Prince Harry plays pickleball at Invictus Games event, but no Meghan

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Royal correspondent, Reporting fromNational Exhibition Centre in Birmingham

The Duke of Sussex told competitors for his Invictus Games that they were an inspirational example of "standing together when it matters most".

He was warmly applauded by participants and supporters of the games for injured military veterans, at an event at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Birmingham.

But he was not accompanied by his wife Meghan, who was originally planned to be here, but now is not going to be at any public events in the UK this week.

It's been a bumpy return to the UK for Prince Harry, in a visit that was meant to promote the Invictus Games for injured service men and women.

Instead it's been overshadowed by his court defeat against Associated Newspapers and confusion over whether Meghan and their children will be coming to the UK.

Prince Harry's appearance in the cavernous halls of the NEC was marking the countdown to the Invictus Games, which will be hosted in Birmingham next year.

Whatever the troubles outside, here he was among his own tribe, the people he calls his "second family".

He praised the Invictus competitors as "remarkable men and women who have served their countries and who continue to show us what courage really looks like".

While he faced his own adversity this week, he seemed relaxed and patiently worked his away around the huge exhibition hall, where demonstrations of sports had been set up, chatting to competitors and their families.

In a sprit of inclusion, he also demonstrated that there was now a British Sign Language sign for the Invictus Games.

Prince Harry tried his hand at pickleball, one of the Invictus sports, which combines tennis, table tennis and badminton.

He also joined in with wheelchair rugby, alongside broadcaster Ade Adepitan.

Prince Harry had thrown an impressive pass, without looking.

Adepitan said he told Harry to take the credit: "I mean, he said to me at the end 'it was just a throw and hope' but I said 'style it out, style it out,' that was done on purpose."

Appearing on ITV's This Morning on Friday during the event, Prince Harry said the games were about "overcoming adversity".

These games for injured military veterans, and the inspiring stories of competitors, are a cause close to the heart of Prince Harry, who has worked hard to promote this as a regular international event.

"There's just a huge amount of respect and hope, but also admiration and inspiration" for wounded servicemen taking part in the games, he said, adding that for many of them, returning to Birmingham was a "real homecoming" as it's where they received critical medical treatment after returning from Afghanistan.

Also at the event was presenter JJ Chalmers, who was injured in Afghanistan. He said that holding the games in Birmingham was appropriate as it was where, after his injury, he had first "woken up" in hospital.

It wasn't going to be mentioned in any of the speeches here, but Prince Harry's return to the UK this week has been dogged by chaos and changes of plan.

Two weeks ago, details of the visit were published, announcing that Meghan would be appearing at events in London and Birmingham, which would have been her first appearance in the UK since 2022.

But after a dispute over levels of security, Meghan pulled out of events in London - although the possibility of her appearing at events later in the week in Birmingham was left open.

On Thursday it was then announced that she would not be at any public events at all in the UK.

Her representatives are not commenting on any private meetings, which could still mean that King Charles could be meeting his grandchildren, Archie and Lilibet, along with Prince Harry and Meghan.

Even before the week of events had officially started there was confusion over whether Prince Harry was going to stay in Buckingham Palace.

His team had announced that he had accepted an invitation to stay at the Palace, but that was then swiftly rejected by the Palace, who said Prince Harry had already been told that he would not be allowed to stay there.

The first engagement on Tuesday, promoting the Invictus Games, had then been overshadowed by the result of Prince Harry's court case against Associated Newspapers, where he lost on all his claims of unlawful information gathering.

A subsequent event in London was then closed to the press.

On Thursday, the visit had seemed to be getting back on track, when Prince Harry had received a warm welcome at a children's hospital in Birmingham.

His team will hope that the event at the NEC on Friday, where he was surrounded by people who have praised his work, will have returned more of the focus to the Invictus Games.