Princess Diana‘s reclusive former lover, James Hewitt, says in a new interview that the pair were like an old married couple — but continues to deny that he is Prince Harry‘s father.
Asked by the Australian TV show “Sunday Night’‘ if he is Harry’s biological dad, Hewitt, 58, firmly replied, “No, I’m not.”
The former cavalry officer added that the persistent rumor is “worse for [Harry], probably, poor chap.”
During the interview, Hewitt described the illicit couple’s steady slide into romance after he became Di’s horse-riding instructor in 1986.
“It’s a gradual period and then, you know, suddenly you can’t get enough of each other or see each other as much as you want,” he told the show in a segment that aired Sunday, five months before the 20th anniversary of Di’s death.
Hewitt said the pair eventually settled into a routine during secret getaways at his farm in Devon, where he now lives with his widowed mom.
“I’d cook, and [Diana] would wash up. Just dinner and relaxing and laughing,” he said.
Hewitt had a five-year affair with the late royal as her marriage to Britain’s Prince Charles fell apart.
Hewitt in the past has denied siring Harry, and Diana’s former butler, Paul Burrell, has said his royal boss didn’t meet the handsome army captain until Harry was a toddler.
Hewitt speculated that the rumor persists because “it sells papers.”
He has never married or had children.