Prince Harry and Meghan Markle meet servicemen ahead of 2018 Invictus Games

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have met with servicemen and women from Britain and Australia as part of preparations for the 2018 Invictus Games.

The Royal couple were joined by Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and wife Lucy at Australia House in London on Saturday, where they learned more about the plans for this year's event in Sydney.

Among the former military personnel they spent time with were former Invictus athletes, including Gareth Paterson, who won three gold medals in archery at the Orlando and Toronto Games.

Mr Paterson, from Newcastle, suffers from an autoimmune disease which fuses the spine and is leaving the Army after more than two decades.

He said of Harry: "You can't really fault the guy, he puts in so much effort. He genuinely cares about everyone he meets and remembers who people are."

Invictus athlete Jo Hursey, 42, from Herefordshire, already knew Harry from her 23 years in the Army.

She said: "I don't think he realises how many lives he's changed. He's changed mine for the better."

In a speech, Mr Turnbull said the competitors would get the "respect and recognition they so thoroughly deserve".

He said: "It will be a formidable contest. Five hundred athletes...will all be competing in a country and a city which will applaud them for their service and cheers them on to greater heights."

More than 500 competitors from 18 nations are expected to compete in this year's Games, all of whom are sick and injured military personnel and veterans.

Harry is patron of the Invictus Games Foundation, which oversees the delivery of the tournament, and attended the Toronto Games alongside Ms Markle last year.

The couple are expected to make the long journey Down Under in October, by which time they will be married.