Prince Harry Speaks Out on King Charles' Cancer Diagnosis for First Time: 'I Love My Family'

"The fact that I was able to get on a plane and go and see him and spend any time with him — I’m grateful for that," the Duke of Sussex said

Prince Harry is speaking out about his father King Charles for the first time since the monarch announced his cancer diagnosis and the Duke of Sussex flew to the U.K. to be by his side.

Harry, who is in Canada for the Invictus Games Vancouver Whistler 2025's One Year to Go celebrations alongside wife Meghan Markle, spoke with Good Morning America's Will Reeve, the son of the late Superman star Christopher Reeve, about how his father is doing.

When asked how he first learned about his father's cancer diagnosis, Harry replied, "I spoke to him. I jumped on a plane and went to go see him as soon as I could."

"Look, I love my family. The fact that I was able to get on a plane and go and see him and spend any time with him, I’m grateful for that," Harry said in the interview, which aired Friday morning.

When asked about his outlook on the state of his father's health, he said, "That stays between me and him."

As for whether King Charles' diagnosis could have a "reunifying effect" on the royal family, Harry, who is connecting with Invictus Games competitors and their families this week, said: "Absolutely. Yeah, I'm sure. Throughout all these families, I see it on a day-to-day basis, the strength of the family unit coming together."

When asked about being physically far from his father during this time, Prince Harry said, "I have my own family, as we all do. My family and my life in California is as it is. I've got other trips planned that would take me through the U.K. or back to the U.K., so I'll stop in and see my family as much as I can."

Related: Prince Harry Says He's 'Considered' Becoming a U.S. Citizen: 'I Love Every Single Day'

Prince Harry spent about a day in the U.K. last week. He flew to his home country to see his father after Buckingham Palace announced that the King, 75, was diagnosed with cancer. PEOPLE understands that King Charles personally informed his sons Prince William and Prince Harry, as well as other family members, about the diagnosis before the public announcement. While Charles has not revealed the type of cancer he has, the palace has said it is not prostate cancer (following his recent procedure for an enlarged prostate).

The father and son are believed to have had a brief private meeting at Clarence House last Tuesday before the King and Queen Camilla left London for Sandringham. The reunion marked Prince Harry and King Charles’ first meeting since the coronation ceremony in May 2023, for which the Duke of Sussex also made a similarly quick solo trip to the U.K.

"That is good," a source close to the royal household tells PEOPLE exclusively. “Hopefully [Harry] will bring the grandchildren at some point too, as that would be lovely for all of them."

Related: Prince Harry Was Cheerful on Flight Back from U.K. After Visiting Dad King Charles, Says Source

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex relocated to Meghan's home state of California after they stepped back as working members of the royal family in 2020 and ultimately settled in Montecito. Although Prince Harry has returned to the U.K. on several occasions, he rarely reunites with King Charles or other family members.

Prince Harry laid bare the painful rift between himself and his family in the pages of his memoir, Spare, released in Jan. 2022.

A year later, “absolutely nothing has changed,” author Omid Scobie told PEOPLE in the fall. The hurt and anger between Prince William and Prince Harry, in particular, has now hardened into something colder and more immovable, said Scobie: indifference.

“I saw Harry’s release of Spare as his last attempt at telling his family how he’s felt for years,” said Scobie, who chronicles the breakdown of the royal family in his book Endgame. “Because clearly there’s never been an open enough forum to have these conversations or share these feelings."

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In writing Endgame, “I was talking to a source quite early on in the process, and they called Harry a ‘defector’ and said that was William’s view,” Scobie said. “These were two men who once upon a time were firmly aligned in their outlook. One of them had to move on to also protect the crown."

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