Prince Harry addresses rumors that Major James Hewitt is ‘my biological father’
Prince Harry spoke in a hacking case today about how he feared rumors that Major James Hewitt was ‘my biological father’ could have ‘ousted’ him from the royal family.
The Duke of Sussex, 38, said he was 18 when he first read a newspaper article reporting rumors about his parentage – before later realizing the timeline didn’t fit.
“At the time of this article and others like it, I actually didn’t know that my mother had met Major Hewitt until after I was born,” he said in a Supreme Court testimony.
Harry added that the timeline is “ something I only found out around 2014′ – when he was around 30.
The Duke continued: “At the time, when I was 18 years old and had lost my mother just six years earlier, these kinds of stories felt very damaging and very real. They were hurtful, mean and cruel. I always kept doubting the motives behind the stories.’
Harry said he was a teenager when he heard cruel and hurtful stories. James Hewitt (pictured) was his real father – before discovering at age 30 that the timeline didn’t fit
The Prince said, “Were the newspapers bent on questioning the public so that I might be expelled from the royal family?”
Fifth in line to the throne is the first senior royal to give evidence in one of the Monarch’s courts in 132 years, while suing the publisher of the Mirror for alleged hacking, which the latter denies.
The Duke, dressed in a white shirt, purple tie and navy suit, arrived in a black Range Rover at the modern wing of the Royal Courts of Justice, the Rolls Building.
He entered the witness box of court 15 at 10:28 a.m.
During his testimony, he denounced the government as a “rock bottom” and called Diana’s butler Paul Burrell a “two-headed bastard.”
His poignant remarks were contained in a written testimony, which he had prepared in advance and sworn under oath yesterday.
A messenger handed him a Bible and asked him to hold it with his hand raised.
She asked him to repeat to her, “I swear by Almighty God that the evidence I shall provide will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.”
Harry added that the timeline is “something I didn’t hear about until around 2014” – when he was around 30
He was then asked by his lawyer David Sherborne to confirm that he would like to be called Prince Harry. He asked him to review his 55-page testimony, check his signature and confirm its veracity.
The Duke’s statement was subsequently released to the public. It is a wide-ranging attack on the newspapers of the Mirror group, the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and The People, which he says invaded his childhood, adolescence and adulthood.
He claims that he and his mother Princess Diana were both hacked, along with his family, friends and royal aides.
His 25,538 word statement contains five mentions of his wife, Meghan, and 118 mentions of his first serious girlfriend Chelsy Davey.
Harry stared straight ahead and repeated the phrase word-perfect.
Harry on rumors that James Hewitt was his father
He blames the press for Miss Davey dumping him, saying she ultimately “made the decision that a royal life wasn’t for her, which was incredibly upsetting to me at the time.”
The Duke of Sussex flew into the UK from California on Monday looking relaxed and even smiling as he entered the modern annex of the Supreme Court – the Rolls Building – and said “good morning” to the waiting press.
Yesterday he was criticized by one of Britain’s top judges and charged with wasting court time after missing the first day of his landmark case – to celebrate his daughter Lilibet’s birthday in Montecito before heading to Britain. Britain flew.
Harry and three others are suing the Mirror group, claiming that the Daily Mirror, the Sunday Mirror and The People newspaper have hacked their phones or engaged in other illegal activities, which are denied.