# Princes William and Harry-Are They Really "Half" Brothers? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 20, 2002, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princes-william-and-harry-are-they-really-half-brothers/124751 "2002-08-20T15:50:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princes-william-and-harry-are-they-really-half-brothers/124751/1 "2002-08-20T15:50:40Z")
Given the very different physical appearances of the boys, one would naturally suspect that perhaps the late Princess Diana had had an affair! There seems to be a persistant rumor in the tablods that they boys are only half brothers-have DNA tests ever been done on the royal offspring? What would be the public reaction if the boys really were from different sires?:smack: ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princes-william-and-harry-are-they-really-half-brothers/124751/2 "2002-08-20T15:54:59Z")
“One would _naturally_ suspect” ??? Have you ever looked at pairs of brothers and compared their physical appearance? You might find that in most cases, brothers look very different from each other, although some resemblance is often visible. (Except, you know, _them_ people over there … they all look the same anyway … mutter mutter) ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princes-william-and-harry-are-they-really-half-brothers/124751/3 "2002-08-20T15:57:37Z")
This particular chestnut has been around for a while. Henry (harry) looks remarkably like a lot of his spencer relatives, rather than his windsor relatives. There is no reason to suspect foul play. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princes-william-and-harry-are-they-really-half-brothers/124751/4 "2002-08-20T16:00:11Z")
Since when do William and Harry not look alike? They have different noses and heights, but they’re easily recognizable as brothers. See [here](http://europe.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/01/12/uk.princee/storybrothers.jpg), [here](http://www.princewilliamstamps.com/diana-harry-william.jpg), or [here](http://www.efanguide.com/~pwph/q9.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princes-william-and-harry-are-they-really-half-brothers/124751/5 "2002-08-20T16:26:46Z")
(Lord that family is gawky) ---
**Author:** ![APB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princes-william-and-harry-are-they-really-half-brothers/124751/6 "2002-08-20T16:34:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by owlstretchingtime \* > **Henry (harry) looks remarkably like a lot of his spencer relatives, rather than his windsor relatives.** Does he? Everyone always says this as if it is obvious, but, if you ask me, he actually looks more like Prince Charles than his brother does. The second and third photographs posted by **SpoilerVirgin** will show what I mean. Of course, as no one believes that Diana had an affair before William was born, this is rather inconvenient for the ‘they’re only half-brothers’ theory. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princes-william-and-harry-are-they-really-half-brothers/124751/7 "2002-08-20T18:38:59Z")
May I present as exhibits in favor of Diana, Randy and Dennis Quaid? Tim and Tyne Daly? Jeff and Beau Bridges? ---
**Author:** ![Honey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honey/32/5074_2.png) [@Honey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honey)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princes-william-and-harry-are-they-really-half-brothers/124751/8 "2002-08-20T19:55:28Z")
I always thought that Harry looked a lot like [Major James Hewitt](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/diana/background/book1.htm). Although I believe Harry was conceived quite a while prior to her alleged affair with the Major. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princes-william-and-harry-are-they-really-half-brothers/124751/9 "2002-08-20T19:56:39Z")
**ralph124c** Do you have a brother of your own? I have three. One looks pretty much like me. The second sort of does. The third one doesn’t look much like me at all. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princes-william-and-harry-are-they-really-half-brothers/124751/10 "2002-08-20T20:03:57Z")
Huh. I’m the oldest of four siblings and _none_ of us looks much like the other three. And I’m quite certain that we’re all the product of the same mother and father, unless you’re asking me to believe that My Mother The Southern Baptist Church Lady had herself a whole series of flings during the 1950s and 60s. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![London\_Calling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@London\_Calling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/London_Calling)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princes-william-and-harry-are-they-really-half-brothers/124751/11 "2002-08-20T20:25:02Z")
Well, _yesssss_. The fly in the ointment is a chap by the name of Major James Hewitt. I’ll leave you to Google and contrast and compare. Having not followed the tabloid ‘revelations’ of the time at all closely, I can only add that it was alleged – as the marriage was hitting the rocks – Diana sought ‘solace’ elsewhere. If memory serves, it was also suggested the Intelligence Service recorded said solace being administered in Major Hewitt’s garden…allegedly. And there goes my Knighhood. ---
**Author:** ![London\_Calling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@London\_Calling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/London_Calling)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princes-william-and-harry-are-they-really-half-brothers/124751/12 "2002-08-20T20:26:42Z")
Sorry, I hadn’t seen that Honey had already linked. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princes-william-and-harry-are-they-really-half-brothers/124751/13 "2002-08-20T22:38:56Z")
By resembling thy father you honor thy mother. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princes-william-and-harry-are-they-really-half-brothers/124751/14 "2002-08-20T23:03:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BobT \* > \*\ ***ralph124c** > > Do you have a brother of your own? I have three. One looks pretty much like me. The second sort of does. The third one doesn’t look much like me at all. \*\* Tell your mom I said hello. 😃 (sorry! couldn’t help myself!):smack: * * * May the mediocrity of several greeting-card salesman inhabit your soul like unmatched buttons in a empty mayonaise jar. ---
**Author:** ![APB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2002, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princes-william-and-harry-are-they-really-half-brothers/124751/15 "2002-08-21T13:34:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Honey \* > \*\*I always thought that Harry looked a lot like [Major James Hewitt](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/diana/background/book1.htm). > > Although I believe Harry was conceived quite a while prior to her alleged affair with the Major. \*\* > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by London\_Calling \* > \*\*The fly in the ointment is a chap by the name of Major James Hewitt…Having not followed the tabloid ‘revelations’ of the time at all closely, I can only add that it was alleged – as the marriage was hitting the rocks – Diana sought ‘solace’ elsewhere. If memory serves, it was also suggested the Intelligence Service recorded said solace being administered in Major Hewitt’s garden…allegedly. \*\* As **Honey** correctly suspects, the problem with this theory is that Diana did not meet Hewitt until 1986, two years after Harry was born. So all this rumour proves is that otherwise sensible people will continue to repeat the same old gossip despite obvious evidence to the contrary. I have long suspected that Harry is doubly unfortunate, having inherited his mother’s brains and his father’s looks. ---
**Author:** ![London\_Calling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@London\_Calling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/London_Calling)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2002, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princes-william-and-harry-are-they-really-half-brothers/124751/16 "2002-08-21T13:45:59Z")
> **[Love and War by James Hewitt](https://www.theguardian.com/books/1999/oct/29/2)** > > Love and War by James Hewitt (Blake Publishing Ltd, £16.99), digested in 400 words “In 1986 I was a dashing, single, young Guards captain. I met Diana and offered to give her riding lessons. **When we had first met five years before, she had been fun, charming, flirtatious.** She could make the sullen waters of the Serpentine sparkle just by riding past them. But now she was sad - except when she was riding Gary, the horse I gave her. She was a hurt, lonely married woman and I became obsessed with her.” - Perhaps the confusion lies in the fact that they did meet earlier but, _seemingly_ (according to Hewitt), didn’t begin an affair until later. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2002, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princes-william-and-harry-are-they-really-half-brothers/124751/17 "2002-08-21T13:47:47Z")
The royals have always been banging like a shithouse door in the wind. Diana was bonking people left, right and centre. I’d like to see full DNA tests on all of 'em. After all, they claim taxes off the British people based on heredity; their heredity should at least be proven. ---
**Author:** ![EchoKitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@EchoKitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EchoKitty)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2002, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princes-william-and-harry-are-they-really-half-brothers/124751/18 "2002-08-21T13:57:23Z")
William looks like his mom, Harry looks like the old man (pity!) and nobody looks like the Queen Mum! Hmmmm…rumors abound! ---
**Author:** ![APB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2002, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princes-william-and-harry-are-they-really-half-brothers/124751/19 "2002-08-21T15:18:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by London\_Calling \* > \*\*[http://books.guardian.co.uk/critics/reviews/0,5917,102177,00.html](http://books.guardian.co.uk/critics/reviews/0,5917,102177,00.html) > “In 1986 I was a dashing, single, young Guards captain. I met Diana and offered to give her riding lessons. **When we had first met five years before, she had been fun, charming, flirtatious.** She could make the sullen waters of the Serpentine sparkle just by riding past them. But now she was sad - except when she was riding Gary, the horse I gave her. She was a hurt, lonely married woman and I became obsessed with her.” > > - Perhaps the confusion lies in the fact that they did meet earlier but, _seemingly_ (according to Hewitt), didn’t begin an affair until later. \*\* This just goes to show that you shouldn’t believe everything you read in the _Guardian_. What you quote is in fact a tongue-in-cheek synopsis of Hewitt’s book. What Hewitt actually says is that although he had seen Diana in 1981 - she had attended a polo match in which he was playing - he only met her for the first time in 1986. [http://www.blake.co.uk/acatalog/B16Chp.htm](http://www.blake.co.uk/acatalog/B16Chp.htm) (the relevant passage is about halfway down the page) ---
**Author:** ![London\_Calling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@London\_Calling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/London_Calling)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2002, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princes-william-and-harry-are-they-really-half-brothers/124751/20 "2002-08-21T16:05:20Z")
I hope you’ll forgive me if I’m slightly amused by your denigration of the Guardian and subsequent reliance on Hewitt. It’s funny because it read how I’d imagine Hewitt might be – which is very unfair of me. Here’s what he actually said: \*"I can vividly recall the day I first saw Diana — young and shy and blushing. It was in the summer of 1981 — I think it was the weekend before she got married. She was watching polo at Tidworth. I was playing for the Army and Prince Charles was playing for the Navy in the Rundle Cup. \ Five years later, I saw her again in Buckingham Palace. I didn’t realise it at the time but it was a day that would alter both our lives. I suppose there was a certain amount of irony in the fact that at the time I was responsible for guarding the sovereign. I was Staff Captain of the Household Division and my job was to implement ceremonial policy and rota the guard not only at Buckingham Palace, but also at Whitehall, St James’s Palace, Windsor Castle, and the Tower of London.\*" - _According_ to Hewitt then, they _met_ for the first time towards the end of May '86 (an exchange of words). But shortly thereafter, they met again at a social function, enjoyed a conversation and it was at this point the _ummm_ riding lessons were proposed – Harry would have been around 1 year 9 months old. Same point, I guess. The confusion, presumably, comes from ‘seeing’ and ‘meeting’. According to Hewitt’s version (no reason I know of to dispute his words), he ain’t Daddy. I suppose it would be truly horrendous for all concerned if it were any other way. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princes-william-and-harry-are-they-really-half-brothers/124751.md?page=2)