Prince William’s feud with Prince Harry would have Princess Diana ‘worried and concerned,’ her ex-lover claims
Princess Diana’s hairdresser recalls their lasting friendship
Richard Dalton met the late Princess of Wales when she was 17. He went on to style her hair for more than a decade. He has a new book out, “It’s All About the Hair — My Decade with Diana,” with Renae Plant, founder of The Princess Diana Museum.
Princess Diana’s former lover is breaking his silence on Prince William and Prince Harry’s feud.
James Hewitt, who had an affair with the late Princess of Wales during her marriage to the future King Charles III, appeared on “Good Morning Britain” on Tuesday. The British Army officer was there to discuss his work with Operation Safedrop, which delivers humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
The 66-year-old was asked about the ongoing fallout between the Prince of Wales, 42, and the Duke of Sussex, 40.
PRINCESS DIANA’S FRIEND ON DEVASTATING PRINCE HARRY PATERNITY RUMORS: ‘IT’S NOT POSSIBLE’
Royal experts previously claimed to Fox News Digital that Prince Harry and Prince William are not on speaking terms. ( Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images)
“Any mother would be grief-stricken over the separation we’ve seen between Harry and Wills,” said host Richard Madeley in a clip shared by UK’s Express. “Do you think she would have been able to make a rapprochement possible?”
“I think any mother would be worried and concerned about such a rift, as you put it,” said Hewitt. “And she’d do her best to try and get them together.”
Hewitt met Diana at a party in 1986 and offered to give her horseback riding lessons. They went on to have an affair that, according to reports, lasted for several years.
Princess Diana met James Hewitt in 1986, two years after Prince Harry was born. (Shutterstock)
Hewitt’s comments came shortly after former palace aide Jason Knauf spoke to “60 Minutes Australia.” Knauf made rare comments about the brothers and how their relationship broke down in recent years.
“It’s very difficult to have this stuff play out in the public eye, but [William’s] chosen to keep his thoughts on it private, and I think all of us who know him really have to respect that we should do the same,” said Knauf.
“But I will say, of course, it’s been hard and sad, especially for all of us who know both of them.”
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According to reports, Prince William and Prince Harry’s relationship began to show cracks in 2016. (Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images)
It’s been widely reported that the relationship between Harry and William began to disintegrate in 2016. At the time, William reportedly expressed concerns about how fast Harry’s relationship with then-girlfriend Meghan Markle was going. Those comments reportedly didn’t sit well with Harry.
Harry married the “Suits” alum in 2018.
When asked if Harry’s role within the royal family could change when William accedes to the throne, Knauf responded, “I can’t speculate about the future. They achieved a lot together, and none of that can ever be taken away.”
Former palace aide Jason Knauf recently spoke about the “sad” rift on “60 Minutes Australia.” (Alberto Pezzali – WPA Pool/Getty Images)
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex stepped back as senior royals in 2020 and moved to California. They cited what they said were the unbearable intrusions and racist attitudes of the British media.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex reside in California with their two young children. (Chris Jackson/Getty Images)
Since Harry and Meghan’s royal exit, the brothers have reunited only a handful of times, People magazine reported. According to the outlet, they were last together at a memorial service for their uncle, Lord Robert Fellowes, in August but reportedly avoided each other.
Sources previously told the outlet that Harry’s calls and letters to his father, King Charles III, go unanswered. His attempts to connect with William are also ignored. Fox News Digital reached out to Kensington Palace for comment at the time.
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Sources close to Prince Harry claimed to People magazine that the Duke of Sussex has attempted to reach out to his brother Prince William and his father King Charles III. His calls and letters reportedly go unanswered. (Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images)
In his 2023 memoir, “Spare,” Harry alleged that during an argument in 2019, William called Meghan “difficult” and “rude” and then grabbed him by the collar and knocked him down. Harry suffered cuts and bruises from landing on a dog bowl. Harry claimed Charles implored the brothers to make up.
Following the funeral of Charles’ father, Prince Philip, in 2021, the king pleaded, “Please, boys, don’t make my final years a misery.”
While promoting “Spare,” Harry admitted that his mother would be “sad” about the tension with his brother.
“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.”
— James Hewitt
Prince Harry admitted that his mother Princess Diana would be “sad” about the tension with his brother Prince William. (Mathieu Polak/Sygma/Getty Images)
“I think she would be looking at it long term to know that there are certain things we need to go through to be able to heal the relationship,” the Duke of Sussex said at the time.
For years, some have speculated that Hewitt was Harry’s biological father, not Charles. Both Harry and Hewitt share ginger hair and freckles.
But Richard Dalton, Diana’s hairdresser, told Fox News Digital in 2024 that “it’s not possible.” At the time, Dalton was promoting his memoir, “It’s All About the Hair,” which details his friendship with the princess.
WATCH: PRINCESS DIANA’S HAIRDRESSER RECALLS THEIR LASTING FRIENDSHIP
“It was tough,” Dalton admitted. “Harry was already born a while before her relationship with Hewitt. And I don’t think it’s possible.”
“But no,” he stressed. “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. [Diana’s sister] Sarah, has bright red hair. [Diana’s other sister] Jane was more or less the same coloring as Diana.”
Several of Prince Harry’s relatives from the Spencer side have red hair, including his aunt Lady Sarah McCorquodale. (Anwar Hussein/Getty Images)
He also shared in his book that Diana “used to get very upset” with the tabloids insisting that Hewitt was Harry’s father.
James Hewitt presents his book “Love and War” during an interview with Daphne Barak on Oct. 25, 1999, in New York City. Hewitt wrote about his time with Diana. (Evan Agostini/Liaison/Getty Images)
“The red hair was a trait from the Spencer family,” he wrote.
It’s also noted that Harry was born in 1984, two years before Diana met Hewitt.
When Diana started taking riding lessons from Hewitt, it confused Dalton, who thought to himself, “Diana didn’t like riding horses.” However, he understood that Diana was a young woman “longing to be truly loved.”
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Princess Diana’s marriage to Prince Charles was plagued with problems. Their divorce was finalized in 1996. (Reuters)
“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,” Dalton wrote. “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.”
“Diana was starved of affection and intimacy from her husband, the man she loved,” he wrote. “She was also an heir-making machine for Charles and was coming to terms with the betrayal within her marriage.”
“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.”
Princess Diana, seen here with a young Prince Harry in 1994, passed away in 1997. She was 36. (Coventry Telegraph Archive/Getty Images)
“He was certainly not the love of her life at the time, Charles was – there is no question in this matter at all,” Dalton added.
Stephanie Nolasco covers entertainment at Foxnews.com.