Royal family
Find out why one country just announced that it will not participate in the upcoming Invictus Games held in Birmingham.
Prince Harry has returned to England, the same place where the Invictus Games will be held in 2027. But when those Games get underway in Birmingham, one county won’t be represented as it has pulled out of the competition. And the reason is to show allegiance to King Charles.
Uganda’s commander of the armed forces and son of President Yoweri Museveni, General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, has announced that the country won’t be part of next year’s Invictus Games.
The military chief posted his decision on X, writing, “In order not to be construed as being opposed to His Majesty King Charles III of the United Kingdom, whom we deeply revere, Uganda hereby withdraws from the Invictus Games. We shall not participate in anything that does not have His Majesty’s approval.”
The announcement came as a bit of a surprise to some since Uganda was welcomed as the 26th member of the Invictus community and the first East African nation to join the Games during a ceremony held at Chatham House on July 7, 2026, where Uganda’s defence minister appeared alongside Prince Harry.
Kainerugaba spoke to The Times about what was behind his decision to pull out and bluntly stated, “I have factions in the Ministry of Defence that support that Harry-Meghan nonsense. I had to quash it straight away. I support the monarch. Period.”
Following the death of Queen Elizabeth in 2022, President Museveni described King Charles as “our good friend in the conservation of nature” in a condolence message and sent congratulations on his coronation the following year, citing “brotherly and cordial relations” between the two countries.
The Invictus Games, held for wounded service personnel, will be in Birmingham in July 2027. It’s been reported that Harry hopes his father will formally open the event.
The prince, who co-founded the Games with entrepreneur Sir Keith Mills in 2014, has spoken about what sparked the idea. The duke admitted that it was taken from the Warrior Games model and he wanted to expand on it, saying that the idea was “stolen from the Americans and made bigger and better.”
“Sport was the magic that I witnessed,” Harry said per Vanity Fair. “Having just come back from Afghanistan myself, seeing the wounded, injured and sick and seeing the effect this was having on all the families, and just the weight—the load on defense and on the individuals and on the rehabilitation programs. There just wasn’t enough being done.”
The word “Invictus” means “unconquered,” reflecting the resilience of the competing service members.
