The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have cheered on athletes in among the crowds at the Invictus Games after walking in hand in hand.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle also sat side by side clapping and reacting tensely as they watched the wheelchair basketball with Australian supporters on Wednesday (local time) in Dusseldorf, Germany.

Harry hugged a competitor and shook hands with another during the morning.

Earlier, the couple were all smiles as they held hands while walking in the Merkur Spiel-Arena, Prince Harry in an Invictus Games polo top and trousers and Meghan wearing a black top with white shorts and a white cardigan with gold buttons.

The duke and duchess later handed out medals to children on the basketball court and also posed for photographs with those at the event.

It came after Meghan arrived late at the Invictus Games on Tuesday, saying she had to spend more time getting their “little ones settled at home”. Children Archie, 4, and Lilibet, 2, have not accompanied the couple on their visit to Germany.

Meghan and Harry appeared on a stage where the duchess made a speech and described the Invictus Games as an “amazing event”, and joked with the audience as she ran slightly late.

The couple were in high spirits as they spoke during the event’s party for competitors’ friends and family.

The duchess, who had changed into a black dress, added she would one day like to bring her children to the games.

Meghan had travelled from the Sussexes’ home in California to the German city, where Harry launched the sporting event for wounded military personnel and veterans on Saturday.

They appeared in public together for the first time at the Toronto Invictus Games in 2017, pictured hand in hand at a wheelchair tennis event.

It is thought likely that Meghan’s mother Doria Ragland is looking after the Sussexes’ young children at their home in Montecito, California.

Harry was pictured earlier on Tuesday sharing a joke with TV presenter and Invictus Games medallist JJ Chalmers during the wheelchair basketball competition, after taking part in some “seat dancing”.

On Monday, Harry, the founding patron of the Invictus Games, warmly embraced a wheelchair rugby player by kissing him on the head.

He watched matches in an eight-team wheelchair rugby knockout tournament, then presented medals and spoke to players after Team USA defeated Britain 21-13 in the final.

The prince’s attendance at the games follows a brief visit to Britain, where he attended a charity event and visited St George’s Chapel in Windsor on the anniversary of the death of his grandmother, the late Queen Elizabeth.

-Reuters