How Princess Di was devastated by rumours Harry was really James Hewitt’s son

PRINCESS Diana's former protection officer has told how the tragic royal embarked on an affair with James Hewitt - sparking rumours that Prince Harry was his son.

Ken Wharfe, Diana's former bodyguard and confidante, also revealed that Diana attempted to kill herself once her marriage to Charles began to fall apart.

He told how Prince Charles began seeing Camilla Parker Bowles "again" after Harry was born, "or perhaps even earlier".

Writing in his new book, Diana: Closely Guarded Secret, Wharfe said: "Shattered by her husband’s betrayal, the Princess was ready for an affair.

"Hewitt, a natural womaniser, gave her the attention and affection she relished, and then the passion she yearned for."

He added: "At first, Diana refused to concede to me that her affair was anything less than innocent. ‘Nothing is going on,’ she would say, her face flushing red, as we drove back from a tryst, usually with the atmosphere tense in the car.

"I would assure her that I had no interest in anything but her safety, but she must have thought I was stupid or deaf.

"The pair usually met at an old cottage in Devon belonging to Shirley, Hewitt’s mother, where the creaking bedroom floorboards told the story more loudly than any confession."

But any suggestion that Hewitt is actually Harry's dad was rubbished by Wharfe "because the dates do not add up".

He said: "But the affair brought other problems, including malicious rumours about the paternity of Prince Harry — rumours which angered Diana greatly and which persist to this day, almost 19 years after her death.

"I believe they were spread by people who called themselves friends of Charles, though whoever was originally responsible should be ashamed of themselves . . . both for peddling slanders and for being mathematically incompetent.
"A simple comparison of dates proves it is impossible for Hewitt to be Harry’s father. Only once did I ever discuss it with her, and Diana was in tears about it.

"She didn’t usually care what lies Charles’s friends told about her, but if anyone turned on her sons it wounded her deeply.

"The nonsense should be scotched here and now. For one thing, the dates do not add up. Harry was born on September 15, 1984, which means he was conceived around Christmas 1983, when his brother, William, was 18 months old.

"Diana did not meet James Hewitt until the summer of 1986.

"The red hair that gossips so love to cite as ‘proof’ is, of course, a Spencer trait, as anyone who has ever seen a photograph of Diana’s sister, Jane, for example, as a young woman will be able to testify.

"The one person who knew beyond doubt the identity of Harry’s father was Diana, and she told me: ‘I don’t know how my husband and I did have Harry, because by then he had gone back to his lady, but one thing that is certain is that we did.’"

He added that Hewitt "always seemed short of money" and had apparently hinted to Diana that he wanted a sports car.

Wharfe told how the princess "gave him £16,000" in a briefcase to buy a TVR.

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