Harry’s Invictus Games charity paid out more than £320,000 to its top earners

Prince Harry’s Invictus Games Foundation paid out more than £100,000 in its highest pay bracket, according to published figures (Picture: Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

Prince Harry’s Invictus Games charity paid more than £320,000 to its top four earners after wage rises over three years, documents show.  

The chief executive at the foundation behind the annual international event received more than £100,000 in 2021, according to the accounts.  

The charity, which had a boost to its funds through the prince’s Netflix activities, aims to use sport to help wounded, injured and sick servicemen and women. Expenditure on charitable activities also rose during the year, when the streaming service came onboard for a documentary series.

The Duke of Sussex, who is the games’ patron, is currently making global headlines with the launch of his tell-all memoir, Spare.

He has used TV appearances trailing the book to reveal more about his rifts with his brother William and Buckingham Palace. 

The former Apache pilot has also described the British Army as his ‘refuge’, where he could hide from the ‘media focus’.

The Invictus Games Foundation, which is also a limited company, had four ‘higher paid employees’ in 2021, the accounts show.

The principal earner was chief executive Dominic Reid OBE, whose salary was in the £100,001 to £110,000 bracket. Mr Reid and operations director Richard Smith CBE had combined pay and employee benefits of £234,624 in 2021, up from £206,704 for the two roles the year before.  

The posts received a joint total of £176,788 in 2019.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at an event to promote the Invictus Games in Düsseldorf (Picture: Samir Hussein/WireImage)

The median annual salary for chief executives in the voluntary sector was £58,000 in 2021, according to the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations. But the amounts awarded vary with the size and scope of organisations, with the Charity Commission maintaining that pay decisions are for trustees to make.  

By comparison, Oxfam chief executive Danny Sriskandarajah has an annual salary of £120,000 — with the charity stressing that he is not among the 100 highest-paid charity CEOs.

Oxfam also says that it spends all of its money ‘directly or indirectly fighting the injustice of poverty’.

Rebecca Harding, of marketing and communications consultancy Saltwhistle, said: ‘The finances for charities look increasingly like businesses.

‘We need as a society to ask whether is it ethical for donations to be used for items such as large executive salaries when they are made by people in good faith, believing that their money is going directly to those in need.’

The duke does not have a formal role in the charity but is the figurehead of the games, which last took place at The Hague, Netherlands, in April 2022.  

Prince Harry on stage during the closing ceremony for the Invictus Games 2022 (Picture: Chris Jackson/Getty Images for the Invictus Games Foundation)

The Prince’s Archewell Productions teamed up with the foundation and Netflix in 2021 to produce the ‘Heart of Invictus’ documentary series.

The production led to the charity’s sponsorship and programme rights rising from £198,000 to £450,000.

The exact amount resulting from the agreement is not stated.  

The accounts also show ‘related party transactions’ including £95,000 paid to Plunkett & Murrey Ltd, a company under the control of Mr Reid, for his services in the year to 2020. Mr Reid became one of nine employees at the London-registered charity in the following year. 

Neither the trustees, the patron nor their related parties were paid in any of the years and they did not receive any benefits from the foundation, which receives all the profits from its trading subsidiary, IGF Trading Ltd.

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Overall, income dipped to £1.2 million in 2021 from £1.7 million the year before, which the charity states is due to the impact of the Covid pandemic. Expenditure on charitable activities and raising funds rose by around £62,600 to just over £1.2 million in 2021. 

This included £1.17 million on activities including those focused on loneliness, mental health and sport, and almost £73,000 on raising funds, according to the data at the Charity Commission.

The next games is due to be held this September in Düsseldorf, Germany, where 500 competitors from 20 nations are due to take part.

Launching the games, the duke said: ‘Germany has been a key part of the Invictus Games family since the very start in 2014 and I know that they will be exemplary hosts in picking up the mantle and showcasing what sport continues to do for these inspirational men and women in their recovery.’ 

Metro.co.uk has approached the foundation for comment. 

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The charity paid out a six-figure sum to its top earner as wages increased over three successive years.