Eye-Opening New Details About Prince Harry's Birth Are Emerging

Diana was loved by many. Her public image and charismatic persona are still fondly remembered to this day. From the beginning of her marriage, she was active in charity work. Seeing her in a hospital or at any place where “regular folks” were wasn’t an uncommon sight at all. And her support of AIDS patients was revolutionary — and even somewhat controversial — at the time.

Not long after marrying Prince Charles in 1981, the couple had their first child. William, Prince of Wales, was born in 1982 and is today one of the most prominent members of the British royal family. Then in 1984, the couple's second child arrived: Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex. Today, we know Harry for his marriage to Meghan Markle and the so-called "Megxit," which saw them leave the royal family.

What many people didn’t know — and still don’t — is the unusual story of Prince Harry’s birth. Though this hasn’t been a complete secret, more and more details are coming to light after Queen Elizabeth’s passing. In particular, the book Diana: Her True Story by English journalist Andrew Morton is taking the spotlight online. It details a very turbulent relationship between Charles and Diana and how it affected their children and the wider family.

In the early 1990s, when the book came out, it wasn't easy to get to the bottom of things since the spread of information wasn't as direct and easy as it is today. It was also pretty difficult back then to get inside information on the royal family, especially something they felt like keeping secret. And, despite what some may think, the royal family wanted to keep plenty of secrets to themselves—one of the biggest ones being the deterioration of Diana and Charles' marriage.

While it’s never an easy task to ponder why any relationship ends, there are some strong indications of what created this rift. Most sources, including Tina Brown’s book The Diana Chronicles, cite the 12-year age gap between Diana and Charles as one of the main causes. But a few other factors may have been at play. HBO documentary The Princess claims that not even an hour after arriving home with newborn son Harry and his wife, Charles went out to play polo.

But how did the tensions in Diana and Charles’ relationship affect Harry? Well, Diana was very protective of her two boys. She was a very present mother and even provided her sons with experiences that weren’t typical of the royal family. The Washington Post article published a day after Diana’s death revealed that the children were in her care almost exclusively. And while there are few specific details of her parenting practices, we know that she did her best to keep the boys’ lives shielded from royal dramas.

The inevitable end of Diana and Charles’ marriage was finalized in 1996. But the two had distanced themselves long before then, despite the royal family’s efforts to bring the couple back together. What ultimately gave them the green light to end the marriage officially was Diana’s infamous 1995 TV interview, after which Queen Elizabeth II advised them to divorce. And though the custody of the children was officially shared, after the divorce, William and Harry spent most of their time with Diana, who was living in a Kensington Palace apartment.

The marriage, especially its dysfunctional aspects, was, of course, highly publicized. People were hungry for details about the royal family’s latest rift. It isn’t surprising to learn that this deeply affected the royal family, including Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Philip.

And the media’s obsession with Diana ultimately led to her death. Though there are numerous unsubstantiated theories about the true nature of the car accident, what’s clear is that she and her partner Dodi Fayed were fleeing from the paparazzi in Paris, France, when the accident that took her life occurred. On August 31, 1997, Henri Paul was behind the wheel, driving Diana, Dodi, and bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones. Unfortunately, Henri lost control of the vehicle resulting in his and Dodi’s immediate deaths. Diana died later in the hospital, while Trevor is the only one who survived the crash.

These tragic events naturally had a significant impact on both Harry and William. But despite the loss and trauma they experienced, both of them have gone on to lead pretty successful lives. And though Harry stepped back from being a senior member of the royal family in 2020, people have continued to question how someone as senior and privileged as Harry could step away from everything he's ever known. Looking back, though, the troubling details around Harry's birth were possibly a major red flag around things to come.

Perhaps the most shocking thing about the birth of their second child is Charles’ reaction after Diana brought Harry into the world. As the book and multiple sources now report, Charles expected a daughter. But, according to Morton, Charles’ first reaction was a straightforward sentence: “Oh God, it’s a boy.” His following remark was, reportedly, aimed at the child’s red hair. And it wasn’t a positive one.

These kinds of comments aren’t something you’d expect from someone who had just become a father for the second time. If the anecdote is true, one could consider the possibility that it was a joke made in poor taste. And the story goes that Charles did later admit to making those comments. But he claimed they were merely a “joke” and shouldn’t be taken seriously.

So is humor among royals unacceptable? Absolutely not. But this incident is far from straightforward. As Morton’s book explains, Diana wasn’t happy about Charles’ comments and felt hurt. The main issue here is that Diana’s family had plenty of redheads. So though Charles might have dismissed them as a joke, the remarks seemed to be an apparent jab at Diana and her relations.

And that’s not all. What made things even more complicated was that Charles was open about wanting a girl. So when Diana found out that she was carrying a boy, she kept it a secret, doing her best not to let it impact her relationship with her husband. But even if what he said wasn’t serious, the inconsiderate words “Oh God, it’s a boy” still cut deeply into Diana’s heart.

As if all this wasn’t enough, Charles then poured salt on the wound he’d caused. Despite knowing that Diana wasn’t thrilled with his remarks, he took things one step further. The prince reportedly went over to Diana’s mother, Frances, and told her they were “disappointed” at not getting a baby girl. Frances was weirded out by these comments and reported what Charles had done back to Diana.

While the exact details remain unclear, what is known is that Diana also had an affair with British Army officer James Hewitt. Certain accounts suggest that this relationship began two years before the arrival of baby Harry. But other sources, including an October 1994 article in People magazine, claim that the affair occurred from 1986 to 1991.

Speculation that Diana had had an affair before Harry’s birth would potentially explain Charles’ disparaging redhead comments. After all, Hewitt was known for his red hair, and the prince reportedly knew of their relationship. Still, feeling like her marriage was unstable and unhappy could explain why Diana had started an affair with Hewitt in the first place.

Of course, Diana wasn’t the only one having an affair. After all, Charles was famous for his dalliances with Camilla Parker Bowles, whom he eventually married in 2005. So although Charles and Diana’s marriage had looked like a royal fairytale at first, the relationship soon turned sour. It was certainly far from the “happily ever after” that many tend to associate with royal couples.

See, after their “fairytale” wedding, Prince Charles and Princess Diana set out to tour the world as royal representatives of Britain. Photographers followed them wherever they went, eagerly snapping pictures of the exciting new couple. But one photo stood out — and for heartbreaking reasons. It was an image of Diana crying. And the man behind the camera has since opened up about what was happening that day.

If there was any time when those strains were likely to be visible, it was the couple’s much-publicized 1983 tour of Australia and New Zealand. And it’s well established now just how much tension it caused between Charles and Diana. For starters, they had become parents for the first time only months before.

But Diana was determined that she would be a different kind of royal parent. Instead of leaving Prince William at home to be cared for by nannies, Diana insisted her son came on tour with her. This was a big break with royal tradition, but it proved to be a good PR move. Australians were very impressed that Diana had refused to be separated from her son. 

Of course, that wasn’t the only thing the public liked about Diana. Even though most Australians had, well, mixed feelings about the royal family, the princess won people over with her warmth and beauty. Suddenly, excited crowds were following Diana wherever she went, holding up signs praising her.

But Charles and Queen Elizabeth II hadn’t expected Diana to be such a success. Reportedly, the monarch had expressed concern about her daughter-in-law before the trip because she had seemed so frail and nervous. And the British media had begun to publish rumors that she had an eating disorder, leading to cruel speculation that she was mentally unstable.

But Diana’s supposed failings were actually the things that made her relatable to the public. When she and Charles stopped off at Uluru — the famous landmark previously referred to as Ayers Rock — Diana asked for a drink of water because she was too hot. And the simple fact that she was able to admit to weakness meant people took her to their hearts.

Meanwhile, the future King wasn’t doing so well. He made a joke about feeding baby William “warm milk and minced kangaroo,” and many Australians didn’t take that kindly. He also fell off his horse in front of a large audience at a polo match. And when he was with Diana, she constantly seemed to be upstaging him. 

Diana’s biographer Andrew Morton wrote extensively about the trip in his 1992 book Diana: Her True Story. He noted, “The crowds complained when Prince Charles went over to their side of the street during a walkabout... In public, Charles accepted the revised status quo with good grace; in private, he blamed Diana.”

And as the tour continued, ABC News reported on the royal visitors, “The princess seemed more anxious to meet the people than did her husband. She dispensed tidbits concerning Prince William’s health, the weather, and jokingly inquired of an elderly citizen if she had any whisky in her picnic basket.” It seemed clear in many people’s minds that Diana was the star attraction, with Charles merely her sidekick.

Diana spoke about this in the 1992 Morton book. She remembered, “Everyone always said when we were in the car, ‘Oh, we’re on the wrong side, we want to see her, we don’t want to see him.’ And obviously, he wasn’t used to that, and nor was I. He took it out on me… I understood the jealousy, but I couldn’t explain that I didn’t ask for it.”

But Charles attempted to hide his jealousy with quips. He reportedly joked to a group who met him rather than Diana, “It’s not fair, is it? You’d better ask for your money back!” He also said on the trip, “I have come to the conclusion that it really would have been easier to have had two wives. Then they could cover both sides of the street, and I could walk down the middle, directing operations.”

That “two wives” comment may have stung Diana. Back when she and Charles announced their engagement, a reporter had posed the cheeky question about whether they were in love. And Charles gave the infamous answer “Whatever ‘in love’ means” as Diana stood there next to him. She had been his second choice… and she knew it.

Before Charles had even met Diana, he had been in love with the future Queen Consort — Camilla Parker Bowles. Just before the wedding, Diana apparently even found a bracelet for Camilla among Charles’ possessions. But at that point, it was much too late to call things off. Diana walked down the aisle knowing her groom still held a torch for someone else.

Doubts about her husband’s feelings for Camilla may well have lingered in Diana’s mind on the Australian tour. But Charles had reportedly stopped seeing her at that point. Both were married — Camilla’s husband was Andrew Parker-Bowles, who reportedly had a lot of affairs himself — and they wouldn’t get back together until 1986.

It’s clear that Charles and Diana always tried to present a happy facade for public consumption. When their tour took them to Sydney, they took part in a charity ball and danced together. Onlookers, or people who viewed the photos of the event, would have thought they were a young couple happily in love.

But Morton, among others, always knew of Diana’s great turmoil underneath her warm smile. In a 2017 article for the New York Post, he recollected that the princess had told him, “I’ve got what my mother’s got. However bloody you’re feeling, you can put on the most amazing show of happiness.”

According to Morton, Diana hadn’t been looking forward to the Australia trip at all. He wrote in his article, “The newly minted royal was petrified of facing the crowds, meeting the countless dignitaries as well as the fabled royal ‘rat pack,’ the media circus who follow the royals around the globe.”

“When [Diana] walked into the media reception in the unglamorous setting of an Alice Springs hotel, she was hot, jet-lagged, and sunburned,” Morton went on. “Yet she was able to charm and captivate the representatives of the Fourth Estate. Only later did I realize that the tour was utterly traumatic.”

Morton told the New York Post, “Back in the privacy of her hotel room, [Diana] cried her eyes out, unable to handle the constant attention. She wanted to go home. She wanted to hide, overwhelmed by the size of the crowds in a nation gripped by Di-mania. But she survived.” 

One of the so-called “rat pack” was ready with his camera as Diana went through all this. He was Ken Lennox, and he’d known Diana — if “known” was the word — since the early days of her courtship with Charles. Lennox considered her a polite, cooperative young woman who was good with photographers.

But as time went on, Lennox overstepped accepted boundaries, as many photographers did with the royals. In 1982 he snapped a picture of a pregnant Diana in a bikini on a private beach. Queen Elizabeth II condemned this as “the blackest day in the history of British journalism,” and Lennox later regretted it.

Then, one year later, while the Australia tour was in full swing, Lennox would snap another notorious picture of Diana. She was caught in another unguarded moment, but a very different one this time. For one brief minute outside the Sydney Opera House, Lennox saw her crying, and he took a shot.

When the picture was released to the media, it had the caption, “The Princess of Wales pulls a funny face as a bouquet of flowers hits her on the head when thrown from the crowd into the car.” But according to Lennox himself, the reality had been very different.

Lennox explained what had really happened on the 2020 documentary Inside the Crown: Secrets of the Royals. He said, “I’m about 4 feet from the princess, and I’m trying to get a bit of the opera house in the background and some of the crowd. And Diana burst into tears and wept for a couple of minutes.”

The photographer recalled, “After it was over, I went to see the press officer for the prince and princess at that time, and I said what happened.” But the press officer told him that Diana and Charles simply had jet lag and were unaccustomed to Australia’s tremendous heat. At the time, Lennox accepted this.

However, decades after the fact, Lennox said in the documentary, “Charles, I don’t think, has noticed [Diana crying] at that stage. If he has, typical of Prince Charles to look the other way.” It was the first sign that “something was wrong,” he said, and later there would be even more obvious signs.

As the years progressed, more and more photos showed Diana and her husband turning away from each other or appearing openly hostile. Despite their attempts to maintain stiff upper lips in public, or “put on the most amazing show of happiness” as Diana had suggested, the images said it all.

But there are indications that Diana knew how to manipulate photo opportunities to her own advantage. In 1992 – just before the couple separated – Charles left Diana alone at the Taj Mahal while the two were in India together. And Diana posed solo outside the monument looking forlorn. Did she do this on purpose? Some think so.

In 1997 Lennox also spoke to PBS about his experiences with Diana and Charles. And he remembered, “Diana from day one had upstaged Prince Charles. It wasn’t a simple development. Up until then, Charles was listed as one of the most eligible men in the world… The Princess of Wales came onto the scene, and Charles was forgotten.”

And Diana was the one who sold all the newspapers. “Anyone covering the Princess of Wales was guaranteed [the] front page day after day,” Lennox remembered. “It was funny sometimes. She would go to Australia or New Zealand, and from the photographs you saw nothing of Australia or New Zealand. We cropped everything out.”

We don’t know what Diana thought of that one particular pic of her crying, but we do know what she thought of the paparazzi in general. Basically, she hated them. In 1993 she told the whole world how the media intrusion had affected her.

Diana announced, “When I started my public life 12 years ago, I understood that the media might be interested in what I did. But I was not aware of how overwhelming that attention would become, nor the extent to which it would affect both my public duties and my personal life, in a manner that’s been hard to bear.”

And of course, as the whole planet knows, the paparazzi played a role in Diana’s untimely and tragic death. When her car crashed in a Paris tunnel in August 1997, the driver had been fleeing from a crowd of photographers. There were other factors in the accident, but many members of Diana’s own family blamed the media.

At Diana’s funeral, watched by millions all over the world, her brother Charles Spencer pointed the finger at the paparazzi. He described his sister as “the most hunted person of the modern age,” adding, “She would want us today to pledge ourselves to protecting her beloved boys William and Harry from a similar fate.”

Lennox was actually among the journalists on the front line, so to speak, when Diana passed away. He was picture editor of The Sun newspaper at the time, and he later admitted to having initially opted to purchase photographs of the badly injured princess in the back of her wrecked car. When he was told she had died, however, he deleted them.

And Morton also wrote about the fatal crash in his 2004 book Diana: In Pursuit of Love. He claimed that as soon as the crash photographs were taken, “they were... evidence of a terrible complicity in the shameful ending of the fairytale; a damsel in distress exploited by commercial greed to feed the public’s shameless voyeurism.”

Prince Harry still harbors anger towards the paparazzi for the way his mother died. In 2017, he revealed in the documentary Diana, 7 Days, “One of the hardest things to come to terms with is the people who chased her into the tunnel were the same people who were taking photographs of her while she was still dying on the back seat of the car.”

And Lennox agreed that the media tended to go too far in their pursuit of the royals. After a photo of Kate Middleton in a bikini was published, he told Hello! magazine, “Prince William and his brother Harry have a slow-burning inner rage about press intrusion… How can it be otherwise, when Kate is enduring the same treatment that was meted out to Diana over 30 years ago?”

But royal photographs, including the one of Diana in tears in Australia, are an important part of history. If Lennox hadn’t happened to have pointed his camera at Diana at that precise moment, we wouldn’t have had that insight into her personal feelings about her life and marriage. Yet there will always be the question of how much intrusion is too much. 

In a way, it’s a double-edged sword. Charles wanted media attention on the Australia press tour, and Diana was the one who got it. But in the end, it would ruin her life. Perhaps the princess herself expressed it best in her 1995 BBC interview. She said, “With the media attention came a lot of jealousy. A great deal of complicated situations arose because of that.”