ROYALSPrince Harry Believes James Hewitt Rumors Were Aimed at 'Ousting' Him From the Royal Family
June 6 2023, Published 11:15 a.m. ET
Prince Harry got candid about the rumors about who his real father is when he flew to the U.K. to testify in High Court against Mirror Group Newspapers for allegedly hacking his phone when he was younger.
In his witness statement, the 38-year-old referred to a 2002 article with the headline, "Plot to rob the DNA of Harry."
“Numerous newspapers had reported a rumour that my biological father was James Hewitt, a man my mother had a relationship with after I was born,” Harry said. “At the time of this article and others similar to it, I wasn’t actually aware that my mother hadn’t met Major Hewitt until after I was born.”
“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,” he continued. “They were hurtful, mean and cruel. I was always left questioning the motives behind the stories. Were the newspapers keen to put doubt into the minds of the public so I might be ousted from the royal family?”
The dad-of-two said he was concerned after a "highly placed royal source" provided alleged details of how his DNA would be "sold abroad."
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Harry believes the information didn't come from within the palace, but rather Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) were listening in on conversations.
The Duke is suing MGN for damages, claiming journalists at the Sunday Mirror and Sunday People used phone hacking to gain information about him, even going on to alleged use private investigators to obtain details.
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"This article elaborates on the money that could be obtained from obtaining my DNA and selling it on to a foreign newspaper," he stated. "It reports that St James' Palace believed my DNA was to be offered 'to a foreign newspaper for tens of thousands of pounds.' Again, I do not believe this information would have been put into the public domain by anyone at the palace, given the security risk this poses. The article also reports that Spain was thought to be a strong possibility for the location of the 'honeytrap' to take place. Again, I'm not sure where the [Mirror Group's] journalist would have got this information from."
