Claims about James Hewitt and Prince Harry's paternity

[Jo of Palatine]

Originally Posted by Duchess

i i was just saying that just because harry looks like a spencer doesn't mean that would eliminate hewitt as the potential biological father. is that what you mean that just because he looks like his aunt he could be her son? i suppose that's a good point too. however do we want to open that can worms?

No, of course I don't say Harry is Sarah's son. I don't say either that both Harry and Sarah's son are Hewitt's kids.

What I was trying to say is that both sisters, Diana and Sarah have born sons who look alike. If we talk about the plausibilities of potential reasons for it, we can assume with a very high percentage of plausibility that it's because the mothers were sisters. The plausibility that both kids have the same mother (Sarah) and one was swapped to Diana is very small, IMHO. The plausibility that both sisters had an affair with hewitt, got pregnant and foisted the respective son on their husbands is even smaller, IMHO.

So where does that leave us?

I personally believe that the fact that both sisters have similar looking sons is based on their being sisters family trait. But that means that Harry looks like a Spencer. Nothing else.

There is no real proof that Diana had an affair with Hewitt before she became pregnant with Harry. There is no proof she had any extramarital relationships before her sons were born. There is a high plausibility that she wouldn't have dared to foist a bastard on The Prince of Wales. Having an affair is one thing, being caught in the act of getting pregnant by another man as wife of the heir to the throne is a different matter altogether.

But I guess the fact that there were no more children after Harry is based on a) a stop in the marital relations to Charles and b) using contraceptives.

Of course there were these rumours about a pregnancy and an abortion in 1994 but exactly the points mentioned as explanation to this abortion show IMHO that Diana wouldn't have had an affair while still really married to Charles.

[Jo of Palatine]

Originally Posted by Skydragon

You may not have heard the rumours, for those of us around at the time, there was talk that the child was not Charles'.

Now that's interesting. Do you mean public talk as in something that could be read in the media or was it more insider's talk of people who either had insights themselves or knew people with such information?

Diana calimed according to Wharfe that Charles went back to Camilla after prince William was born. I have to say that I don't believe her when it comes to the timing of Charles' putting an end to his marriage. But if there were these rumours around, as you say, then insiders must have had knowledge about problems in the marriage, affairs etc. from early on. Which is sad, I think.

As for Charles: he commented according to Diana in the Morton-book when he first saw newborn prince Harry: "A boy - and one with red hair" (retranslated from the German edition). I doubt he would have said that if he had had an idea about the rumours. Or would he?

[Skydragon]

Originally Posted by Jo of Palatine

There is a high plausibility that she wouldn't have dared to foist a bastard on The Prince of Wales. Having an affair is one thing, being caught in the act of getting pregnant by another man as wife of the heir to the throne is a different matter altogether.

But I guess the fact that there were no more children after Harry is based on a) a stop in the marital relations to Charles and b) using contraceptives.

Of course there were these rumours about a pregnancy and an abortion in 1994 but exactly the points mentioned as explanation to this abortion show IMHO that Diana wouldn't have had an affair while still really married to Charles.

What do you think anyone would have done about it Jo, sent her off to the tower? Or do you think she would do as millions of women do and pass the child off as her husbands child.
Your last point that she wouldn't have had an affair while still really married to Charles, what was she doing in her admitted affair in 1986, pretending?

BBC ON THIS DAY | 24 | 1981: Prince Charles and Lady Di to marry

After Prince Harry's birth on 15 September 1984 it was clear the fairytale marriage was falling apart.

Just one of many articles that mention the marriage was seen to be falling apart in 1984 and these things don't happen overnight.

[Jo of Palatine]

Originally Posted by Skydragon

What do you think anyone would have done about it Jo, sent her off to the tower? Or do you think she would do as millions of women do and pass the child off as her husbands child.
Your last point that she wouldn't have had an affair while still really married to Charles, what was she doing in her admitted affair in 1986, pretending?

BBC ON THIS DAY | 24 | 1981: Prince Charles and Lady Di to marry

After Prince Harry's birth on 15 September 1984 it was clear the fairytale marriage was falling apart.

Just one of many articles that mention the marriage was seen to be falling apart in 1984 and these things don't happen overnight.

In Germany we have a legal term about seperations leading up to divorce where the couple has to go on sharing a flat. It's "sharing of table and bed" - I meant that as being "really married", as in "still living together as man and wife, including having marital relationships". In 1986, AFAIK, they didn't share the same table and bed anymore - so any child simply could not have been Charles'.

The BBC article was written well after 1984, so for whom was it clear? Diana told Morton that for her it was clear. But for Charles?

[Skydragon]

Originally Posted by Jo of Palatine

The BBC article was written well after 1984, so for whom was it clear? Diana told Morton that for her it was clear. But for Charles?

IMO, anybody who had any contact with either party could see the marriage was far from a happy and contented one, but unless any of the people concerned were willing to 'go public' apart from articles that have been written since, there will never be proof what those people thought.

I think they both knew soon after Williams birth that things were not working out.

[Duchess]

Originally Posted by Jo of Palatine

Duchess, I believe we have a misunderstanding here. What I was trying to point out is that there is a very important lex in law: "In dubio pro reo" - which means in case there is a doubt, it's to the advantage of the accused.

You turned (or so I read it) this principle into the opposite: you said that because there is no proof for the innocense of Diana in this case, you doubt Harry's parentage. And IMHo that is not fair, not to Diana, not to Harry. There must be a presumption of innocense or proof: as long as there is no proof, Harry has a right to be considered Charles' son. Which he legally is anyway as his parentage was never contested with legal action.

first let me say that i hope i'm not coming across totally against your point of view as that's not my intention. i agree that harry has every right to be considered charles' son as charles has been the only father that he's ever known. i just feel that as long as there are people out there questioning this issue i will, personally, have to remain open minded...not that the world gives a hoot about what my opinion is . i don't believe (and correct me if i'm wrong) that hewitt, to his credit, has ever said publicly that he wants to have tests done. i'm content to leave things unverified but even if they were i would be happy to say "charles is his father, he has always been a wonderful father and nothing should change".

thanks for your thoughts on the topic though...this has been very interesting.

[Jo of Palatine]

Originally Posted by Skydragon

IMO, anybody who had any contact with either party could see the marriage was far from a happy and contented one, but unless any of the people concerned were willing to 'go public' apart from articles that have been written since, there will never be proof what those people thought.

I think they both knew soon after Williams birth that things were not working out.

I guess, you're right. Whitacker wrote in 1993 that it was in 1987 that Charles believed Diana had an affair with Philip Dunne and that that was the reason he stopped living with her completely apart from holding up the facade. He claims that Hewitt, then member of the Guards and a good polo player, was selected by courtiers to be the one to teach William how to ride and that he could maybe be the one to teach Diana, too. But he said as well that Hewitt and Diana had common friends, including David Waterhouse, who for Whitaker, was a candidate as a lover of Diana. Not sure what to make of this. But he refers to his sources by name, so it could be at least a bit of the truth.

[Elspeth]

Originally Posted by Skydragon

IMO, anybody who had any contact with either party could see the marriage was far from a happy and contented one, but unless any of the people concerned were willing to 'go public' apart from articles that have been written since, there will never be proof what those people thought.

I think they both knew soon after Williams birth that things were not working out.

That's as may be, but the question isn't so much a case of the marriage not working out as the allegation that by early 1984 Diana was already being unfaithful. To say nothing of the fact that she was supposed to be being unfaithful with a person with whom, by all accounts, she only had a very casual acquaintanceship at the time, if that.

If all the books and articles are to be believed, the marriage was in trouble because Diana was very insecure, jealous (of Camilla), and possessive, not because she was indifferent to Charles and already eyeing possible alternatives. The scenario you're suggesting means that she was already intimate with James Hewitt less than three years after her wedding to Charles.

[Nichola]

I can't believe this thread is actually open - the claim is absurd!

[Elspeth]

Well, some people seem to think it isn't. As long as it's a topic of discussion in the press, there's no harm in having a thread about it; it does at least stop having Harry's current-events thread derailed with the rumours.

[Martha]

This is absurd. Princess Diana is dead, and She can´t to defend her. Prince Harry looks like his uncle Charles Spencer.

[Skydragon]

You say by all accounts she only had a very casual acquantance with Hewitt, I presume you mean by published accounts. Has anyone managed to get a statement from any of his fellow officers, for instance?
If she was desperately unhappy with Charles while she was carrying William (it was she who said she threw herself down the stairs and self harmed while pregnant), why do you think it so hard to believe that she looked elsewhere, straight after the birth, many women do, especially as Charles was apparently unable to cope with her, more than usual, at this time?

The fact remains that all these conversations, gossip and speculation will continue, because although both Charles and Diana had affairs, only one was able to cause major problems for the monarch, because of course only one of them could cause these problems by getting pregnant.

To the person who said she would have been careful and taken the pill. how do you suppose she would have got that and who from?

[semisquare]

why bring up such a subject. don't you think he has suffered enough with the death of his mom, having no private life, going to war and now this. imo its a waste of time, since time only goes in one direction im going to move on

[Elspeth]

Originally Posted by Skydragon

You say by all accounts she only had a very casual acquantance with Hewitt, I presume you mean by published accounts. Has anyone managed to get a statement from any of his fellow officers, for instance?

He himself is only claiming a casual acquaintanceship with Diana before 1986, even with the aid of hypnosis. I don't recall hearing statements from his fellow officers that he was close to Diana in the early 1980s, although it's possible that they've all been very discreet for the last 25 years.

If she was desperately unhappy with Charles while she was carrying William (it was she who said she threw herself down the stairs and self harmed while pregnant), why do you think it so hard to believe that she looked elsewhere, straight after the birth, many women do, especially as Charles was apparently unable to cope with her, more than usual, at this time?

Sure, it's possible, but considering all the stuff that's come out about her since she died, it seems to be significant that nothing has come out about a close relationship with anyone, Hewitt or otherwise, in the early 1980s.

[olga101]

I hope (in the event a dna test is ever requested or done) that Hewitt is not the father. He was an abominable person, a woman's worst nightmare after being in a relationship, casual or otherwise. He used the occasion and just cheapened man/woman relationships, in general.