Prince Harry writes touching letter to woman suffering from cancer

It’s been a busy week for Prince Harry as he celebrates and observes the competition at the third Invictus Games in Toronto. The royal took some minutes to pen a handwritten letter to Guylaine Catelain, wife of a former Invictus athlete battling cancer.

While watching the warm-ups for the cycling competition at Toronto’s High Park, Harry wrote in his letter to the wife of Colonel Lauren Catelain, former chief of the French Commandos who competed in the two previous Invictus Games.

French Captain David Travadon revealed to the Mirror: “I asked Prince Harry to write her a note to encourage her.

“He took his time to write it and put a lot of care and thought into it.

“It will be very important to her. He sent her his best wishes and told her the spirit of the Games is with her.”

Along with writing his inspirational letter, as part of his visit to the park, Harry also was presented with a bracelet by a Danish competitor. Local school students cheered after having their photo taken with Harry.

The Prince handed out medals after observing several races. Mark Ormrod, a triple amputee from the UK won silver in the Men’s IR1 One Minute Sprint Final.

Ormrod, a proud father of three, discussed his pride in having Prince Harry present him with his two silver medals after the rowing competition Tuesday night: “It’s a natural thing for him, it’s his baby. He’s got that camaraderie after ten years in the military himself.

“If I was him, I’d have immense pride in seeing how much this has grown.

“That’s down to him and his team. I expect he’s immensely proud and emotional about it.”

The athlete spoke of his disability and how he chooses not to use the assistance of a wheelchair: “I don’t use a wheelchair. It was a goal of mine years ago to ditch it so I ditched it in June 2009 and never used it again. It’s too much faffing about.

“This is the first time I’ve done any adaptive sport and I was extremely naive to all of it and underestimated everything.

“I relearnt to swim last year so I thought I should do that but then I thought cycling looked like fun.

“And rowing I thought I’m fit and quite powerful so I might be quite good at that. So I chose them.”

The Closing Ceremony for the games will take place this weekend, capping off what’s turning out to be yet another successful event. Royal Central will keep you updated on everything happening in Toronto.