanna Natasegara, who worked together on the Oscar-winning short, The White Helmets.

Prince Harry was executive producer of the Netflix series, his latest project for the streamer since last year’s six-part documentary, Harry & Meghan. The December 2022 docuseries saw the duke and duchess shed light on their troubled life within the royal family, and accuse Kensington Palace of lying at the Megxit summit to protect Harry’s brother William, and father Charles, now King.

However, reports surfaced that executives at Netflix “have been underwhelmed by the lack of productivity” from the Sussexes. The couple’s $20m (£15.6m) deal with Spotify ended in June after one season of Meghan’s podcast, Archetypes.

Heart of Invictus has been released in the run-up to next month’s Invictus Games in Dusseldorf, Germany. Harry is set to travel to Germany for the entirety of the next tournament, which begins on 9 September, while Meghan will join him shortly after the games begin.

Additional reporting from PA.