King Charles III’s household has defused an improbable diplomatic tangle over the Invictus Games, the competition founded by his son Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex. Uganda’s military has reversed its decision to quit the 2027 event. Assurances had reached it that the monarch raised no objection, and the turnaround was delivered in a post on Monday, September 14, 2026, by Col. Chris Magezi, acting director of defence public information for the Uganda People’s Defence Force (UPDF).
A telephone call with Sir Clive Alderton, principal private secretary to the king and queen, came first, and Uganda’s chief of defence forces, Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, then reinstated the country’s place at the Birmingham Games, which run July 10 to 17, 2027, according to Magezi’s post. The king, Magezi added, “has no problem with Uganda’s participation in the Invictus Games, and encouraged the [Chief of Defence Forces] CDF to proceed with preparations.”
Kainerugaba, the post said, welcomed the message from the king as well as the clarification supplied by Buckingham Palace. He also gave his word that preparations for the Games would resume at the UPDF. Less than a week had passed since the withdrawal was announced.
Why Uganda Walked Away
Kainerugaba had announced the pullout on X on September 9, saying he did not want the country’s involvement to be construed as opposition to Charles, a monarch he described as deeply revered in Uganda. “We shall not participate in anything that does not have His Majesty’s approval,” he wrote on X.
Asked by the Times what had motivated the move, Kainerugaba said: “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.”
Commentators linked the pullout to an official letter issued on Charles’ behalf and sent to government departments, military bodies and Lord Lieutenants. That letter restated that neither Harry nor his wife, Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, is a working royal, and that the pair would not use their HRH styles. Sent out through the Office of the Lord Chamberlain, it called their charitable work “a personal matter for them both and undertaken in their private capacity,” and their position “akin to private citizens with commercial and charitable interests.”
Harry’s team pointed to that palace guidance as the trigger for the withdrawal. The letter’s only purpose, Buckingham Palace said, had been to make the couple’s status clear to military and government departments. A different account appeared in the UPDF post of September 14, which traced the pullout to palace wording describing the Invictus Games as a private charity rather than an official initiative of the royal family.
Daily Mail diary editor Richard Eden, analysing Alderton’s call to Uganda’s military chief, said: “Sir Clive’s intervention is evidence that the King is now dancing to Harry’s tune.” He described the situation as “confusing,” noting that Harry had criticised Alderton in his memoir “Spare.”
Harry’s 26th Invictus Nation
Uganda’s involvement is recent. Its 26th participating nation was signed up by the Invictus community in July 2026, when the country came aboard as the first from East Africa and the second African country to take part. A partnership between the UPDF and the Invictus Games Foundation opened that door, its aim being to broaden rehabilitation and adaptive sports work for wounded service members. Kiryowa Kiwanuka, Uganda’s defence minister, attended the foundation event in London where the announcement was made; the UPDF’s own account put Harry there alongside him.
Uganda’s confirmation that it will stay inside the Invictus community and compete at the Invictus Games Birmingham 2027 drew a welcome from the foundation’s chief executive, Rob Owen — the event now less than 300 days away, he said. He noted the country had signed on earlier in the year as the foundation’s 26th nation, joining a movement built around recovery opportunities offered year-round to service personnel who are wounded, injured and sick.
The multisport competition was launched by Harry in 2014, open to military personnel and veterans who are wounded, injured or sick.
Harry has since made his first public appearance since moving back to the U.K., attending the inaugural Invictus Spirit Awards at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich, London, on September 17, 2026. He wore a tuxedo with his military medals and told reporters, “It’s good to be back on British soil.” Meghan did not attend.
He then traveled to Birmingham to launch INSPIRE, an Invictus Games Foundation educational program aligned with the national curriculum, meeting around 200 pupils and playing pickleball with students and veterans. He is due at the WellChild Awards in London on September 21, then the Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting in New York on September 22 and 23.
The General Behind the U-Turn
President Yoweri Museveni, who turned 82 on September 15, is Kainerugaba’s father, and the general is his eldest son. He took over as chief of defence forces in March 2024 and is widely regarded as his father’s likely successor. In August he declared a presidential bid for 2031, having first set his sights on 2026 before switching. He and Harry are both graduates of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.
Online, he cuts a provocative figure. His posts on X have carried threats to invade neighboring Kenya as well as threats aimed at Bobi Wine, Museveni’s main political rival.
Interest in the affair ran well outside royal circles, taken as a measure of how far historical soft power and royal reverence still reach: a single phone call redirected an African military’s public stance, with no pressure and no economic leverage applied. Uganda had spent barely two months as the foundation’s newest member before pulling out, and it was back inside a week.
Charles spent September 17 giving a speech on artificial intelligence at a conference at Dumfries House in Cumnock, Scotland, the same day as the Greenwich awards. Prince William and Catherine carried out a visit to the Isle of Bute that day, and neither William nor the king has commented publicly on Harry and Meghan’s return to the U.K.
One question stays open: whether the king himself shows up in Birmingham. As of September 14, the palace had not confirmed his attendance at the 2027 Games. He was at the opening ceremony of the first Invictus Games in London in September 2014, with both his sons, Prince William and Harry.
