Spare, Prince Harry’s autobiography, was released in the UK on January 10 and immediately became the best-selling non-fiction book in history. It has addressed a wide range of topics related to the royal family, from Princess Diana’s murder and Prince Harry’s continued troubled relationship with his brother William to the former’s experimentation with drugs and the latter’s and Markle’s struggles as members of “The Firm.”
Not only does Prince Harry provide facts about his father King Charles, but he also admits he is aware of the rumours that have been floating for decades about who his’real father is,’ and he has determined to put them to bed once and for all.
Prince Harry says his father was the first to make jokes about the long-debunked rumour that he is actually the child of Princess Diana’s ex-lover James Hewitt.
He recalls that his father would say things like, ‘Pa liked telling stories, and this was one of the best in his repertoire, “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 recalls that it was “a remarkably unfunny joke, given the rumour circulating just then that my true father was one of Mummy’s past lovers: Major James Hewitt.”
Major Hewitt’s fiery ginger hair was a contributing factor, but sadism also played a role, Harry says. ‘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.’
‘Never mind that my mother didn’t meet Major Hewitt until long after I was born, the story was simply too good to drop.’ Prince Harry says.