Proof Prince Harry hasn’t lost his sense of humour: Unearthed tweets from new Invictus CEO reveal how he ribbed the Duke over his ginger hair before he was appointed (and made a very cheeky gag about Kate and William)

He has warmly welcomed Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to Vancouver and Whistler this week after he was appointed CEO of the next Invictus Games with just a year to go.

Former TV exec Scott Moore was even careful to check how to address the Duke and Duchess of Sussex before they arrived in Canada – settling on ‘sir’ and ‘ma’am’ after advice from those close to the couple.

However, he wasn’t always so respectful, MailOnline can exclusively reveal today, after unearthing a number of his tongue-in-cheek tweets about Harry and his family.

In one social media post before he was appointed, Scott appears to have playfully ribbed the Duke of Sussex about his ginger hair while watching a ‘lookalike’ on stage at a Country Music Association Awards show.

Florida Georgia Line picked up six awards in 2013 and Mr Moore tweeted: ‘When did Prince Harry join a country duo?’ – a gag that could have applied to either member of the flame-haired band, Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley.

And the royal likeness was not lost on Florida Georgia Line either. In 2018 they posed as Harry and Prince William around the time the Duke and Duchess of Sussex married, dressing up as the royal brothers and yelling: ‘The commoners do love us, cheerio’ during a rather unflattering US TV sketch.

Mr Moore, who insiders say was a popular choice to take control of Invictus’ first winter sports event, is also not afraid of cracking jokes at the expense of other royals. 

Just before Harry’s nephew Prince George was born in 2013, Scott tweeted that he had read that a royal baby is worth $400million to the UK economy and suggested that if William and Kate had triplets they could lift Britain out of a recession.

It is not known if Harry was made aware of the messages before he arrived in Canada, after they were brought to the attention of Invictus 2025 by MailOnline ahead of the royal visit this week.

Mr Moore has told MailOnline that he ‘stands by his tweets’ and that he was ‘looking forward to supporting the One Year to Go events’ attended by the Sussexes this week.

Scott has been an active tweeter for more than a decade – and has said on occasion that he tries ‘to never tweet anything political’.

But during the pandemic he was forthright in his criticism of the trucker protests in Canada.

When blockades were set up by those opposed by Justin Trudeau’s Covid-19 restrictions, calling those involved ‘terrorists’ who he accused of trying to wreck Canada’s economy. 

Scott also slammed police for not arresting them.

He also tweeted in support of masks as a ‘price for freedom’ after lockdowns and was highly critical of Donald Trump when he claimed to have handled the pandemic well in America, calling his analysis ‘truly disgusting’.

The sports-mad man in charge of the next Invictus Games, who had previously helped orchestrate the broadcasting of the Olympics and World Cup in Canada, also appeared to support an expert who said that ‘transgender athletes are not a threat to women’s sport’.

Scott Moore is replacing the Duke of Sussex’s friend and former aide Nick Booth, who took over on a temporary basis last year amid chaos at the top when two bosses were abruptly sacked in the Autumn.

Booth is hugely influential and was at Harry’s side at events in Canada this week. 

Mr Moore’s appointment emerged last week as Harry embarked on a 11,000 mile round trip to the UK to see his father for 45 minutes after he was diagnosed with cancer.

New Invictus 2025 CEO Scott has a reputation for doing big sports TV deals and overseeing coverage of numerous Olympic and Paralympic Games, the FIFA World Cup and the Commonwealth Games while a boss at CBC, Canada’s public broadcaster. 

Experts said last week that his appointment is a big hint that Harry and Meghan will be using their ‘star power’ and his links to win a big broadcast deal for Invictus 2025, which will feature winter sports for the first time – probably with Netflix getting first refusal.

Invictus Dusseldorf last September had its ceremonies and sports streamed via its website. The BBC also showed events via the red button and iPlayer but it was not shown widely on German TV.

Brand and culture expert Nick Ede told MailOnline: ‘Harry’s latest move with the hiring of Scott Moore shows that he is one step closer to launching the Games with a big TV deal.

‘We have seen lately how Amazon, Netflix and now Disney have secured the rights to big sporting event TV and they know that there is money and also subscriptions up for grabs with the right sports.

‘Now that the Invictus Games has expended to hosting a winter event too its beginning to shadow both the Olympics and the Commonwealth Games and can become a major television event with the likes of Scott behind it.

‘Harry and Meghan have the star power to drive the games and as we know its harrys sweet spot and something he is clearly passionate about. The documentary he made for Netflix wasn’t the hit hoped for but it did do what it needed to do and inform and educate people about the games, their purpose and their importance too’.

But if Harry is pushing for a more global audience, and wider coverage in North America, Netflix will be at the front of the queue with Disney also expected to bid and the couple will hope the new CEO’s influence could help them after their Invictus documentary was considered a flop.

Mr Moore’s appointment came after CEO Peter Lawless and Chief Commercial Office Bill Cooper left abruptly in the Autumn. 

Insiders told MailOnline they were both sacked ‘for no reason’ and warned that while Scott is a ‘star hire’ there are concerns about the management of the Games with just 12 months to go.

One insider told MailOnline: ‘Scott has loads of experience. In my mind the only clouds on the horizon are: how late they are in sorting out the disturbance they unnecessarily created, and how little local representation they have in senior leadership, but I think that is intentional on Nick’s part’.