Prince Harry Tells NATO Chiefs He Lost Part of His Purpose After Leaving British Army
Prince Harry told NATO’s military committee that leaving the British Army in 2015 cost him more than a career, describing the transition as a moment when he lost part of his “purpose and identity.”
The Duke of Sussex, a former soldier who spent a decade in the armed forces, addressed the committee in Brussels by video link as founder of the Invictus Games. He said he was “fortunate” because he found another way to serve, but warned military leaders that not every veteran has that path.
“We must think just as seriously about what happens to them after they have served—particularly when they return wounded, injured or sick,” Harry said in his opening address. “I know something about that transition.”
He continued: “When I hung up my uniform, I felt as though I had lost not simply a profession, but part of my purpose and identity. I was fortunate. I had another way to serve.”
Harry launched the inaugural Invictus Games in 2014 to support wounded, injured and sick current and former service personnel. The event has since become a flagship project for the duke, whose military service remains central to his public identity.
In his remarks, he linked the Invictus mission to NATO’s, saying both depend on people rather than equipment alone. “At its heart, NATO is an alliance of nations,” he said. “But those nations are defended by people. People who volunteer to serve. People who train together, deploy together, fight together and, in many cases, recover together. And families who serve alongside them in ways that are rarely acknowledged. And, ultimately, people who come home.”
Harry argued that NATO spends enormous resources preparing service members for duty, but must give equal attention to what happens after they leave. The strength of an alliance, he said, cannot be measured only by the forces it can deploy. “It must also be measured by the people and societies those forces return home to,” he said.
He described Invictus not merely as a sporting event but as a tool for a broader mission: rebuilding purpose and confidence, strengthening families and communities, and reconnecting veterans with society.
The comments come as NATO militaries face recruitment and retention pressures, rising mental-health needs and the long-term costs of combat. Veterans’ reintegration has increasingly moved from a niche concern to a readiness issue, with defense leaders under pressure to show that service members are supported after their uniforms come off.
Harry stepped down as a working member of the royal family in 2020. In 2022, King Charles III’s youngest son was denied the chance to wear military uniform at the funeral of his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, because he was no longer a working royal.
When Harry and his wife Meghan’s move to the United States became permanent in 2021, the late queen stripped him of his military titles and royal patronages, a decision that reportedly left him devastated. The Sussexes said they would always live “a life of service.”
Harry has returned to Britain and is due to stage the Invictus Games in Birmingham next year. The Sussexes moved back to the UK in August, six years after they left to pursue a new life of personal and financial freedom in the US.