BARACK Obama has wished the teams competing in the Invictus Games well as Prince Harry staged a party to welcome those taking part in the sporting spectacle.
The American President recorded a video message of support for the wounded servicemen and women who have been chosen to represent their nations in the Paralympics-style championships.
On the eve of the Games' opening ceremony, which will be staged tomorrow night in London, Prince Harry also thanked the athletes, many with missing limbs or other serious injuries, for enthusiastically embracing the concept.
Rockers The Foo Fighters rattled the windows of the US ambassador's official residence, Winfield House in Regent's Park, as they entertained hundreds of guests at the party held in the building's sprawling garden.
The President said in his pre-recorded message played to the crowds who included the teams, their families and supporters: "I know it's going to be a fiercely competitive few days but the truth is that everyone of you in these games, every service member and veteran, has already earned our highest admiration and our deepest gratitude.
"When your countries asked you to serve, to risk everything to protect our safety and our freedom, you and your families answered the call and just as you inspire us with your courage on the battlefield, your grit and resilience when you take the playing field, your incomparable souls inspire us today."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article