The Duchess of Sussex is leaving her husband behind at the Invictus Games in Canada to return to her children in California.

The Duchess, 43, will fly home on Tuesday after spending just five days at the competition for wounded, injured, and ill military veterans in Vancouver and the ski resort of Whistler.

The Telegraph understands she had always planned to leave the games early and will be returning home to take care of Prince Archie, five, and Princess Lilibet, three.

The Duke, 40, who founded the games in 2014, will stay until the closing ceremony on Sunday.

A source close to the couple said: “This was always planned. Meghan is going home to be with her children.

“Meghan left the games in Düsseldorf early after five days to go home. This is Prince Harry’s event and she is there to support him, but this was planned.”

The Duchess joined the Duke at a family-and-friends tubing event on Tuesday in Whistler, where winter sports are being held for the first time in the history of the games, before departing in the afternoon local time.

It left the Duke on his own to present the medals for the alpine skiing in the afternoon, but he was still able to pull a sizeable crowd.

He joked with spectators that it was “very cold” as he braved temperatures of -9C in the mountains wearing a grey beanie hat and sunglasses.

Aides have kept the Duchess’s travel plans under wraps for security reasons until now.

She is said to have told fans at a wheelchair basketball game in Vancouver on Sunday that she was missing her children.

Cynthia and James Phelps, and Alaskan couple, met the Duchess after the game and she held their baby Laramie, seven months, in her arms.

Mrs Phelps, 39, said: “She said she was a very happy baby. She said her kids were at home and she missed them and she was excited to see a baby that was so happy.

The Duke and Duchess arrived in Vancouver on Friday and spent the weekend at one of the city’s most expensive hotels, making trips to watch wheelchair basketball and curling.

In a public display of affection, they kissed during the opening ceremony of the games at BC Place stadium.

The Duke used his speech at the ceremony to bemoan the “lack of moral character in the world” just hours after Donald Trump had launched a scathing attack on the Duke’s marriage.

Mr Trump, who has ruled out deporting the Duke from the US over claims of historic drug-taking, claimed the royal has “enough problems with his wife”.

Despite his comments, the couple have put on a loving display throughout the games.

During a welcome ceremony in Whistler on Monday, the Duke pulled the Duchess onto the stage during his speech and joked “and now she’s going to sing”.

It came after he was introduced onto the stage by Canadian singer Michael Bublé who had performed a rendition of his song Feeling Good to the crowd.