Prince Harry admits in a new court testimony that the longstanding rumor that James Hewitt is his real father – not King Charles III – has caused him great pain over the years.
The Duke of Sussex is suing Mirror Group Newspapers Limited for allegedly using unethical methods, such as phone hacking, to obtain information about him over the years. He blasted the group’s publications in a written statement obtained by the New York Times Tuesday for perpetuating the paternity rumor in several articles.
“At the time, when I was 18 years old and had lost my mother [Princess Diana] just six years earlier, stories such as this felt very damaging and very real to me,” Harry said, referencing a The People article titled, “Plot to rob the DNA of Harry,” published on Dec. 15, 2002.
“They were hurtful, mean and cruel,” the prince added. “I was always left questioning the motives behind the stories. Were the newspapers keen to put doubt into the minds of the public so that I might be ousted from the Royal Family?”
Harry then accused the article’s writer, Dean Rousewell, of having a long history of using “unlawful information gathering techniques” and claimed that, for this particular story, the journalist wrote about a “plot” to steal the duke’s hair to test his “parentage.”
The Archewell founder, 38, claimed that Rousewell pursued this story allegedly already knowing that it was not possible for Hewitt, 65, to be his dad because of the timeline of the former cavalry officer’s relationship with Princess Diana.
“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,” Harry wrote. “The timeline is something I only learnt of in around 2014, although I now understand this was common knowledge amongst the Defendants’ journalists.”
The philanthropist also shared that another matter pertaining to the article in question that was of “particular concern” was the fact that a “highly placed royal source” was providing Rousewell with details of how this alleged paternity plot was to be carried out.
However, Harry said that he “firmly” did not believe that anyone from “within the Palace” was involved, given the security measures that are put in place to protect all members of the royal family.
The Mirror Group Newspaper Limited has denied any wrongdoing but issued an apology in May, saying, “MGN unreservedly apologises for all such instances of UIG, and assures the claimants that such conduct will never be repeated.”
Harry is currently fighting them on dozens of news articles written over the span of decades in London’s High Court.
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The court hearing is not the first time the duke has spoken publicly about the rumor that Hewitt is his father, however. Earlier this year, Harry wrote in his memoir, “Spare,” that Charles, 74, once made “sadistic” jokes about the gossip fodder.
“Pa liked telling stories, and this was one of the best in his repertoire,” the prince wrote in his book. “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 continued, “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.”
Hewitt has addressed the speculation himself in the past.
In 2017, Diana’s ex denied that he is Harry’s dad, firmly telling an Australian TV show when asked about the rumor, “No, I’m not.”
