Princess Diana Was Reportedly Left in ‘Shock’ After Prince Harry’s Birth for This Heartbreaking Reason

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Picture this: you’re in the hospital after just giving birth. You’re gazing at your beautiful newborn baby, exhausted and exhilarated all at once. Then your husband finally arrives to meet his son for the first time — and says something so shocking, so heartbreaking, that he leaves you in a puddle of tears and shock. Not exactly a fairytale ending, is it? Yet, that’s reportedly exactly what King Charles III did to Princess Diana after she gave birth to Prince Harry in 1984.

The late Princess of Wales’ former butler Paul Burrell shared the bombshell news with Mirror in an excerpt for his new book, The Royal Insider.

“[Diana told me] Charles came into the hospital, looked in the cot and said ‘Oh, red hair’,” Burrell recalled. “Diana replied, ‘But, Charles, you know that’s the Spencer gene. We’ve all got red hair.’”

“Then [according to Diana] came the damning blow,” Burrell continued. “He said, ‘Well at least I’ve got my heir and spare now and…. I can return to Camilla.’”

Whoa, whoa, whoa! Let’s unpack that for a minute. He sees his newborn son, and the only thing he can say about him is that he has red hair?! Not that he’s a beautiful baby or he’s so happy he’s here and healthy or literally anything that someone with an ounce of common decency would say. Then he immediately calls him the “spare” and leaves to go be with his mistress?!! I can’t imagine going through all the physical pain of postpartum, the hormonal and emotional aspect of it, and the pressure of royal life, only for my husband to give so little regard for my child then leave to go to another woman.

In Burrell’s book, he shared that Diana was shocked that he would openly talk about his mistress, then-married Camilla Parker-Bowles, after she had just given birth. “Diana told me: ‘I cried myself to sleep that night knowing my marriage was over,’” Burrell wrote. “She said: ‘Four years, Paul, I gave him four good years and he was gone. For the rest of the time I had to pretend and put on a facade to the world.’”

Another time, Princess Diana shared the now-king’s disappointed reaction to Prince Harry’s birth. In 2023, previously unreleased tapes of Princess Diana recorded in the 1990s were released, as she was being interviewed for Andrew Morton’s book Diana: Her True Story — In Her Own Words.

“At Harry’s christening, Charles went up to mummy and said: ‘We’re so disappointed, thought it would be a girl,’” the late princess recalled. “Mummy snapped his head off and said, ‘You should realize how lucky you are to have a child that’s normal.’” Diana added, “Ever since that day, the shutters have come down. That’s what he does when he gets somebody answering back at him.”

Earlier this week, the now-grown-up Prince Harry recently reconciled with his father for the first time in over 18 months. Sources told Page Six that Prince Harry had a “private tea” with King Charles for about an hour, during which time he showed his dad pictures of his kids Prince Archie, 6, and Princess Lilibet, 4, who Harry shares with wife Meghan Markle.

Maybe King Charles has softened a bit in his old age, if he enjoys seeing pictures of his red-headed grandchildren. Especially now that he is married to his former mistress, Queen Camilla. Harry only has one parent left, and we love seeing him make the effort to reconciliation despite the ups and downs of his relationship with his dad.

Before you go, check out Prince Harry’s very best dad moments — so far!