King Charles's shocking joke to Harry about 'not really being his dad' and his reaction

Charles once made a joke about his relationship with Harry (Image: Getty)

In his memoir, Spare, Prince Harry once recounted how King Charles made a savage joke about who his "real father" was. The Duke of Sussex spoke about his life as a senior member of the Royal Family and described how he grew up amid speculation that his true father was Princess Diana's former lover, Major James Hewitt.

Prince Harry claimed in the memoir that Charles joked: "Who knows if I'm even your real father?"

He added: "Perhaps your father really is in Broadmoor, my dear son!" The Prince also wrote in the memoir that the joke was "in poor taste".

The hardback edition came out in January 2023, breaking records at bookshops as it became Britain's best-selling book in 2023 with more than 700,000 copies sold.

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Harry returned to the UK for the late Queen's funeral (Image: AFP via GETTY)

Princess Diana had a five-year affair between 1986 and 1991 with Mr Hewitt when he was a Household Cavalry officer. The relationship was confirmed by the Princess of Wales in a BBC Panorama interview with journalist Martin Bashir.

People have speculated that Prince Harry shares his looks with Mr Hewitt, and Prince Harry referenced these rumours in his book.

Harry wrote: "The joke was damn funny in light of the rumour going around at the time that my real father was one of my mother's ex-lovers: Major James Hewitt. Tabloid readers loved the idea that Prince Charles's youngest son was not Prince Charles's son. They never got tired of that 'joke', for some reason."

He also said it did not seem to matter that Diana had not even met Major Hewitt "until long after I was born". He claimed some journalists went so far as to begin "hunting my DNA to verify it".

Harry also wrote in the book that on the day he was born, Charles celebrated the "wonderful" news by telling Diana: "Now you've given me an heir and a spare, my work is done."

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have since stepped back as senior royals in 2020 and eventually moved to California with Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.

It is thought Harry last visited his father in February 2024, after the public announcement of his cancer diagnosis, when Harry boarded a plane to visit the King at Clarence House for a brief meeting.

At the time, Harry cleared his diary and made the journey to the UK alone, with the Duchess of Sussex and their children remaining at home in California