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Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, talks about two of his greatest passions: his family and the Invictus Games, the Paralympic-style competition for wounded service members he founded a decade ago.
Harry, 39, traveled to Whistler, British Columbia, site of the 2025 Invictus Games, just a week after flying from California to London to visit his father, King Charles III, who was recently diagnosed with a type of undisclosed cancer.
Harry told ABC News’ Will Reeve in an interview for “Good Morning America” that he spoke to his father about his diagnosis, which was announced publicly on Feb. 5, and quickly made a plan to see him in person.
“I got on a plane and went to see him as soon as I could,” Harry told Reeve in Whistler, as they toured the site of next year’s Invictus Games. “Look, I love my family. The fact that I was able to get on a plane and go see him and spend time with him, I’m grateful for that.”
Harry, who declined to comment further on his father’s diagnosis, added that he hopes to see Charles again soon, saying: “I have other trips planned that will take me around the UK or back to the UK, so. ..I’ll stop by and see my family as much as I can.”
The duke had not seen his father, 75, since the king’s coronation last May at Westminster Abbey.
Harry reportedly met Charles, who has since begun cancer treatment, for less than an hour on February 6, and spent the night in a hotel before departing the next day from London’s Heathrow Airport. .
While in London, Harry did not meet his older brother Prince William, with whom he has had a strained relationship in recent years.
When asked about the possibility of Charles’ illness having a reunifying effect on his own family, Harry responded: “Yes, I’m sure,” and reflected on what he has seen firsthand among the families of Invictus athletes. .
“In all of these families, I see day by day, once again, the strength of the family unit coming together,” Harry said. “So, yes, I think any illness brings families together. I see it over and over again, and that makes me very happy.”
A new chapter for the Invictus Games
Harry has been a regular and integral part of the lives of wounded service members and their families since 2014, when he launched the first Invictus Games as an international version of the Warrior Games, an annual event hosted by the U.S. Department of Defense. which the prince attended. in 2013.
Harry, who served in the British Army for 10 years, hosted the first Invictus Games in London in 2014. The Games have since been held in Orlando, Toronto, Sydney, Dusseldorf and The Hague.
Next years Invictus Games in Vancouver and Whistler It will be the first time that winter sports are included in Paralympic competition.
In addition to traditional sports programming such as indoor rowing, sitting volleyball, swimming, wheelchair basketball and wheelchair rugby, the Invictus Games Vancouver Whistler will include alpine skiing, Nordic skiing, skeleton skiing and wheelchair curling.
More than 500 competitors from more than two dozen countries are expected to compete during the Games, which will be held from February 8 to 16, 2025.
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While in Whistler to attend the One Year To Go celebration, Harry and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, met dozens of Invictus participants and toured the fields where those same competitors will compete next year.
Harry himself tried out one of the Games’ most daring competitions in Whistler, the skeleton sled, in which he donned a helmet and slid headfirst down an ice slide.
But it was the Invictus Games competitors that Harry wanted to focus on.
“Seeing the smiles on their faces and then hearing the stories at the end, the excitement and the happiness, that’s what it’s all about,” he told Reeve. “This is what we’re all about and as long as it’s safe, we will continue to provide these types of opportunities for them.”
Describing why he is passionate about being part of the Games, Harry said: “I’ve always had a life of service, and then I get my fix by being part, being with these guys. There’s not a version of me coming here, watching them and not getting involved.” .
A possible next chapter for Harry in the United States
The Vancouver area is where Harry and Meghan spent several months in early 2020 as they carved out their new lives as unemployed senior members of the British royal family.
The couple has now settled into their own lives in Montecito, California, where they live with their two children, Archie, 4, and Lilibet, 2.
Harry said his and Meghan’s children, who did not join their parents in Whistler, are “doing very well” and “growing very, very quickly.”
“They both have an incredible sense of humor, they make us laugh and they keep us grounded every day, like most kids do,” he told Reeve. “I’m very grateful to be a father.”
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After growing up in the United Kingdom, Harry said he still doesn’t know he feels like an American, but he loves living in America.
“It’s amazing,” he said. “I love every day.”
Describing a possible next chapter for him in the United States, Harry told Reeve that he has considered obtaining his American citizenship.
“I have no idea,” he said when asked what would stop him from doing so. “American citizenship is an idea that has crossed my mind, but it’s certainly not something that is a high priority for me right now.”