Prince Harry has addressed the longstanding rumours about his real father in his new book 'Spare'. Due to be released next week - to anticipation and abhorrence in equal measure - Harry makes reference to the rumours that one of his mother's ex-lovers, Major James Hewitt, is his real father and not King Charles.
Princess Diana had confirmed a five-year affair with Major Hewitt during the 1980s. The Duke writes: "The joke was damn funny in light of the rumour going around at the time that my real father was one of my mother's ex-lovers: Major James Hewitt.
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"One cause of the rumour was Major Hewitt's red hair, but another was sadism. Tabloid readers loved the idea that Prince Charles's youngest son was not Prince Charles's son. They never got tired of that 'joke', for some reason."
The nickname 'Harry Hewitt' was known to generations of people, in reference to the nationwide rumour and Princess Diana's affair - which the prince states began "long after I was born". This, he writes, didn't appear to matter to the tabloids at the time, The Mirror reports.
Harry also claims some journalists went so far as to begin "hunting my DNA to verify it" and his initial response was that after "torturing" his mum into hiding "soon they would come for me".
He writes that over the years, rehashed versions of the story seem to be published "with some seriousness" and any accounts of Charles having to reassure him Major Hewitt was not his dad are "invented".
Princess Diana was a regular visitor to Ebford, near Exmouth, where Major Hewitt's mother had a cottage. In fact, her visits were frequent enough for locals to remember their encounters with Lady Di.
One nearby farmer said: “Everyone knew that Princess Diana came to Ebford to stay with Captain Hewitt. We didn’t know that they were having an affair, but people weren’t daft – they put two and two together.
“Apparently Diana stayed in the cottage often and they were seen out together although she mostly stayed behind closed doors. Sometimes they would go for a quiet walk in the countryside up on Dartmoor where they wouldn’t be spotted.”
The farmer - who didn't want to be named in a past article - stated that locals recalled Diana visiting Ebford earlier than their royal affair was said to have started:
“For my part, I have recollections of people in the village talking about Diana’s visits when I was combining near Ebford as early as 1983 or even 1982."
Major Hewitt and Diana had both publicly insisted their affair started later on, from 1986 to 1991. Other bombshells from the new book include Harry's account of an alleged physical attack on him by brother William during a row over Meghan.
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