Prince Harry (Photo by Loic Venance / AFP via Getty Images), Princess Diana (Photo Jacques DeMarathon/AFP via Getty Images)
In a fascinating revelation about the royal family, it has come to light that Princess Diana kept a significant secret from then-Prince Charles during her pregnancy with Prince Harry. While Charles anticipated the birth of a daughter in 1984, Diana was aware that they were expecting another boy, a fact she chose to conceal from her husband.
Why Did Princess Diana Hide The Fact That The Baby Was A Boy?
Royal biographer Ingrid Seward notes that Diana’s decision to hide the baby’s gender stemmed from her understanding of Charles’s desires. According to Seward, the future king had expressed a longing for a daughter, and Diana felt it was necessary to shield him from disappointment. When she gave birth to Harry, Charles was reportedly caught off guard by the arrival of yet another son.
This secret was uncovered after Diana’s bodyguard commented on Charles’s parenting approach towards Prince William and Prince Harry. The Express US reported that Diana’s intention was to protect Charles’s feelings, as he had hoped for a daughter.
Seward elaborates on this dynamic in her biography, “Catherine & Diana,” stating, “Oddly, despite the closeness she had felt with Charles before Harry’s birth, she never told him she was expecting another boy.” Diana’s vulnerability at that time contributed to her decision to withhold this intimate information from him.
Diana & Charles Were Close At That Time
Diana and Charles’s relationship was reportedly quite close during this period. Andrew Morton, in his book “Diana: Her True Story,” revealed that Diana described their bond just before Harry’s birth as “the closest we’ve ever, ever been and ever will be.” However, she later recounted a moment of deep disappointment expressed by Charles upon learning the gender of his second child, stating that he remarked, “Oh God, it’s a boy. And he’s even got red hair.”
Furthermore, recordings made by Diana for her official biography highlighted how Charles’s comments about wanting a girl created significant distress within her family, as well as for the late Queen Elizabeth II. Diana described a moment during Harry’s christening when Charles remarked to the Queen about his disappointment, which prompted a stern response from her: “you should realize you are lucky to have a child that’s normal.” Diana believed that this exchange had a profound and lasting effect on Charles’s relationship with his mother, stating, “Ever since that day, the shutters have come down. That’s what he does when he gets somebody answering back at him.”
