Prince Harry: rabble-rouser, ex-soldier, and son of the
king… or is he? Here's everything you need to know about those royal rumors.
Born in 1984, Prince Harry is the second son of King Charles and Princess Diana. As he
reveals in his 2023 memoir Spare, Harry has had to contend with a lot of ups and downs,
media scandals, and flat-out tabloid lies throughout his life. Some of these stories
have been shrugged off or navigated around, but others have persisted for decades.
One particularly tough rumor is that former British military officer James Hewitt is Harry's
biological father, not King Charles. Diana and Hewitt had a years-long affair that spanned from
1986 to 1991, but there is no evidence that Harry is remotely related to Hewitt. In fact,
by Hewitt's own words, Harry was already two-years-old when he and Diana met at a party
in 1986. Despite that, some have continued to believe the rumors — no matter what.
Princess Diana and James Hewitt were first introduced at a 1986
party thrown by one of Diana's friends and ladies-in-waiting. Royal author Ken Warfe],
who was also Princess Diana's bodyguard, described the pair's first encounter in his book Diana:
Closely Guarded Secret, noting that they discussed Diana's fear of horses,
as Hewitt is an accomplished equestrian and riding instructor.
Things between Diana and James heated up not too long after that first party. They soon
began an affair that would ultimately persist for years, with the two often
meeting at a home owned by Hewitt's mother so they could spend time together privately. The
pair were together throughout the rest of the decade, but when Hewitt received
military orders that took him abroad, he followed them — and the affair subsided..
The general public didn't know much about Princess Diana and James Hewitt's affair until 1994,
when Hewitt released a tell-all book that detailed their time together. Princess in
Love was released after Diana and King Charles had separated in 1992, but it still managed to
cause a pretty nasty headache for the former couple and the royal family as a whole.
Diana only publicly addressed the book and Hewitt briefly during her 1995 BBC interview on Panorama.
Hewitt didn't stop there, though. In 1999, two years after Princess Diana's tragic death,
he released a follow-up titled Love and War that revisited the relationship in even more
detail. Some have also accused Hewitt of trying to sell dozens of letters that Diana wrote him,
allegedly requesting as much as £10 million.
Despite the fact that Prince Harry was born two years before Princess Diana and James Hewitt
began their relationship, rumors that Hewitt is Harry's biological father have persisted for
much of Harry's life. For many people who engage with this topic, it seems that the
biggest reason they believe Harry and Hewitt are related is that they both have red hair.
Hewitt has always denied these claims, and Diana's former bodyguard Ken Wharfe has insisted that it's
mathematically impossible for Harry and Hewitt to be related. As he writes in Diana: Closely Guarded
Secret, Harry was born on September 15th 1984, while Diana met Hewitt in the summer of 1986.
Additionally, Diana's family tree has a number of red-haired relatives residing
within it. Both Diana's brother, Earl Spencer, and her sister,
Lady Sarah McCorquodale, have red hair, which indicates a clear genetic link.
In addition to sharing red hair, others believe that Prince Harry and James Hewitt
bear a strong physical resemblance to one another. According to The Daily Star,
so-called "super recogniser" Simone Malik has examined the faces of Hewitt, Harry, and King
Charles and determined that there is no truth to the rumors that Hewitt is Harry's biological
father. Malik explains that she has abilities that the rest of us simply don't possess, noting:
"I can see from the public's perspective [...] they have a
certain look and they think he is Harry's dad. As a super-recogniser I can see beyond that."
She goes on to add that Charles and Harry share a few key features, including eyes that are
exceptionally close together. In fact, Malik argues that Charles and Harry are the only two
people that she has seen that share their exact eyes, and that both Diana and Hewitt have large
eyes that are wider apart. In conclusion, the answer is easy for Malik. She says:
"Where has Harry got those eyes from? Not Hewitt, not Diana, he has got them from his father."
Despite being quite willing to divulge details about his relationship with Princess Diana
before and after her death, James Hewitt did not directly address the rumors that
continued to dog both him and Prince Harry until 2002. Hewitt attempted to
put the rumors to rest in an interview with the Sunday Mirror. He explained:
"I can understand the interest but Harry was already walking by the time my relationship
with Diana began. Admittedly the red hair is similar to mine and people say we look alike."
Hewitt added that, though he and Diana were together for several years,
it was time for him to unequivocally state that he is not Harry's father. As is typical, the
interview did not receive a public response from anyone in the royal family or anybody associated
with Prince Harry. A few years ago, Hewitt gave a more succinct answer to the question:
Unfortunately for everyone involved, and especially Prince Harry, the rumors that
James Hewitt could be Harry's biological father didn't die down. In his 2023 memoir Spare,
Prince Harry claims that King Charles himself has made a number of jokes
about the possibility that Hewitt might be Harry's father. As Harry puts it in the book:
"Pa liked telling stories, and this was one of the best in his
repertoire. He'd always end with a burst of philosophizing [...] 'Who
knows if I'm really the Prince of Wales? Who knows if I'm even your real father?'"
Harry adds that, in his opinion, the jokes weren't very funny,
especially as he was the one who ultimately had to deal with them. Of the tabloids and
media who have supported the rumors for decades, he writes:
"Maybe it made them feel better about their lives that a young prince's life was laughable."