Prince Harry has allowed hundreds of children to attend the Paralympics in Rio by making a personal donation to an initiative.
The #FillTheSeats campaign wanted to buy 10,000 tickets for local children to see the Paralympic Games. It needed a total of £225,000 to purchase 10,000 tickets, but crowdfunding had only got them to the £40,000 mark.
Prince Harry has made an undisclosed donation to help Brazilian children watch the Paralympic Games. I-images
Harry’s donation, of an undisclosed amount, means that Brazilian children will be able to attend the sporting event in their home country, and be inspired by the disabled athletes, much as they did at London 2012.
The campaign to #FillTheSeats has been running for two weeks now, and has the backing of the International Paralympic Committee and the Rio 2016 organising committee.
Only 12% of seats were sold for the games by August, but yesterday it was announced that 1.5 million of a total 2.5 million tickets have been bought, meaning stadiums won’t be as empty as expected, and crowds not as depleted.
The Invictus Games – a paralympic style competition for veterans – was set up by Prince Harry, a former Army Captain himself. A number of Invictus athletes who represented Great Britain are competing in the Paralympics.
A Kensington Palace spokeswoman said: “It’s a great idea to open up the events to the community while also helping to build a sense of excitement in the stadiums for these amazing competitors.
“Prince Harry is following closely the Invictus Games champions who are competing in Rio and this is one way he is lending support to their efforts.”
