Prince Harry Claims Charles Joked About His "Real Father" Amid Rumor He Was Diana Lover's Son. "He'd Laugh and Laugh."
“It was a remarkably unfunny joke,” Harry reportedly says.
Prince Harry's memoir Spare is not sparing members of his immediate family—least of all King Charles. According to an excerpt seen by Page Six, Harry claims his father would make "sadistic" jibes at his expense about Major James Hewitt (who the late Princess Diana had a five-year affair with) being his real father. Harry reportedly states his father liked to make anecdotes about his paternity: One time, Charles visited a patient in a psychiatric ward who was convinced he was the real Prince of Wales. Charles then joked with Harry, "Who knows if I'm even your real father? Perhaps your father really is in Broadmoor, my dear son!" According to the excerpt, Charles would make other jokes that Harry found in poor taste. Here's what Page Six reveals.
According to the sneak peek, Harry says his father would constantly make jokes about his "real" dad. "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 apparently did not appreciate his father's sense of humor. "He'd laugh and laugh, though it was a remarkably unfunny joke, given the rumor circulating just then that my actual father was one of Mummy's former lovers: Major James Hewitt. One cause of this rumor was Major Hewitt's flaming ginger hair, but another cause was sadism."
Harry was reportedly sore at the public interest in the Hewitt paternity rumors. "Maybe it made them feel better about their lives that a young prince's life was laughable. Never mind that my mother didn't meet Major Hewitt until long after I was born," he adds.
Princess Diana and James Hewitt had a five-year affair after meeting at a 1986 dinner party, something she confirmed in her infamous Panorama interview. Hewitt faced immense criticism in the UK for attempting to sell the love letters he and Diana exchanged, behavior which earned him the title "Britain's biggest cad."
According to Anna Pasternak, who co-wrote the book Princess In Love with Hewitt, the affair was kept strictly under wraps. "Hewitt was regularly bundled into car boots [trunks] and driven to Kensington Palace when their affair ensued," she told the Daily Mail. "He told me he was terrified the first night he stayed in Kensington Palace, relieved at least that Charles and Diana had separate bedrooms."
