Blind Snowboarder at Invictus Games Shares Moment With Prince Harry 2025

 

Prince Harry is “just one of the guys,” according to a blind athlete competing at the 2025 Invictus Games, an international sporting event for wounded service members and veterans.

Retired Army Staff Sergeant Michael Murphy — who lost his eyesight in a December 2018 airfield accident in Volos, Greece — discussed a touching moment with Us Weekly between him and Prince Harry, 40, at this year’s Invictus Games (the first to feature winter sports).

While preparing for an alpine snowboarding event with his guide and fiancee in Whistler, Canada, the Duke of Sussex came up to Murphy, unbeknownst to him. “We were on the side of the mountain and somebody comes up, there’s a bunch of people pulling over, ‘Hey, you guys OK?’ And we were just like, ‘Yeah,’” Murphy, 34, exclusively told Us Weekly at the Vancouver Convention Center on Saturday, February 15.

The athlete said he was focused on warming up and making a video, so he almost “blew off” the royal by accident. He explained, “I can’t see, so they kind of tapped me and whispered, ‘Hey, it’s Prince Harry. ‘Oh, how you doing, sir?’ And I didn’t have my blind bib on, so I just looked like a regular athlete.”

Prince Harry then used his sense of humor to break the ice, noting that snowboarding blind must be a virtually impossible task.

“The cool part about the interaction is, he’s not just here for publicity. He’s a down-to-earth genuine person,” Murphy continued. “So he’s sitting there making jokes. ‘You know why blind people don’t snowboard, right? It’s super difficult and terrifying.’ I was like, ‘Well, I’m here to break barriers, sir.’ So we went back and forth, talked a little bit to him and his crew, went down the mountain, and then a couple runs later, right before I ended up going up to race, he came up behind me. He said, ‘Wow, you really do know how to snowboard. That was impressive. It was good to watch you.’”

“It was super cool, kind of having those interactions, [with] him having a military background,” Murphy added to Us. “I think, personally, from the military aspect of what makes me feel the most normal is people talking crap to you back and forth. [So] just getting that friendship and having him share that moment to where he’s just one of the guys was super cool. And then, just having him out there was definitely the highlight. I’m getting out there. Snowboarding was cool. But having him, knowing the power that he has on everybody here, is just huge.”

Prince Harry — who founded the Invictus Games a decade ago after witnessing the healing power of sport during a visit to the Warrior Games in the United States — also joined Murphy and the other athletes for breakfast and took selfies with anyone who asked.

Murphy said he’s “been fortunate” to see the Duke of Sussex again and have a “little reunion this last time.”

The Team USA snowboarder is one of over 500 athletes from 25 nations to compete in this year’s Invictus Games. This is his second time participating in events, including indoor rowing, skeleton and swimming.

“For me, going from a non-commissioned officer in the Army, a leader people came to, to deep, depressed, stuck in my house, not doing anything, it was kind of like up and down, and then I got a huge up again,” he told Us. “So knowing that there was hope, something to train for, to strive for. I just started opening up opportunities, started training, and then I started hearing about the path.”

Murphy noted that he found healing in training for both the Warrior Games in the U.S. and the Invictus Games.

“It was just something that just lit a fire inside of me, and it gave me that motivation I needed to just get back in the fight. So it was truly sports in general, and the adaptive aspect is what saved my life. … But it was a long journey to get to where I am at now, and [I’m] not finished at all.”

Prince Harry spoke about the impact of the Invictus Games at the opening ceremony, telling the crowd the event was born “from a promise I made to myself … a promise to uphold my obligation — a sacred obligation after my own decade and privilege of military service — to do whatever I could to help my fellow brothers and sisters heal, and to champion everything we stand for.”

He also noted how special it was to introduce winter sports to the lineup this year in an interview with Town & Country published on February 14.

“The highlight so far has been seeing competitors and their families take to the snow in Whistler,” Prince Harry told the outlet. “Introducing winter sports to the Invictus Games is a huge milestone — one we’ve been working toward for a long time — so witnessing both the competition and the pure joy on everyone’s faces makes me really happy.”

Of the Games, Murphy added to Us, “The entire environment here, I tell multiple people, this is one area [where], being around other adaptive athletes, that I don’t feel impaired, blind or however you may look at it, handicapped. It’s a huge family. And it’s not only just a sport, it’s a community that you can turn to. So it’s extremely life changing, for sure.”