Prince Harry Shares ‘How A lot He Misses’ Rescue Canine, Man (Unique)

A particular pup obtained a bit of love from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on the Invictus Video games.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex attended the wheelchair curling occasion on Feb. 9, 2025, the place they met Ali Harper and Thorn, a 3-year-old black Labrador retriever who helps psychological well being for first responders within the Yukon. The interplay prompted Prince Harry to recollect Man, the beagle that Meghan rescued from a Kentucky kill shelter in 2015 who lately died.

“Harry got here proper over and sat down proper subsequent to Thorn and kneeled down and began petting him and mentioned how a lot he misses his canine,” Harper, 43, tells PEOPLE solely. “And mentioned thanks very a lot for what we do with Thorn.”

She provides that Meghan had a “small interplay with Thorn as properly, after which we had been in a position to take a gaggle photograph.”

Meghan introduced Man’s dying on her new Instagram web page in a video tribute shared on Jan. 7. It featured household pictures and movies of Man by way of the years, together with moments along with her kids, Prince Archie, 5, and Princess Lilibet, 3.

“He was with me at Fits, after I obtained engaged, (after which married), after I grew to become a mother….he was with me for all the things: the quiet, the chaos, the calm, the consolation,” Meghan wrote.

Prince Harry, 40, and Meghan, 43, are additionally pet mother and father to a black Labrador named Pula and a senior rescue beagle named Mamma Mia.

Thorn is Harper’s first service canine, they usually’re supporting athletes and their households on the Invictus Video games. “We’ve had a lot of suggestions from athletes and the VIPs and households of simply what this has been in a position to do to supply assist,” she says, “as a result of there are many folks that have their very own private canine, however they haven’t been in a position to deliver them, and that’s why that is taking place.”

Whereas assembly the Duke and Duchess of Sussex was the “spotlight of his journey,” Harper says that Thorn “actually loved” the opening ceremony on Feb. 8, which featured performances by Katy Perry, Chris Martin, Noah Kahan and extra.

“He had a superb snooze proper after with all people, that’s for certain,” she says. “He was a bit of drained!”

“However that is what he does. He loves assembly new folks and simply working with them after they’re struggling and with the ability to present that little little bit of consolation,” Harper provides.

Prince Harry and Meghan are spending a lot of time with the Invictus Video games athletes throughout their time in Canada, in addition to a few of their younger followers. Through the wheelchair basketball match between Staff USA and Staff Nigeria on Feb. 9, the couple met 10-year-old Wyatt Hutchison, who performs wheelchair basketball himself. They came visiting after the boy referred to as out to Harry “as loud as he might,” his mother, Lindsay Hutchison, tells PEOPLE.

Wyatt described Harry and Meghan as “good” and mentioned that they talked about sports activities.

“As soon as-in-a-lifetime alternative,” Lindsay says. “He is a bit of starstruck!”

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The adaptive sports activities competitors, based by Prince Harry in 2014, runs from Feb. 8 to 16 throughout Vancouver and Whistler.