Posted on 06/28/2005 4:41:31 PM PDT by RWR8189
LONDON (AFP) - Britain's royal family forced the late Princess Diana to blood test her younger son, Prince Harry, to prove he was not the offspring of an affair with an army officer, according to a newspaper report.
Diana, who died in 1997, did not tell Harry why his blood was being taken, the Sun newspaper said in extracts from a book by Simone Simmons, an "energy healer" billed as a former close friend and confidante of the princess.
Senior royals, notably Queen Elizabeth's husband Prince Philip, feared that their son, Prince Charles, who was married to Diana, might not have been the real father of Harry, who was born in September 1984.
Diana had previously had a passionate affair with army officer Major James Hewitt, and there had been rumours that Harry -- who, like Hewitt, has red hair -- was the product of that relationship.
Simmons, whose book "Diana: The Last Word," is being serialised by the tabloid newspaper, claimed she felt Diana should know about the rumours Harry was illegitimate.
"It fell to me to impart the unpleasant news to the princess," the paper quoted her as saying.
Diana, who publicly admitted to her affair with Hewitt in a 1995 television interview, insisted that the dates of her affair with the officer meant he could not possibly be Harry's father, Simmons said.
However, she was pressured to carry out DNA tests on both Harry and his elder brother, Prince William, to prove their paternity, the Sun said in its Wednesday edition.
The tests showed that both princes had been fathered by Charles, the heir to the British throne, who Diana finally divorced in 1996, a year before her death in a Paris car crash.
On Monday, the Sun printed an extract from the book in which Simmons claims Diana had a passionate affair with John F Kennedy Jr, the son of the assassinated US president, who himself died in a plane crash in 1999.
Some other British newspapers have ridiculed Simmons' supposed revelations, saying she was never especially close to Diana and is most likely inventing stories for financial gain.
Didn't that same naive young woman try to kill her step mother by pushing her down a flight of stairs?
I thought royal bastards was a hallowed tradition.
Maybe they're all Neanderthals?
Sir Blam, what say you?
Neve heard of that before although I know they weren't meant to get on. Any details?
At the end of the day, I'd say that the carry on with the British monarchy and nobility prove that outbreeding is a good idea on a regular basis!
I don't know how true the story is. I read it here on Free Republic. Diana apparently didn't like her new step-mother and - according to what I read - she treated her very badly. Supposedly, when Diana was in her teens, she pushed the woman down the stairs. Her father got very upset with her and they didn't speak for 6 months or so.
Do other freepers remember any details?
The kid looks nothing like Charles.
If he's not Hewitt's then that is one freakish coincidence.
Well, adored and/or pitied.
No, one or more of Camilla's ancestresses were mistress/es to his ancestral monarach/s.
Apparently they weren't certain he had the nuts to get to her?
Additionally, he is as balmy as his Aunt was; poor chap.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.