Prince Harry loses support from 'Help for Heroes' for Invictus Games

Prince Harry's Invictus Games has lost the support of "Help for Heroes" after five years of the veterans charity providing training for the competitors from the U.K.

The charity, which normally raises around £27million a year, will no longer support the players in future games. According to The Sun, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) stripped the charity of its contract. Instead, The Royal British Legion (RBL) will take over because it can provide "more secure funding, more personnel to support the team, and a commitment to supporting Team UK into the future."

An MoD spokesperson in a statement said they "felt this would be the best choice for Team UK. Our priority is always to ensure Team UK and our wounded, injured and sick service personnel and veterans get the best experience. We remain enormously grateful for all the work Help For Heroes has done to take Team UK to the Invictus Games and continue to work with them to support the Armed Forces community."

Meanwhile, Lis Skeet of "Help for Heroes" said the decision to end the charity's contract with the Invictus Games was out of their hands. But the group is "incredibly proud to have trained, supported, and delivered Team U.K. for the past five Invictus Games."

Skeet said the MoD decided after "extensive discussions" that the Royal British Legion "will lead the end-to-end delivery of Team U.K. to the Invictus Games." It will support the players for the next five years. It will also "be the main funder of the programme" and that "Help for Heroes" will "no longer be directly involved in Invictus Team UK."

Skeet added, "We want to emphasise that this was not a decision we made ourselves. We know The Games continues to play a unique role in shining a light on the abilities of wounded veterans. The MoD considered proposals from the Invictus UK partnership and have chosen this route moving forwards."

Now, the focus of "Help for Heroes" is "on helping more people across the UK, within their communities" as part of its promise to be there for the wounded veterans for as long as needed. It will also continue to support the Invictus Games and Team U.K. in future competitions.