Princess Diana’s former lover lays out how she’d have brought William and Harry back together

Princess Diana‘s tragic death forever changed the dynamics of the royal family. Over her life, she attempted to raise William and Harry to be empathetic, intelligent, and open with their emotions – trying to give them something close to a normal childhood. The jury’s out on whether she succeeded, but it’s safe to say she wouldn’t have been happy to see her sons estranged from one another.

Now, we have some interesting insight into what Diana might have done to heal the William/Harry split if she were still around. It comes via Diana’s former lover James Hewitt, the former cavalry officer who had a five-year affair with her beginning in 1986. The secrecy of their affair means Hewitt was in Diana’s complete confidence, giving him special insight into her personality.

On ITV’s Good Morning Britain, host Richard Madeley quizzed Hewitt on whether Diana would have been able to heal the rift and “make a rapprochement possible” between her sons. Hewitt didn’t hesitate, confirming that: “I think any mother would be worried and concerned about such a rift, as you put it, and she’d do her best to try and get them together.”

'I see it as a duty to help those less fortunate than we are.'

James Hewitt describes how emotional he was when delivering aid to Ukraine and how important it was to team up with John Lawler, founder of Operation SafeDrop, to help those in need. pic.twitter.com/azfd1pz57p

— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) February 25, 2025

It’s easy to imagine an alternative future where a 63-year-old Diana puts her foot down and forces her sons to bury the hatchet with each other. After all, she did her best to raise them to be emotionally intelligent and empathic, and she would have been horrified to see them so divided. We also have to wonder what she’d have made of Kate and Meghan, but suspect her own experience with the Windsors would give her some sympathy for the audacious Megxit departure and Harry’s legal battles against the tabloid press.

It’s also easy to imagine the incidents recounted in Prince Harry’s Spare would have made her deeply disappointed with William. This included Harry recounting a disturbing incident in which William arrived “piping hot” at his home while complaining about Meghan being “rude” and “abrasive.” As per Harry’s version of events, William “came at me” and violently knocked him to the floor, leaving him bleeding after falling onto a ceramic bowl.

Right now, it seems that many people within the royal family genuinely want to see William and Harry put their split behind them, with Kate said to be “desperate” for an end to the situation. Whether Kate can manage this Herculean act of diplomacy remains to be seen, but we have to imagine she sometimes quietly asks herself what Diana would have done in her situation.

In other matters, whenever James Hewitt makes a public appearance, he’s met with familiar whispers that he, not Charles, is secretly Harry’s father. Hewitt was even asked directly: “Are you Harry’s father? in 2017, to which he replied: “No, I’m not,” pointing out that the story doesn’t make sense and is a tool to sell newspapers. Harry himself is similarly disparaging about the theory, pointing out that the timeline wouldn’t make sense as he’d already been born by the time Diana first met Hewitt.

If Diana was around, she’d be the ideal person to solve the William/Harry problem. But, unfortunately, she’s not, so the royal family is just going to have to do this without her. However, 2027 will mark the 30th anniversary of her death and, just as with the 20th anniversary, we expect there’ll be ceremonies to her. Here’s hoping William and Harry can put their differences aside and forces to honor their mother’s memory.