Prince Harry has addressed the long-running rumour that King Charles is not his real father in his explosive new memoir Spare. For decades, James Hewitt has been rumoured to be Harry's real father, after the cavalry officer revealed he had an affair with Harry's mother Diana in mid-80s.
The royal family has never publicly addressed the rumour despite intense media speculation. Now, the Duke of Sussex has broken his silence in his new book Spare.
Harry writes how Charles would tell of a visit to a mental health unit where he met a man claiming to be the Prince of Wales. The duke said his father then joked: “Who knows if I’m even your real father? Perhaps your father really is in Broadmoor, my dear son!”
Harry says the joke was “in poor taste” due to the rumour that his real father was Mr Hewitt.
In an extract of the memoir, seen by Page Six, and reported by BirminghamLive, continued: "He’d laugh and laugh, though it was a remarkably unfunny joke, given the rumour circulating just then that my actual father was one of Mummy’s former lovers: Major James Hewitt. One cause of this rumour was Major Hewitt’s flaming ginger hair, but another cause was sadism.”
He added: “Never mind that my mother didn’t meet Major Hewitt until long after I was born.”
Kensington Palace and Buckingham Palace have declined to comment on the leaked claims from Harry’s book which emerged five days before the explosive, tell-all memoir is due to be published.
Other revelations from the book include the duke’s claims that a campaign was launched for Charles to marry Camilla and that his stepmother leaked details of her conversation with William to the press.
The Guardian, which said it was able to obtain a copy of Spare despite the tight pre-launch security, reported that Harry claims he was physically attacked by William and knocked to the floor during a furious confrontation over the Duchess of Sussex.
