Harry and Meghan make surprise appearance at Vancouver ice hockey game

The Duke of Sussex dropped the puck in a ceremonial face-off before the game.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex make surprise appearance at Vancouver ice hockey game (Darryl Dyck/AP) (AP)

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have attended a National Hockey League (NHL) game in Vancouver, Canada.

Harry was pictured dropping the puck for Tomas Hertl from the San Jose Sharks and Vancouver Canucks’ Quinn Hughes during a ceremonial face-off ahead of the whistle.

The duke joined his wife in the stands as they watched the Canucks win 3-1 over the Californian team.

The Invictus Games, the international multi-sport event for wounded, injured and sick armed forces personnel, which the duke founded in 2014, will be held in Vancouver and Whistler in 2025.

The couple appeared in public together for the first time at the Toronto Invictus Games in 2017.

Harry’s grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, made the ceremonial puck drop at a 2002 match, also between the Vancouver Canucks and San Jose Sharks, during her two-week Golden Jubilee tour of Canada.

It was the first NHL game the Queen had attended since 1951 when, still a princess, she and Prince Philip watched the Montreal Canadiens take on the New York Rangers.

The Sussexes’ sporting outing comes a few days after Meghan’s surprise arrival at the Variety Power Of Women event in Los Angeles to celebrate the accomplishments of women in entertainment.

The former Suits actress said she was “thrilled” to have returned to the entertainment industry with Archewell Productions and is “really proud” of the projects they have has created so far, including docu-series Harry & Meghan and Heart Of Invictus.

She also teased future projects, saying: “We have so many exciting things on the slate… I can’t wait until we can announce them, but I’m just really proud of what we’re creating.

“My husband is loving it too which is really fun.”