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Princess Diana’s friend on devastating Prince Harry paternity rumors: ‘It’s not possible’

There was a tabloid rumor that left Princess Diana heartbroken.

For years, some have speculated that her riding instructor, James Hewitt, was Prince Harry’s biological father, not King Charles. Both Harry and Hewitt share ginger hair and freckles.

Richard Dalton, Diana’s hairdresser, said that "it’s not possible." Dalton has a new memoir, "It’s All About the Hair," which details their friendship.

"It was tough," Dalton admitted. "Harry was already born a while before her relationship with Hewitt. And I don’t think it’s possible."

"But no," he stressed. "Harry and the Spencer family have red hair. Charles, Diana’s brother, had bright red hair when he was in college. And I used to cut his hair then. Diana’s sister Sarah, has bright red hair. Diana’s other sister Jane was more or less the same coloring as Diana."

He also shared in his book that Diana "used to get very upset" with the tabloids insisting that Hewitt was Harry’s father.

"The red hair was a trait from the Spencer family," he wrote.

According to reports, Diana first met Hewitt in 1986, two years after Harry was born in 1984. In his book, Dalton wrote that Diana and Hewitt had "a love affair" that lasted three years from 1989 to 1991. He stressed that Harry was born "long before Diana even met James Hewitt."

When Diana started taking riding lessons from Hewitt, it confused Dalton, who thought to himself, "Diana didn’t like riding horses." However, he understood that Diana was a young woman "longing to be truly loved."

"I knew nothing about their affair and was not involved with any of the rendezvous, other than maybe unwittingly doing Diana’s hair each day," Dalton wrote. "She was certainly giddy at times when she talked about him because it was all new to her; however, we need to remember the context in which this all took place."

"Diana was starved of affection and intimacy from her husband, the man she loved," he wrote. "She was also an heir-making machine for Charles and was coming to terms with the betrayal within her marriage."

"… It saddened me to see James Hewitt, by virtue of his tell-all book, clearly signal that this relationship was a conquest and not a matter of love at all. He got her at her most vulnerable and, for her, he was just the first man who rolled along – a twist of fate, time and place. If it had not been him, it would have been someone else."

"He was certainly not the love of her life at the time, Charles was – there is no question in this matter at all," Dalton added.

Renae Plant, curator of The Princess Diana Museum, teamed up with Dalton for his book. She said, "It must have been horrific for Diana to be faced with the ongoing rumors."

"She couldn’t come out there and say anything, but there’s all these rumors going around," said Plant. "... She was tormented by the press and the hounding of all these stories."

Plant pointed out that Diana yearned to be like Dalton’s friend, British broadcaster Anne Diamond. She had a public platform to address any news to the public.

"Anne did breakfast TV," Dalton said. "Diana used to say, ‘Oh, I wish I could be like your friend when something detrimental is written about her. She can put it right on TV.’ But that’s not how it was."

"She had to keep it all internalized and deal with it," Plant chimed.

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by Anonymousreply 16October 1, 2024 1:45 PM

In his memoir, "Spare," Harry described how his father, 75, once made "sadistic" jokes about the painful gossip. For Harry, it was no laughing matter.

"Pa liked telling stories, and this was one of the best in his repertoire," Harry wrote. "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?'"

"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," Harry shared. "One cause of this rumor was Major Hewitt’s flaming ginger hair, but another cause was sadism."

"The press couldn’t get enough of this ‘joke,’ for some reason," Harry reflected. "Maybe it made them feel better about their lives that a young prince’s life was laughable."

In 2002, Hewitt himself addressed the gossip.

"I have been aware for a while that the issue of Harry's paternity has been a major talking point," said Hewitt, as quoted by People magazine. "There really is no possibility whatsoever that I am Harry's father. I can understand the interest, but Harry was already walking by the time my relationship with Diana began."

"Admittedly, the red hair is similar to mine and people say we look alike," said Hewitt. "Looking at the pictures I would say he is a much more handsome chap than I ever was."

He addressed the speculation once more in 2017 during an appearance on an Australian TV show. When asked if he could be Harry’s father, Hewitt stressed, "No, I’m not."

"It sells paper," said Hewitt about the rumor. "It’s worse for Harry, probably, poor chap."

by Anonymousreply 1September 28, 2024 12:50 PM

Harry doesn’t look like either of his parents the way William is a pretty even split of Charles and Diana.

Harry looks like the offspring of Charles Spencer and Prince Philip, however biologically impossible.

by Anonymousreply 2September 28, 2024 12:56 PM

[quote] "Admittedly, the red hair is similar to mine and people say we look alike," said Hewitt. "Looking at the pictures I would say he is a much more handsome chap than I ever was."

I disagree with Hewitt.

He's quite handsome. I'd definitely hop on that!

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by Anonymousreply 3September 28, 2024 1:01 PM

Despite the impossibility of the timeline, It doesn’t even pass whatever “looks” test the usual despicable people are trying present as evidence. While there’s little resemblance to Hewitt beyond the fairly typical resemblances among gingers, I see Harry’s features in many members of his mother’s and father’s families. The comparison to Philip stated earlier is accurate, and I see a resemblance to the Queen mother as well. And the coloring is in the Spencer family.

This rumor was nasty for Diana, and absolutely terrible for young Harry.

by Anonymousreply 4September 28, 2024 1:18 PM

Di was a nympho. Neither of the boys belong to Charles.

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by Anonymousreply 5September 28, 2024 2:11 PM

He's a Mountbatten-Windsor...the nose, the balding head. Look closely at the center of his face. He resembles Charles the King. He gets the color of his hair from his mother's family.

by Anonymousreply 6September 28, 2024 2:33 PM

I wonder why Hewitt didn’t put a baby in her. It would be cool to see your child be a prince of the realm.

by Anonymousreply 7September 28, 2024 3:34 PM

Usually a man's chances of balding pass in the line from his maternal grandfather.

Johnny Spencer, Diana's father, went bald, and so did William and Harry.

William was lucky to get the blond hair Diana and her mother had from the Roche side of the family (before he lost most of it), but Harry got the famously red Spencer hair.

by Anonymousreply 8September 28, 2024 3:41 PM

I think Harry looks like Charles. The eyes too close together and the ears. His red hair came from his mother’s family.

by Anonymousreply 9October 1, 2024 8:40 AM

Perhaps Harry is the love child of Diana and Carrot Top? There is a striking resemblance.

by Anonymousreply 10October 1, 2024 10:25 AM

[quote]I wonder why Hewitt didn’t put a baby in her.

It's treason?

by Anonymousreply 11October 1, 2024 10:55 AM

“Put a baby in her”. That’s incel language. Yeeech.

by Anonymousreply 12October 1, 2024 11:17 AM

If this was true don’t you think the Royals would have already exposed it so they could completely remove Harry from the lineage?

by Anonymousreply 13October 1, 2024 11:52 AM

My husband and I are both dark brunettes and had 2 towheaded babies. It's called recessive genes.

by Anonymousreply 14October 1, 2024 1:35 PM

The Brits would desperately like to believe this is true

by Anonymousreply 15October 1, 2024 1:40 PM

[quote] I wonder why Hewitt didn’t put a baby in her. It would be cool to see your child be a prince of the realm.

Can one’s ignorance of royal lines of succession be “Oh Deared!” the way poor spelling and grammar can?

by Anonymousreply 16October 1, 2024 1:45 PM
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