Here are some photos of Prince Harry in Vancouver on Friday, where he watched some of the Invictus Games’ swimming competitions. Swimming is not a winter sport! But I guess the Invictus Games decided to keep swimming, even during their first-ever winter games, just because it’s relatively easy to turn swimming into an adaptive sport. Harry looked sharp on Friday – a love the combo of jeans + dress shirt + sport coat and no tie. It’s a great look for Harry and we know he hates wearing a tie.
I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the media coverage of Invictus this year. At times, it’s been somewhat muted, I think because it’s harder for European and American journalists to drop everything and fly to Canada’s west coast. It was easier for them to turn up at The Hague and Dusseldorf, you know? So that means a handful of outlets have gotten really good access, outlets like People Magazine, Hello and various Canadian outlets and broadcasters. Harry not only gave an exclusive interview to People, he also spoke on-camera to Canada’s CTV News. The Telegraph is very mad that Harry jokingly said that having five kids is too many.
The Duke of Sussex suggested that having five children is too many and that “one or two kids is probably enough”. The Duke, 40, said he knows some people with five children and tells them it is their “own fault”, as he appeared to rule out giving Prince Archie, five, and Princess Lilibet, three, any more siblings.
In an interview with Canadian television station CTV News at the Invictus Games, the Duke said: “I know some people who’ve got five. I just say, ‘Well, that’s your own fault!’ Having kids is amazing, but it’s a journey every single day, every single week. They just grow, and they change. I love the questions that they ask and the experiences and the challenges that they give you. It’s great.”
He made the comments during the 30-minute special Prince Harry and the Canadian Heroes, which aired on Thursday night.
Prince Harry’s grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, had four children with the late Duke of Edinburgh, while his brother, the Prince and Princess of Wales have three. His father the King and mother Princess Diana had just two children, as did his aunt, the Princess Royal and uncles, the Duke of York and the current Duke of Edinburgh.
Prince Harry’s remarks come amid falling birth rates in the West, with several European leaders urging their citizens to have bigger families to help tackle the crisis. Tech billionaire Elon Musk has also led calls, warning in 2021 that “if people don’t have more children, civilisation is going to crumble”.
I actually think Harry wouldn’t have minded having a third child, but he’s totally fine with being a father of two. He loves kids and he loves being a hands-on father, but between Archie, Lili, the dogs and the chickens, they probably have too much going on already. Anyway, Harry was not making some kind of value judgment on large families and he really wasn’t subtweeting QEII or William and Kate. He was just joking that it’s crazy-stressful to have any number of kids. Also: for all of the people (men) who cite “falling birth rates” as a major issue, what are you doing to help women feel safe, valued and protected enough to bring a baby into this world?
PS… Team Nigeria loves Prince Harry, they’re staying close to him in so many photos from the week!!
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.
-
- Swimming during the 2025 Invictus Games Featuring: Prince Harry Where: Vancouver, Canada When: 14 Feb 2025 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
-
- Swimming during the 2025 Invictus Games Featuring: Prince Harry Where: Vancouver, Canada When: 14 Feb 2025 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
-
- Swimming during the 2025 Invictus Games Featuring: Prince Harry Where: Vancouver, Canada When: 14 Feb 2025 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
-
- Swimming during the 2025 Invictus Games Featuring: Prince Harry Where: Vancouver, Canada When: 14 Feb 2025 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
-
- Swimming during the 2025 Invictus Games Featuring: Prince Harry Where: Vancouver, Canada When: 14 Feb 2025 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
-
- Swimming during the 2025 Invictus Games Featuring: Prince Harry Where: Vancouver, Canada When: 14 Feb 2025 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
Queen Elizabeth had a few nannies and the Wails have at least one nanny. I’ve never been clear whether Harry and Meghan still have a nanny but it definitely seems like they’re more hands on than those first two.
Oh yeah, the Sussex’s definitely have a nanny but probably not a live-in or perhaps they live on the property but not in the main house. They both work, travel for days at a time several times a year so a nanny would be a necessity.
Their nanny wasn’t a live-in when they were in the UK so would expect that the same applies in the US plus they have the added help from Doria now.
Omg if I had their money I would hire a nanny who also had a degree in child psychology and a solid foundation in gentle parenting.
GENTLE PARENTING IS NOT PERMISSIVE PARENTING. ITS ACKNOWLEDGING BIG EMOTIONS WITH KINDNESS AND BOUNDARIES.
heck I wish I had that in a babysitter.
@Friendly Crow — wish I had that with my parents. Gentle parenting was not their style, and they did not spare the rod to spoil the child. They managed us through withdrawing their love if we weren’t perfect little automatons.
Let’s be clear here: They are only concerned about falling birthrates of white babies.
Doria steps in too when needed.
Granny may still be able to look after them, she’s 68, so depends on how fit she is.
The thing that many people of a certain demographic- be it age or simply beliefs in how other people, especially vulnerable people – don’t seem to get is the sheer amount of emotional support and energy and time that children deserve to have invested in them. Because they didn’t raise their own kids that way or see kids being raised that way around them or by their peers.
So many people are out there – breaking generational curses, healing themselves as they work for their children to never know trauma – and trying so hard for their children to feel safe, emotionally and physically. To work through them understanding and accepting their emotions and that their actions don’t have to come from a place of emotion. To understand the goodness in the world around them but also the sadness that in so many cases can be helped by us coming together. To foster empathy and compassion but to also understand and respect boundaries.
If you then throw in the possibility of a neurodivergent child who sees the world so differently but so perfectly but operates under a set of ways that they relate to the world … parenting is intense and beautiful. And if you are doing it right – can be very hard due to how you are forced to grow and evaluate and reassess ideas.
Every child is so different. Every child deserves to be treated as a full human being, deserving of respect and kindness. Heck the fight to get people in your child’s circle to treat them that way – or cut them off – is a lot.
That said. I know people who have 5+ kids. And they are incredibly attentive, kind, emotionally aware parents raising amazing children. Other people know their limits and frankly don’t want to raise a child either half assed or in a way that they know will be traumatic for them. Not intentionally but we are all on our own journeys.
I’m neurodivergent af and I said from the start- I can be an amazing mother to one child. And a solidly great mother to two – with moments and stretches – potentially – of being of amazing. (Very obviously a hopeful analysis and not a brag. These assessments were made before I had kids and with all the ignorance that that holds. It’s a lot. It’s a lot of ignorance 😂)
I also didn’t know I was neurodivergent at the time. I really appreciate how far we have come in our understanding of how different brains work in the past 15 years.
My husband and I based how many children we were hoping to be able to have on our (perceived ay the time because again… we didn’t know) ability to give them the best of us instead of steadily diminishing returns as parents.
Being very aware that the needs of our kids should directly impact the amount of children we had in as much as it would determine how our family functioned.
We ended up in a place where we are very happy and feel we made the best decisions we had with the knowledge we had at the time.
But so many people don’t evaluate how to patent. They don’t look into child psychology and the developmental stages of growth. They just raise them “naturally” which can be amazing if you are an empathetic person who is highly in tune with the physical and emotional needs of those around them. But if naturally is just repeating the way you were raised – and so much damage was done to my generation, dear god – then it’s easy in a way. No thinking required. Bend them to your will. Their feelings don’t matter, you are the adult.
But it’s not good for the child. And why have kids if not to try to create a wonderful childhood that can be the foundation for so many things?
What a beautiful way to put it. I always thought would not be a great parent due to a dysfunctional childhood, but wound up adopting an older child who had been through a great deal of trauma and my background, along with my husbands far more “ normal “ background made us the exact right for for him. @friendlycrow I have no doubt your family is lucky to have you.
🩷
I don’t think Harry can be blamed for the falling birth rates and touting musk and having big families is not a good thing. I think Harry is happy with the family he has. It was his asshole brother telling Africans , I believe, to not have big families.
Muskrat has numerous children with numerous wives.
Really disgusting that they chose to use Elon Musk’s quote, which was absolutely straight-up Great Replacement Theory. “Civilization” always, ALWAYS means “white” to these people.
exactly.
and FFS demanding people have more children when they’re already struggling to stay afloat thanks to economic issues that seem to be caused/exacerbated by the very people and groups demanding a higher birth rate is very telling
Not to mention that the human population has ballooned from about 1 billion to 8 billion in the last hundred years. I am not sure how long the planet can sustain that level of explosive population growth. Totally agree with Miranda. These types are scared their descendants will be outnumbered unless they produce more than they can afford to raise.
In 2011, the world’s population reached 7 billion; and in 2022, it reached 8 billion.
The disgusting fake president (of the USA) just has his 13th kid. What he means is WHITE people need to breed, to ensure White World Domination, just like Naz1in the 1930s.
I love how the Nigerian Squaddies are calling themselves the in-laws.
Especially when they posted on Valentine’s Day.
While having kids (and the amount of) is deeply personal and should be, I don’t like it when older kids have to help raise younger kids.
Or when we all know there’s a very public band-aid baby that’s being raised, as the two older ones, by nannies and a staff of sixty, while the lazy, entitled father gets away with skipping events with the lame and tired excuse “sorry, can’t, the kids”.
As if he personally does the school run instead of joyriding the heli up and down the country.
Isn’t Andrew a band aid baby, too?
I thought that too! I thought that was the reason he and Edward came so much later.
I think the late Queen learned to relax into the job and stop putting it first.
Lol…I gotta figure out something to do with my 5 boys today.
5 boys! I bet those boys have some fun ideas for something to do. It’s funny bc people with no kids(me!) or a few can’t imagine 5 while people with 5 probably can’t imagine life without them.
I love having 5 boys, it crazy because my sisters and I argued but my boys never get into fights or arguments. So today we decided to take in recycling and then go to batting cages. I was given some circle looms, so after we are going to get yarn at the thrift store and try making knit hats.
I’m reminded of my sister’s visit to the OBGYN when she started having issues during her first pregnancy. Upon returning to the waiting room she appraised her husband, who had just awoken from a nap, of what the issue was.
“I have fibroids,” she said.
But what what sleepy head heard was…
“FIVE BOYS! Don’t worry babe, we’ll be alright!”
One daughter and 47 years later, we’re still laughing.
Anyhow, little boys are wonderful. Congratulations on your five!
Mom to 3 boys and 1 girl. I’ve said many, many times that I would rather have 12 boys than 2 girls lol.
Little boys are wonderful. And so are the girls! I’ve got 2 nephews and 2 nieces so I’m very fortunate.
Diana wanted more children. Charles did not because he was ready to move on from the marriage. Harry wanted a younger sibling. After she and Charles divorced she talked of remarriage and maybe one or two more children. She was serious about Dr khan.
So they’re using every other member of the family as an exemple of royal adjacent people with two children but somehow it’s only a problem when it’s Harry who only wants two ? I see…
Also wasn’t William, at some point, being ultra racist by insinuating that people from African countries were having too many children ? It’s only fine when they’re having a minimum of three children I guess.
He said five, and no one in the royal family has had five for several generations, so how could he be referring to them? Good grief.
That is exactly it.. it’s almost like they can’t stand that it isn’t all about them that they have to twist their outrage to make it fit.
And be said no more than two children when Kate was pregnant with Louis
So weird.
They had a lot more children generations ago including the large family of george 5 and mary.
Canadian here, I referenced this CTV interview in another thread. It was a really great interview. I think some added context for this comment is needed. Harry was talking with the reporter on how busy his life has gotten since the kids and if I remember correctly, this came up in relation to teaching his kids about Invictus. What I specifically remember from last night is that the reporter asks about teaching the kids/the value of his humanitarian work and Harry then asked the CTV reporter if he was a parent. The journalist replied, “Actually, my wife and I are expecting our first in a few weeks. We are a little behind you.” Said jokingly because Harry and Megan are sitting beside him in the stands when that discussion is happening,
Harry then talked about how wonderful it is to be a parent and how busy and said to the journalist, JOKINGLY, something like “1-2 is great. Can’t imagine more than that.” Then the rest of the quote discussed here. It wasn’t an attack on big families but a comment on how hard and busy it is even when you have just a few kids.
When you’re hands on parent, any number more than two is a challenge. It’s harder to provide 1:1 time to each child, tend to their emotional needs and support when they need more from us that usually. Not everyone is cut out to have a big family, and kudos for knowing your limits. With a dozen nannies you can technically have as many kids as you want, but what is the point when you barely spend time with them? When someone else always takes them to school, doctor, puts to bed? And you only show them off when you need to play family guy? Oh wait…
Totally agree. Once upon a time I had a next-door neighbour who had 7 children (and probably more after I moved away). And they were monsters. She simply didn’t have the time or patience to look after them all so they basically ran wild when they weren’t at school, but she just kept getting pregnant year after year. I had run-ins with the older ones who used to climb the fence into my back yard and snoop around peering into my windows. They were rude brats and I had to literally yell at them to get the hell off my property.
Hey – it’s interesting to chat about how many children and.. it’s none of my business how many children anyone has, honestly.
Yeah, I don’t think we need to bring up how Elizabeth raised her children, do we?
The IG YouTube channel has had some nice bits of content.
Or bad father Charles.
To me it was said in a light heartened moment, the English have a sense of humour that rivals their dull and miserable weather
The Telegraph has shown how deeply unserious it is by quoting Elon Musk as its expert. Yeah, shut the f-k up.
I actually don’t like Harry’s jeans this day. Specifically the rise. It needed to be higher. Otherwise it’s a great business casual look.
Harry made it pretty clear that he didn’t want more than two children in the Oprah interview when she asked him.
They said early on they planned for a family of two children.
“Also: for all of the people (men) who cite “falling birth rates” as a major issue, what are you doing to help women feel safe, valued and protected enough to bring a baby into this world”
Preach it from the mountain tops!
It’s also a financial thing — in a recession most people can’t afford more than one child so who’s to blame? Not the parents, try the grifting royal family and government who slashed health care, education, raised taxes, etc. to the point where people are having to choose between paying the rent/mortgage or buying food and gas.
A couple years ago a coworker of mine moved to North Carolina when her fiance accepted a job offer. She said the move was an easy choice because if they stayed here they’d have to choose between buying a house or starting a family, and in NC they could do both.
Harry and Meghan said on the Oprah interview that they were done having children after Lili. So I don’t get why Telegraph is pretending like this is a new revelation and trying to push a narrative that Harry’s attacking Elon Musk.
If he was attacked Elon Musk — which he wasn’t — that would be fine with me.
Musk is not a father. He’s a sperm donor.
Years before he got married Harry to Jane Goodall that he would not have more 2 kids.
That was AFTER he had been married for at least 2 years. It was when they were in Vancouver and Jane had visited and said in an interview that she was holding Archie and at one point had held up the baby’s hand in a “royal wave” and said to H that Archie will soon be practicing to give the royal wave. And H said: “He’s not growing up like that.”
PS:
I bet with all their rehashing/retelling and twisting of old stories, the nasty shitrags stay away from THAT one!
Clearly… Archie and Lilli are wearing him out😆…..in a good way.
He was actually joking in this. He was asked what it was like being a father. He said I think one or two kids is enough after the interviewer said they were expecting their first. He then said he knows people that have three, four, and also five. He joked if you have five it’s your fault.
In the longer interview they cut out his other comments. The shorter tik tok clip is not edited and has Harry’s broader comments.
“I actually think Harry wouldn’t have minded having a third child” – I disagree. He always said that he would have two kids max and he’s stuck with that, and good for him.
Harry has said this same thing previously and he was being very lighthearted when referring to parents who have more than two children. It’s a personal decision that parents hopefully make based on what works best for their financial situation but more so for what works best for the time, energy and love they can give to their children. Not to say that parents who only have one or two children aren’t capable of giving adequate time, energy and love to more children, but that they know intuitively what family dynamic and size will work best for the family they envision and hope to have. Like most families, Harry and Meghan are extremely busy and knew exactly what would be best for the family dynamic that they had envisioned and hoped for.
This is typical UK media bullsh*t. They had the whole Invictus Games right there, and instead of focusing on UK veterans, First Nations, things to do in Whistler, they take an off the cuff remark by Harry and turn it into a fascist birth policy point. Most people aren’t having five kids if they can help it. It’s hard enough with one or two because it’s expensive and women get very little support, especially in the United States. They don’t want more babies, only white babies, but look at average population age in those places? Past peak fertility. The Telegraph only writes about the Sussexes to criticize and amplify nonsense. This is their takeaway from an incredible Invictus Games. Using Elon Musk with the 13 kids and 4 baby mamas, worse than Bojo, is a choice. Clowns.
It’s a real shame that his birth family can’t see him with his kids. I imagine he’s a wonderful father.
You keep forgetting Harry has his mother’s family. They support him, Meghan and the kids.
Yeah, it is a shame that his paternal family would not visit, but the tabloids and the men in grey made the environment toxic and dangerous, particularly for his wufe, but also for his children, and his relative dis not move a finger to stop that.
Just see how the tabloid readers refer to his mixed family.