The Duke of Sussex was briefly back amongst royalty as he met Prince Joachim of Denmark and his wife Princess Marie at the Invictus Games in Vancouver.

On the penultimate day of the Games, the Duke, 40, stood courtside with Prince Joachim, 55, and Princess Marie, 49,

while Denmark competed in sitting volleyball amid a sea of fans dressed in red and white and wearing Viking-style horned hats.

Their paths had not crossed since 2017, but the Duke and Prince Joachim hold similar roles in their respective families,

having both stepped away from their royal duties in recent years and relocated to the United States.

Prince Joachim moved to Washington DC in 2022 after his mother, the former Queen Margrethe II, stripped his four children of their royal titles, while the Duke moved to California in 2020 and now lives there with his wife, Meghan, 43, and their two children, Prince Archie, five, and Princess Lilibet, three.

During the sitting volleyball matches on Saturday, the Duke appeared in high spirits and joined in with the chanting, singing and flag waving, despite having been left alone at the Games earlier this week when the Duchess returned to their children after just five days.

Such was his popularity among the crowd that his security team had to get involved and usher people away who were crowding round to take selfies with him.

He is due to attend further sitting volleyball matches and present the medals at the final on Saturday night.

Also watching the sitting volleyball at the Vancouver Convention Centre was Veterans Minister Al Carns, who told The Telegraph that the Duke was an “amazing patron” and insisted that Birmingham would rise to the challenge of hosting the next Games in 2027.

“We will get behind it, I can guarantee you,” the MP for Selly Oak said.

“Birmingham has really good spirit and the UK is increasingly involved and committed to delivering support to its veterans.”

Mr Carns, 44, a former Royal Marine Colonel who served in Afghanistan, sat down with the Duke for breakfast on Friday morning to discuss the 2027 Games.

He said: “We talked about how we can broaden out the Games from an international perspective, make it connect more into society, how we could connect it into schools and make sure people know about it from a young age.

“It’s going to be amazing. We’re going to try and build a real festival feel. Birmingham has good pedigree in running big events, like the Commonwealth Games.”