Princess Diana Was Awfully Crushed by Rumors of Prince Harry’s Real Father, Says Hairdresser

During the controversial marriage of King Charles III and Princess Diana from 1981 to 1996, there were several affair rumors from both ends. While Charles had a long-standing relationship with Queen Camilla, Diana reportedly had an affair with Major James Hewitt. Back then, a constant rumor even alleged that Hewitt, not Charles, was Prince Harry's real father. However, Diana was deeply hurt by these rumors, as revealed by her hairdresser, Richard Dalton. The rumor grew due to Harry and Hewitt’s common red hair and freckles.

However, Dalton claimed that the rumors were unfounded. In his new memoir, It’s All About the Hair, he recalled his close friendship with Diana and revealed how distressed she became over tabloids claiming Hewitt was Harry's father, as reported by Fox News. He wrote, "It was tough. Harry was already born a while before her relationship with Hewitt. And I don’t think it’s possible."

Dalton added, "But no. 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." Furthermore, to solidify his case, he wrote, "[Diana’s sister] Sarah, has bright red hair. [Diana’s other sister] Jane was more or less the same coloring as Diana." Lastly, the famous hairdresser claimed, "The red hair was a trait from the Spencer family."

Reports suggest that Diana met Hewitt for the first time in 1986, two years after Harry was born in 1984. Talking about the same, Dalton wrote, "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. 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."

Dalton further claimed, "Diana was starved of affection and intimacy from her husband, the man she loved. She was also an heir-making machine for Charles and was coming to terms with the betrayal within her marriage." Sharing his thoughts about the situation, Dalton added, "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."

Meanwhile, Harry once shared that he spent much of his life convinced by various rumors that Hewitt was his father. During a significant legal battle against Mirror Group Newspapers, he testified at the High Court in London that it wasn't until 2014 that he discovered Diana had met Hewitt after his birth. As reported by Harper's Bazaar, he said, “At the time, when I was 18 years old and had lost my mother just six years earlier, stories such as this felt very damaging and very real to me... I spent years questioning and believing if it was true. It was only later I learned they (Princess Diana and Mr Hewitt) met after I was born.”