Prince Harry flies out of London after quick visit with King Charles

Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, is on his way home after a quick visit to the United Kingdom to see his father, King Charles III, who is battling cancer.

Harry, 39, was spotted Wednesday at London's Heathrow Airport, where he is expected to catch a flight home to California.

Harry's flight home caps a whirlwind overnight trip to London, where he reportedly met with Charles for less than an hour and stayed in a hotel rather than in one of the king's royal residences.

"If they can't even just say, 'Stay over in the house, in Clarence House, or one of the rooms in Buckingham Palace,' there are plenty of them, it seems to suggest he's still very much an outsider," ABC News royal contributor Robert Jobson said of Harry's status with his family, from whom he has been distant for several years.

Harry, who stepped down from his senior royal role in 2020, was spotted Tuesday arriving at Clarence House, the London residence of Charles and his wife, Queen Camilla.

Shortly after his meeting with Harry, which took place privately, Charles was photographed in a car alongside Camilla as the two traveled to a helicopter to fly to Sandringham, the king’s estate in Norfolk, England.

Britain's King Charles III and Britain's Queen Camilla wave as they leave by car from Clarence House in London, on Feb. 6, 2024. King Charles III's estranged son Prince Harry reportedly arrived in London on Tuesday after his father's diagnosis of cancer, which doctors "caught early".

Henry Nicholls/AFP via Getty Images

Buckingham Palace announced Monday that Charles, 75, has been diagnosed with cancer. The palace did not state what type of cancer Charles is battling but noted that he has started "a schedule of regular treatments."

Harry's visit with Charles marked the first time he has seen his father since May, when he traveled to the U.K. to attend Charles' coronation.

At the coronation, Harry sat in the congregation with other members of the royal family and did not play a role in the service at Westminster Abbey. He and his older brother, Prince William, the heir to the throne, did not appear to interact at all during the service.

Harry and William did not have plans to see each other while Harry was in the U.K., a source told ABC News.

William's wife Kate is recovering from a health battle of her own after undergoing what Kensington Palace described as a "planned abdominal surgery" last month. She was released from the hospital on Jan. 29, and is now recovering at the family's home in Windsor, England, according to the palace.

A palace source told ABC News that Charles personally told both of his sons, Prince William and Harry, as well as his siblings, Princess Anne and Princes Edward and Andrew, about his cancer diagnosis.

Harry traveled alone to Clarence House to see Charles, just as he did for the coronation, leaving behind his wife, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, and their two children, Archie and Lilibet.

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Harry has had a distant relationship with members of his family -- most notably Charles and William -- over the past four years, since he and Meghan stepped down from their senior royal roles.

Harry's explosive memoir "Spare," released last year, in which he described family tensions, appeared to further the distance between himself and his father and brother.

Harry told "Good Morning America" co-anchor Michael Strahan in an interview prior to the memoir's release that he did not believe the details he shared in "Spare" could make things any worse with his family.

"I have thought about it long and hard," Harry said. "And as far as I see it, the divide couldn't be greater before this book."

Neither Kensington Palace -- the office of William and Kate, the Princess of Wales -- nor Buckingham Palace, the office of Charles and Camilla, have commented publicly on the claims Harry made in "Spare."