James Hewitt

Hewitt was born in Derry, Northern Ireland,The Biography Channel [http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biographies/james-hewitt.html article on Hewitt] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110429150549/http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biographies/james-hewitt.html |date=29 April 2011 }} where his father, 1952 Olympic pentathlete John Hewitt, was stationed with the Royal Marines. He grew up in Kent and Devon. His mother, Shirley Stamp, was daughter of a London dental surgeon who lived in Devon.A Love Like No Other – Diana and Me, James Hewitt, John Blake Publishing Ltd, 1999, chapter 4 Hewitt was educated at Norwood Preparatory School in Exeter before going to Millfield, a public school, in Street, Somerset.{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/uk/2000/newsmakers/2646441.stm |title=James Hewitt: BBC Profile |work=BBC News | access-date=21 June 2011 |first=Andrew |last=Walker |date=10 January 2003}}

After graduating from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, Hewitt was commissioned into the Life Guards, British Army, on 8 April 1978 as a second lieutenant.{{London Gazette |issue=47566 |date=12 June 1978 |page=7138 |supp=y }} He was promoted to lieutenant on 8 April 1980.{{London Gazette |issue=48170 |date=28 April 1980 |page=6335 |supp=y }} He transferred from a short service commission to a special regular commission on 1 October 1981.{{London Gazette |issue=48970 |date=30 April 1982 |page=5962 |supp=y }} He was promoted to acting captain on 8 October 1984.{{London Gazette |issue=49933 |date=19 November 1984 |page=15653 |supp=y }} On 21 October 1985, he transferred from a special regular commission to a regular commission.{{London Gazette |issue=50567 |date=16 June 1986 |page=8047 |supp=y }} In 1991, he served as a Challenger tank squadron commander in the Gulf War.{{cite news |last=Ipsen |first=Erik |title='Kiss and Tell' Officer Draws Heaps of Scorn |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/10/05/news/05iht-royale.html|access-date=20 February 2014 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=5 October 1994}}{{cite web |last1=Hubbard |first1=Laruen |title=Who is James Hewitt |url=https://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/arts-and-culture/a33984149/james-hewitt-princess-diana-affair-details/ |website=Town&Country |publisher=Hearst |access-date=9 May 2021 |date=22 November 2020}} He was mentioned in despatches "in recognition of service during the operation in the Gulf" in June 1991.{{London Gazette |issue=52588 |date=28 June 1991 |page=14 |supp=y }} He failed the exam for promotion to major three times.

On 1 March 1994, he was retired from the British Army after 17 years of military service.{{London Gazette |issue=53601 |date=28 February 1994 |page=3172 |supp=y }} The BBC reported in 2003 that in retirement, Hewitt was granted the rank of major which was "in line with common army practice".{{cite web |last1=Walker |first1=A. |title=James Hewitt: Major Rat |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/uk/2000/newsmakers/2646441.stm |publisher=BBC |access-date=13 January 2020 |date=10 January 2003 |quote=His current rank of major – one above the one he retired with – was granted in line with common army practice.}}{{cite news |last1=Mackelden |first1=A. |title=Princess Diana Had Publicly Addressed Her Affair with Major James Hewitt |url=https://www.harpersbazaar.com/celebrity/latest/a34748435/who-is-james-hewitt-princess-diana/ |access-date=13 January 2020 |publisher=Hearst |date=30 November 2020 |quote=He would fail his major's exam on three occasions, and when he retired in 1994 after 17 years of service, he was a captain. Hewitt was given the rank of major in retirement.}}

Hewitt opened a golf driving range in 1994.

He won the Channel 5 reality show Back to Reality in 2004; in 2006, Hewitt appeared as a contestant in The X Factor: Battle of the Stars, the celebrity version of The X Factor. He also appeared in the first episode of the UK Top Gear in Series 8 in May of the same year to participate with other celebrities in setting power lap times around the Top Gear Test Track in the show's newest "reasonably priced car": when the presenters seemingly did not recognise him upon his arrival, they were apparently too embarrassed to admit as much, and rather than ask him his name, they listed his lap time as "Well Spoken Man".{{cite AV media |people=James Hewitt |title=Who is the well-spoken man on the top gear leader board? |medium=Television |url=http://www.kgbanswers.co.uk/who-is-the-well-spoken-man-on-the-top-gear-leader-board/3215141 |access-date= 9 December 2015 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20151210214007/http://www.kgbanswers.co.uk/who-is-the-well-spoken-man-on-the-top-gear-leader-board/3215141 |archive-date= 10 December 2015 |location=United Kingdom |publisher=kgbanswers.co.uk |quote=James Lifford Hewitt is the one listed as the "Well Spoken Man", star in a reasonably priced car (The Chevrolet Lacetti), in Top Gear Season 8 Episode 1. |url-status= dead |df=dmy-all}}

In 2009, Hewitt opened a bar called the Polo House in the fashionable Golden Mile of Marbella, Spain. It closed in 2013.

Hewitt was portrayed by Daniel Donskoy in season four of The Crown, and by Gareth Keegan in the musical Diana.

Hewitt's affair with the princess began while he was still in the Household Cavalry and had been asked to give her riding lessons. News of the relationship leaked quickly and within months British newspapers published accounts of the romance, first hinted at in Nigel Dempster's Daily Mail Diary and then with a full story in the News of the World.

Some years later, after he had left the army, Anna Pasternak published the book Princess in Love in 1994, for which Hewitt was a major source, and it alleged that he had a five-year affair with Diana, Princess of Wales{{cite news|last=Ipsen|first=Erik|date=5 October 1994|access-date=19 November 2023 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/10/05/IHT-kiss-and-tell-officer-draws-heaps-of-scorn.html|title=NY Times – 'Kiss and Tell' Officer Draws Heaps of Scorn|work=The New York Times }} from 1986 to 1991.[http://people.com/archive/cover-story-diss-and-tell-vol-42-no-16/ Diss and Tell], People, 17 October 1994 Diana confirmed the affair in her 1995 Panorama interview. The following year, the film Princess in Love by David Greene was released, based on the book, with Julie Cox and Christopher Villiers playing the lead roles.{{cite web |url=http://dianaslegacy.com/Difilms/?page_id%3D30 |title=Princess in Love|access-date=24 November 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116181310/http://dianaslegacy.com/Difilms/?page_id=30 |archive-date=16 January 2013}}

Hewitt considered suicide after the affair ended. He was preparing for a trip to France, and he wanted to shoot himself. He said, "I got in my car and loaded a few things up to get on the ferry to go to France – to shoot myself .... And then my mother insisted on coming with me. And, if she hadn't, I would have probably shot myself. So I owe her my life really."{{Cite news |title=James Hewitt 'considered suicide after Diana affair ended' |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/theroyalfamily/8472897/James-Hewitt-considered-suicide-after-Diana-affair-ended.html |access-date= 7 May 2012 |newspaper=The Telegraph |date=25 April 2011 |first=Nick |last=Allen}}

In 2003, Hewitt tried to sell his 64 personal letters from Diana for £10 million.{{cite news |last=Davies |first=Caroline |title=I want £10m for Diana letters, says Hewitt |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1418415/I-want-10m-for-Diana-letters-says-Hewitt.html|access-date=22 February 2014 |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |date=10 January 2003}} The act of selling the letters was considered to be a betrayal of trust, and Sarah, Duchess of York, who is also divorced from a British prince in Charles's brother Prince Andrew, condemned his action. She was reported to have said, "Betrayal, I think, is the most horrible, horrible, disloyal thing you can do to anyone."{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/2641175.stm |title=Hewitt ready to sell Diana letters |work=BBC News |location=UK |date=9 January 2003}}

Persistent suggestions have been made in the media that Hewitt, and not Charles, is the biological father of Diana's second son, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex (born 1984). Hewitt stated to the press in 2002 and 2017 that Harry had already been born by the time of the affair,{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2273498.stm |work=BBC News |title=Hewitt denies Prince Harry link |date=21 September 2002}}{{Cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/03/12/james-hewitt-denies-prince-harrys-father-says-feels-sorry-royal/ |title=James Hewitt denies he is Prince Harry's father as he says he feels sorry for the royal having to put up with rumours |work=The Telegraph|access-date=13 March 2017 |language=en-GB}} a statement also made by Diana's royal protection officer, Inspector Ken Wharfe. Wharfe reiterated this in an interview in 2016,{{cite news |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/big-read-how-princess-diana-and-james-hewitts-affair-unfolded/LXEJQFB7TJTQ5DKH42RUVTQUNY/?c_id=6&objectid=11690511|title=Big Read: How Princess Diana and James Hewitt's affair unfolded|work=New Zealand Herald|date=20 December 2016|access-date=19 November 2023|language=en-GB|publisher=NZME Publishing Limited}} and in his memoir Diana: Closely Guarded Secret published in 2002 (and reissued in 2017) in which he says "A simple comparison of dates proves it is impossible for Hewitt to be Harry's father. ... Harry was born on September 15, 1984, which means he was conceived around Christmas 1983, when his brother, William, was 18 months old. Diana did not meet James Hewitt until the summer of 1986."

Diana attributed Harry's red hair colouration to her side of the family, calling him her "little Spencer".{{cite book |last1=Moody |first1=Marcia |title=Harry : a biography |date=2013 |publisher=Michael O'Mara Books, Limited |isbn=978-1-78243-037-7}}

In July 2004, Hewitt was arrested outside a restaurant in Fulham with Alison Bell, a CNN journalist, for the possession of cocaine.{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1467645/Hewitt-spends-night-in-cells-after-cocaine-arrest-with-newsreader.html |title=Hewitt spends night in cells after cocaine arrest with newsreader |date=23 July 2004 |first=Caroline |last=Davies |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London | access-date =3 August 2009}} A drunken Hewitt had {{convert|0.36|g|oz}} of cocaine in his pocket. He was given a warning, and Bell was released without charge. As a result, he was refused reinstatement of his firearms licences because of his "intemperate habits" after police found a disassembled 16-bore shotgun on his living room floor.{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1477536/Liar-Hewitt-cant-have-gun-licences-back-says-judge.html |title='Liar' Hewitt can't have gun licences back, says judge |date=26 November 2004 |first=Caroline |last=Davies |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London | access-date =3 August 2009}}

On 14 May 2017, it was reported that Hewitt had suffered from both a heart attack and stroke, leaving him fighting for his life in hospital.{{cite web |last1=Walker |first1=Peter |title=Princess Diana's former lover James Hewitt 'fights for life after heart attack and stroke' |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/05/14/princess-dianas-former-lover-james-hewitt-fights-life-heart/ |website=The Telegraph|access-date=15 May 2017 |date=14 May 2017}}{{cite web |last1=Khan |first1=Shehab |title=Princess Diana's former lover 'fighting for his life' following heart attack and stroke |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/princess-diana-former-lover-james-hewitt-heart-attack-stroke-fighting-for-life-a7735531.html |website=The Independent |publisher=Independent Print Limited|access-date=15 May 2017 |date=14 May 2017}} However, by the end of June 2017, Hewitt had been released from hospital and was said to be recovering well at home;{{Cite web |url=http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/princess-dianas-ex-lover-james-10681830 |title=Princess Di's ex-lover James Hewitt back on his feet after brush with death |first=Janine |last=Yaqoob |date=24 June 2017 |website=mirror}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/james-hewitt-princess-diana-s-former-lover-recovering-after-heart-attack-left-him-fighting-for-life-a3538591.html |title=Hewitt recovering after 'heart attack left him fighting for life' |first=Mark |last=Chandler |date=14 May 2017 |website=www.standard.co.uk}} in 2021, he was reportedly working as a gardener.{{Cite web |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/royal-family/james-hewitt-diana-meghan-harry-oprah-b1815821.html |title=Royal family: Who is James Hewitt? |website=Independent.co.uk |date=13 March 2021}}

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Category:1958 births

Category:Living people

Category:British Army personnel of the Gulf War

Category:British Life Guards officers

Category:Graduates of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst

Category:People educated at Millfield

Category:Military personnel from Derry (city)

Category:Male lovers of royalty

Category:Diana, Princess of Wales