The day Charles told Harry that Hewitt was not his father: It was
the hardest conversation of his life... but the Prince had to end the
cruel gossip

• Harry endured endless gossip about his physical similarity to James Hewitt
• As a soldier, Hewitt was one of young Harry's mentors
  
• He was furious to be recalled from Afghanistan after Press broke embargo

By
Chris Hutchins

Warm-hearted, brave, but also recklessly impulsive, Prince Harry is as complex as he is charismatic.

Here,
in part three of a compelling new biography, we show how he idolised
the soldier who many unfairly whispered was his true father...

Heart to heart: Prince Harry with Prince Charles at the polo

Over dry martinis at Sandringham —
mixed to the servants’ special recipe — there was just one question on
the  Royal Family’s lips: ‘Where’s Harry?’

When
someone joked: ‘He’s confined to barracks — he’s been a naughty boy’,
the Queen smiled. Only she, and a tiny number of the family, were in on
the secret.

The truth was
that while Her Majesty and her guests were beginning their Christmas
celebrations in 2007, 2nd Lieutenant Wales was more than 3,500 miles
away in southern Helmand, war-torn Afghanistan’s most dangerous
province.

Even as his
relatives were plumping up the pillows on their four-poster beds Harry —
the first senior royal to fight on a battlefield since Queen Victoria’s
grandson Maurice in World War I — was surveying the tiny, cell-like
room at Forward Operating Base Delhi that was his temporary home.

‘We
couldn’t believe it when he arrived,’ says Lt Colonel Bill Connor.
‘There was no special security detail, no SAS. He came in like a regular
soldier and that’s how he remained. This was a prince, the third in
line to the British throne, yet he made it known that he wanted to be
treated just as the junior officer he was.’

That
Christmas Day, as the Queen and her party were cheered by well-wishers
outside Sandringham church, Harry Wales and Bill Connor stepped outside
for their morning exercises.

‘We
were actually working out when the Taliban opened up,’ remembers
Connor. ‘It was one of those fire-fights they regularly mounted from
their trenches close by. Harry and I made a run for the buildings — we
had no body armour on, just our PT kits.