By Sheila Mkenzie-
One of the highlights of duke of Sussex’s appearance at the High Court this week was the way he put to bed rumours that James Hewitt is his biological father, highlighting the fact the former army general had a relationship with his mother after he was born.
Prince Harry attacked rumours that King Charles III was not his biological father, and that he was instead the child of Diana, Princess or Wales, and her former lover James Hewitt.
Major Hewitt is a former British Army officer, serving from 1978 until 1994. He was commissioned into the Life Guards, part of the Household Cavalry, after graduating from Sandhurst, rising up the ranks and becoming a captain in 1984. In 1991, he served as a Challenger tank squadron commander in the Gulf War. He was granted the rank of major in retirement.
Prince Harry spoke about the speculation , highlighting an article in The People from 2002 in a High Court appearance on Tuesday, saying they were aimed at ousting him from the Royal Family. The article had the headline “Plot to rob the DNA of Harry” and reported a bid to steal a sample of the duke’s DNA to check his parentage.
He described the stories about the rumours as “cruel”, saying he was 18 at the time of the article and had lost his mother just a few years earlier.
Rumours have been rife in many circles that Hewitt is the true biological father of the duke, making it no surprise Harry took another opportunity to dispel those rumours in open court.
Harry is suing Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) for damages, claiming journalists at its titles, which also include The Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People, were linked to methods including phone hacking, “blagging” (gaining information by deception), and use of private investigators for unlawful activities.
Diana had a five-year affair with Major Hewitt, a cavalry officer, between 1986 and 1991, one the princess publicly confessed to during her BBC Panorama interview in 1995.
Harry, who was born in 1984, said in his witness statement that his mother had not met Major Hewitt until after his birth. He said he learned of this timeline in 2014, but that it was common knowledge amongst MGN’s journalists.
“Numerous newspapers had reported a rumour that my biological father was James Hewitt, a man my mother had a relationship with after I was born,” the duke said.
“At the time of this article and others similar to it, I wasn’t actually aware that my mother hadn’t met Major Hewitt until after I was born.”
He added: “At the time, when I was 18 years old and had lost my mother just six years earlier, stories such as this felt very damaging and very real to me.”
He said the stories were “hurtful, mean and cruel”, adding: “I was always left questioning the motives behind the stories.
James Hewitt Image: Getty Images
Harry said he was particularly concerned over comments in the 2002 People article which referred to a “highly placed royal source” who provided details of the alleged plot and details of how his DNA would be “sold abroad”.
He said he did not believe the information came from anyone within Buckingham Palace but that it showed that MGN was using unlawful means of gathering information about him for the article.
Harry also addressed the rumours around Major Hewitt being his father in his autobiography Spare, published last year. In the book, Harry claims the King used to make jokes about who his “real” father might be.
“The joke was damn funny in light of the rumour going around at the time that my real father was one of my mother’s ex-lovers: Major James Hewitt,” the duke wrote.
“One cause of the rumour was Major Hewitt’s red hair, but another was sadism. Tabloid readers loved the idea that Prince Charles’ youngest son was not Prince Charles’ son. They never got tired of that ‘joke’, for some reason.”
The speculation surrounding Prince Harry’s paternity can be traced back to the late 1980s when Princess Diana publicly acknowledged her extramarital affair with James Hewitt. This revelation led to an immediate media frenzy, with Hewitt becoming a central figure in tabloid headlines. As Prince Harry’s resemblance to Hewitt was occasionally highlighted, the seed of doubt was planted in the minds of some members of the British public and press.
Resemblance
It is not uncommon for children to bear a resemblance to individuals outside their immediate family. In the case of Prince Harry, claims of similarity to James Hewitt’s physical features have been exaggerated and sensationalized. Furthermore, it is worth noting that Prince Harry’s hair color, which has been cited as evidence of Hewitt’s paternity, is genetically consistent with the presence of red-haired ancestors on both sides of the family.
Moreover, the timeline of Prince Harry’s conception aligns with Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s marital relationship. Prince Harry was born in September 1984, while Princess Diana’s affair with Hewitt began in 1986, two years after his birth. This chronological fact further discredits any claim that Hewitt could be Prince Harry’s biological father.
Both Prince Harry and James Hewitt have publicly addressed the paternity rumours. Prince Harry has repeatedly asserted his unwavering confidence in Prince Charles being his father. In interviews, he has stated that the speculation has been hurtful and has caused unnecessary distress.
Hewitt himself denied he was Harry’s father during a 2002 interview: ”There really is no possibility whatsoever that I am Harry’s father. I can absolutely assure you that I am not”