Diana would have tried to get William and Harry to solve rift, former lover says
James Hewitt, who had a five-year affair with the princess, said she would have been ‘worried and concerned’ about the brothers’ estrangement.
Diana, Princess of Wales’s former lover James Hewitt has said the princess would have been “concerned” about the bitter rift between the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Sussex and done her best to try to reconcile her sons.
The former army officer, who had a five-year affair with the princess while she was still married to the then-Prince of Wales, told ITV’s Good Morning Britain that Diana would have been “worried” about the ongoing estrangement.
The long-running fall out between William and Harry dates back to before the Sussexes’ 2018 wedding, and worsened amid ‘Megxit’ and the accusations Harry levelled at William and the Princess of Wales in his controversial Oprah interview, Netflix documentary and Spare memoir.
Major Hewitt said: “I think any mother would be worried and concerned about such a rift, as you put it, and she’d do her best to try and get them together.”
The ex-cavalry officer helped teach William and Harry to ride and began an affair with Diana in 1986, with the princess publicly confessing to the relationship during her controversial BBC Panorama interview in 1995.
Maj Hewitt criticised journalist Martin Bashir, who faked bank statements and showed them to the princess’s brother Earl Spencer to gain access to Diana for the interview, with an inquiry showing the BBC covered up his deceit.
“It was a stitch up job. It was appalling of Bashir to have… lied… Criminal activity, absolutely appalling,” he said.
Maj Hewitt said the last time he spoke to Diana, who died in a car crash in 1997, was shortly after the Panorama broadcast.
He described the conversation as “distant”, saying of the interview: “It did create real problems.”
He has always strongly refuted rumours he is Harry’s biological father.
The duke, in a High Court witness statement in 2023, branded the stories “hurtful, mean and cruel”, adding that his mother had not met Maj Hewitt until after he was born and that he believed the suggestion by the newspapers was aimed at ousting him from the royal family.
Maj Hewitt also told GMB that Diana, who had bulimia and made suicide attempts, would have been treated differently today, thanks to changes in approaches to dealing with mental health.
“I think we’ve progressed and it’s seemingly possible to talk about those kind of problems now, and in a way I think that’s a good thing,” he said.
Maj Hewitt has been working with Operation Safedrop to deliver aid to Ukraine, helping with 17 drops in the war zone.
The 67-year-old he was very passionate about the cause, adding: “I see it as a duty to help those who are left fortunate than we are.”
Asked by presenter Richard Madeley whether Diana would have been involved in supporting aid to Ukraine, Maj Hewitt said: “Undoubtedly, she was passionate about humanitarian work. I’m sure she would have been involved and very supportive.”
