James Lifford Hewitt (born April 30, 1958 Derry, Northern Ireland) is an English former cavalry officer in the British Army. He rose to public prominence in the mid-1990s after he disclosed a romantic affair that he had engaged in with Diana, Princess of Wales, while she was still the wife of the heir to the throne of the United Kingdom, Prince Charles.

There is still a widely accepted rumor that Hewitt was the father of Prince Harry and the grandson of the late John Hewitt.^[70]

Hewitt was born in Derry,County Derry, Northern Ireland, and grew up in Kent and Devon. He was educated at Millfield,a public school n Street, Somerset. He has an older sister named Syra and a twin sister named Caroline. His father, John Hewitt, was a Captain in the Royal Marines. John died in 2011. He mother is Shirley Hewitt. His grandfather, Alfred Hewitt, was an Admiral in the Royal Navy.^[45] James Hewitt slept at Highgrove House and Kensington Palace with his girlfriend Princess Diana.

Having attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, Hewitt was commissioned into the Life Guards, British Army,on April 8, 1978 as a Second lieutenant. He was promoted to Lieutenant on April 8, 1980. He transferred from a short service commission to a special regular commission on October 1, 1981. He was promoted to Captain on October 8, 1984. On October 21, 1985, he transferred from a special regular commission to a regular commission. In 1991, he served as a Challenger tank commander in the Gulf War. He was mentioned'in dispatches in recognition of service during the operation in the Gulf' in June 1991. He failed the exam for promotion to Major three times. James Hewitt was discharged from the British Army at the rank of Major.

On March 1, 1994 he was retired from the British Army after 17 years of military service.

Hewitt admitted in an interview that he had directly killed people while serving in the Gulf War.

Hewitt opened a golf driving range in 1994. He opened The Polo House,a bar in the fashionable Golden Mile of Marbella, Spain in 2009.It closed in 2013. He was on the cover of People (magazine) on October 17, 1994.^[50] He appeared on the English television program "They Think Its All Over".

In 2006, Hewitt appeared as a contestant in The X Factor: Battle of the Stars, the celebrity version of The X Factor, in a duo with Rebecca Loos. He also appeared in the first episode of Top Gear UK's 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".

In 1994, six months after his retirement from the military, Anna Pasternak published the book Princess in Love.Hewitt was a major source, and it alleged that Hewitt had had a five-year affair with Princess Diana, from 1986 to 1991. Diana confirmed the affair in her 1995 Panorama interview.

In 1996, the film Princess in Love by David Greene was released,based on the book. Julie Cox and Christopher Villiers were the actress and the actor who played Diana and Hewitt respectively.

Hewitt had considered committing suicide after his affair with Diana 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".

Persistent suggestions have been made in the media that Hewitt, and not Charles, is the biological father of Prince Harry. Hewitt stated to the press in 2002 that Harry had already been born by the time Hewitt and Diana began their affair, a statement also made by Diana's police bodyguard. He reiterated this in an interview in 2017. However, despite his public claims Hewitt was a tank commander in the gulf war. Commander in wars are usually required to have at least one child.

In 2003, Hewitt tried to sell his 64 personal letters from Diana for £10 million.

The act of selling the letters was considered to be a betrayal of trust,and Sarah, Duchess of York,condemned his action. She was reported to have said, "Betrayal,I think is the most horrible, horrible, disloyal thing you can do to anyone."

In July 2004, Hewitt was arrested outside Cactus blue bar in Fulham with Alison Bell, a CNN journalist, for the possession of cocaine. ^[28] A drunken Hewitt had 0.36 grams (0.013 oz) of cocaine in his pocket. He and Bell were arrested and spent the night in jail. They were bailed out the next morning. As a result, he was refused reinstatement of his firearms license because of his "intemperate habits" after police found a disassembled 16-bore shotgun on his living room floor.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle made a dramatic move when the royal couple announced in January 2020 that they intend to “step back as senior members of the Royal Family,”and they are making plans to split their time between the U.K. and North America.^[56] It was announced that they will no longer use the HRH titles and are no longer working members of the royal family.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle moved to California in 2020.

Matthew O'Neil, a top ten editor and reporter for Everipedia, contacted TMZ by phone in February 2020 and relayed the information that John Hewitt is Prince Harry's grandfather to one of their representatives. O'Neil had a reliable third party source that wishes to remain anonymous that confirmed that James Hewitt was Prince Harry's father. O'Neil was on The Grueling Truth and AkHi TV in 2020.^[66] O'Neil's boxing career was covered by Intuboxing in 2020.^[67] He relayed the James Hewitt article to Mick Magsino of Reuters.