Side-By-Side Photos Of Prince Harry & His Mother's Riding Instructor Are Eyebrow-Raising

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Anyone who has watched "The Crown" or even casually kept up with royal gossip knows about the shocking affair then-Prince Charles had with his now-wife Camilla Parker-Bowles while he was still married to Princess Diana. But did you know that the late Diana also had her fair share of affairs? One of those relationships led to a years-long rumor that her son, Prince Harry, is actually the child of Diana's former riding instructor James Hewitt. In March 2026, a side-by-side photo comparison of Harry and Hewitt resurfaced, setting tongues wagging yet again simply because the two men look so similar. In the pics, which were shared on X, formerly known as Twitter, the prince and riding instructor are captured from the side while mid-laugh. The two men look to be about the same age in the side-by-side, with identical red hair, similar profiles, and even eyes that crinkle on the sides in the exact same way. It's a bit uncanny how alike these two are.

Prince Harry and his mother Diana's riding instructor pic.twitter.com/X0tRBEVaLd

— Wild Videos (@FightStorage) March 30, 2026

"Harry needs to do a DNA test," one person responded to the shocking comparison. "It will settle who is his father. So easy. No more doubts." Another user quipped, "Looks like the 'riding instructor' took his job seriously." A third commented, "The world's worst kept secret." Still, plenty of others defended Prince Harry. As one such user wrote, "That's a bulls*** post. Harry looks exactly like his mother's family. Diana met Hewitt two years after Harry was born. It's shameful that this is still circulating." Another argued, "Harry looks just like both his dad and his grandpa when they were younger."

Princess Diana met her former lover, James Hewitt, in 1986, which was notably two years after Prince Harry was born. Their friendship did spark a romantic affair, albeit one that came about too late to truly link his DNA with Harry's. Diana's former riding instructor publicly denied the claims in a 2017 interview with Australian program "Sunday Night." Hewitt decisively confirmed, "No, I'm not" about fathering Harry, adding, "It sells papers. It's worse for [Harry], probably, poor chap," (via Marie Claire UK).

Prince Harry has also addressed the rumors that Hewitt is his father. In a June 2023 court appearance, as part of his lawsuit against the Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), the royal defector revealed how he really felt about the gossip fueled by the media. "They were hurtful, mean, and cruel. I was always left questioning the motives behind the stories," Harry sadly admitted (per Newsweek), wondering, "Were the newspapers keen to put doubt into the minds of the public so I might be ousted from the royal family?"

Naturally, the speculation has also affected the prince's relationship with his father, King Charles III. Harry wrote in his memoir, "Spare," that his dad would often make "sadistic" comments about the alleged affair, saying things like, "Who knows if I'm really the Prince of Wales? Who knows if I'm even your real father?" Based on the internet's comments on his and Hewitt's similarities, however, it seems the rumors will never truly go away.