Prince Harry appoints Strictly’s JJ Chalmers as Invictus Games trustee | Royal | News

Prince Harry has appointed former Strictly Come Dancing contestant JJ Chalmers to the board of his charity. The television presenter was badly injured in a bomb blast in Afghanistan in 2011 while serving as a Royal Marine.

 

He has previously said that the Duke of Sussex provided him with “one of the key catalysts” in his recovery.

Now Mr Chalmers has been made a trustee of Invictus Games Foundation.

He himself is a former participant in the Invictus Games, a sporting event for wounded, injured, and sick service personnel which was set up by Prince Harry, and was a gold medallist.

The 36-year-old’s father John is a minister who was one of Queen Elizabeth II’s chaplains.

And the presenter was part of BBC’s presenting team for the Queen’s funeral, covering events from Wellington Barracks.

Mr Chalmers and Harry became friends after they met during a rehabilitation triathlon in 2014, and he was invited to the royal wedding in 2018.

He has said he’ll “be forever grateful” to the Duke of Sussex for encouraging him to take part in the Invictus Games.

Back in 2020 he reached the quarter-finals of Strictly Come Dancing with dance partner Amy Dowden.

Earlier this year former commando Mr Chalmers came out in defence of Harry after the prince was slammed for telling the world, in his memoir Spare, how many Taliban fighters he had killed.

He tweeted: “Since WW1 pilots recorded their actions.

“In modern warfare it’s ‘literally recorded’, numbers kept, not by the pilot but by those who watch and command them.

“War is hellish and those who experience it first-hand know the context and can ultimately reflect on it as they see fit.”

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Mr Chalmers has spoken in the past about how he and Harry started off as “young lads in the military” and have since moved on in life and adulthood together.

Speaking to Radio Times last year, he said: “First and foremost, [Harry] created the Invictus Games, which inspired my recovery, changed my life and introduced me to the world of broadcasting.

“We’ve developed a relationship and he’s someone that I look up to and respect.

“I’ve been through some pretty extraordinary times with him. In some ways we’ve grown up together.”

He added: “When we first met, we were both young lads in the military. It’s been pretty lovely to move into the next stage of our life – marriage, kids – together. Now that we both have kids, we just do dad chat.

“I know that Archie loves The Octonauts and my son James loves it, too. The kids are a similar age and have similar interests.”

Mail Online reports that former Olympic champion triple-jumper Jonathan Edwards has also been made a trustee of the foundation, having been involved with it since presenting the inaugural Invictus Games for the BBC in 2014.



*This story has not been edited by The Infallible staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.

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