Prince Harry has addressed a longtime rumour King Charles isn’t his “real father”.
For years, there’s been speculation that Princess Diana’s former lover James Hewitt could be the 38-year-old’s true father.
In his new memoir SPARE, which was published on Tuesday, the Duke of Sussex reveals Charles used to poke fun at the paternity claims.
According to an excerpt published by NBC News, Harry wrote: “Pa liked telling stories, and this was one of the best in his repertoire.”
Harry said Charles used to joke, “‘Who knows if I’m really the Prince of Wales? Who knows if I’m even your real father? Maybe your real father is in Broadmoor, darling boy!'”
The Prince recalled how Charles would “laugh and laugh,” but admitted he thought 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,” Harry continued.
“Tabloid readers were delighted by the idea that the younger child of Prince Charles wasn’t the child of Prince Charles. They couldn’t get enough of this ‘joke,’ for some reason. Maybe it made them feel better about their lives that a young prince’s life was laughable.”
Setting the record straight once and for all, Harry added: “Never mind that my mother didn’t meet Major Hewitt until long after I was born, the story was simply too good to drop.”
