The alleged former lover of Princess Diana comes into play again in season 5 of The Crown, but what real-life TV appearances did he make?
The Crown season 5 has taken Netflix and fans by storm, as it introduces a new cast headed by Elizabeth Debicki, Imelda Staunton and Dominic West as the dramatized take on the Royal Family moves into the 1990s.
Focusing on a tumultuous decade for the family, which included the divorces of Princes Charles and Diana, Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, and Princess Anne and Mark Phillips, the thrust of the season focuses on the ongoing breakdown in relations between Charles and Diana as both become embroiled with other lovers.
While the future King grows closer to his now-wife Camilla (Olivia Williams), Debicki’s Diana prepares to give her notorious 1995 interview to Martin Bashir, played by Prasanna Puwanarajah.
During the interview in real life, Diana also spoke of her relationship with alleged lover James Hewitt (played in season 4 by Daniel Donskoy), following his decision to go public with their romance.
‘Yes, I adored him,’ confirmed Diana. ‘Yes, I was in love with him, but I was very let down.’
After stepping into the public eye, Hewitt then made numerous TV appearances over the following years as he branched out into reality television and spoke further on Diana – here’s what happened during some of the programmes he appeared on.
When he was shown smoking in a bath and discussing selling Diana’s letters in Confessions of a Cad
Hewitt, a former major in the British Army, became Diana’s riding instructor after meeting her in 1986. The pair were said to be romantically involved until 1991.
He first dipped his toe into reality TV with The Games in 2003, but this came off the back of two less-than-ideal television appearances.
The former cavalry officer agreed to take part in the documentary Confessions of a Cad, but was not happy with how it turned out (Picture: Channel 4)
First, Hewitt agreed to take part in a documentary which followed him for seven months, called Confessions of a Cad.
The programme showed a stream of embarrassing situations for Hewitt, from him smoking a pipe in the bath, peeing in the toilet (which he called ‘kinky’) and confessing quite openly that he couldn’t do his own washing and iron as a middle-aged man – instead he paid a woman to do it for him.
Eyebrow-raising quotes from him included: ‘I’d love to have had a wet nurse… who’d want to suck their mother’s t*ts when there’s a perfectly good nanny? Don’t you think?’
He had met Diana in 1985, becoming her riding instructor shortly afterwards (Picture: Rex/Shutterstock)
In the documentary, he discussed the possibility of selling Diana’s private letters to him (Picture: Channel 4)
Perhaps the most upsetting part of the documentary though was its exploration of his idea to sell his private love letters from Diana, which he said he’d like to ‘go for as much as we can possibly get for them’.
‘They’re nice letters. She’s sadly dead and gone, it’s not going to hurt anyone, particularly if it’s a private collector,’ he said of the documents.
When he was grilled by the host and callers on Larry King Live
Hewitt agreed to a Larry King interview after his documentary aired (Picture: AP/Reed Saxon)
The less-than-flattering picture of Hewitt painted by the documentary then led him to agree to a live interview with Larry King.
During the interview he claimed he had initially had ‘no intention’ to sell the letters before being approached, and that now they were for sale he ‘wouldn’t suggest’ a possible buyer publish them after purchase.
Alongside a grilling from King, which also saw Hewitt deny he was Prince Harry’s father, the show also included a call-in segment where viewers phoned in to ask questions.
Unsurprisingly, several chastised him for going public with, and attempting to profit from, his relationship with Diana – making for some uncomfortable viewing.
When he came second (but really it was fourth) on The Games
His reality TV career kicked off with The Games in 2003, before he won Back to Reality the following year (Picture: Channel 4)
The 64-year-old is perhaps best known for his winning appearance on Channel 5’s experimental reality show Back to Reality in 2004, a Big Brother type show that featured stars from previous reality TV shows.
However, it was his appearance on The Games in 2003 that got him there, after he finished second in the original series of the show.
This was, however, behind former Miss World Azra Akın, Hollyoaks actress Terri Dwyer and So Solid Crew rapper MC Harvey, so three people in fact beat him.
When he appeared to do more than ‘fool around’ under the sheets on E4’s Fool Around
Hewitt was shown in bed with a female contestant on this short-lived reality show where he had to figure out who was single and who was in a couple and trying to dupe him (Picture: Les Wilson/Rex/Shutterstock)
Perhaps the most toe-curling of all, Hewitt appeared on E4’s Fool Around With in 2005, a show where one single public figure was locked up with four members of their desired sex and had to work out which of them was also single – and that meant a lot of ‘flirting and philandering’, apparently.
The other three contestants had boyfriends or girlfriends who watch the action and coach them on how to appear single, and if the lone single person correctly guesses which the other single contestant is, they win £10,000.
As well as frequently using the phrase ‘ding dong’ as he introduced himself, Hewitt was then shown getting frisky in bed with contestant Vanessa – long before Love Island apparently popularised having sex on TV.
Although Vanessa claimed on the show that they had faked the exact nature of what they got up to, boyfriend Stefan later claimed that they had had sex and Hewitt had even apologised to him and shook his hand after the reveal, before ‘bombarding Vanessa with saucy text messages’, according to The Sunday Mirror.
When he was credited as ‘Well Spoken Man’ on Top Gear because no-one knew who he was
In classic Top Gear fashion, the hosts did not hide the fact they had no clue who Hewitt was in the edit (Picture: BBC)
For the opening episode of series 8, Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May decided to do something a bit different with their popular Star in a Reasonably Priced Car segment.
Unveiling a replacement vehicle, the show decided to invite eight celebrities to set power lap times around the Top Gear Test Track for its new leaderboard.
Hewitt was one of them, but ended up being credited only as ‘Well Spoken Man’ after Clarkson and Hammond failed to recognise who he was.
After Clarkson admitted he had ‘no ideas who he was’ on the voice over, the pair attempted to work out who he might be by fishing for clues about his job and future plans – all to no avail.
Princess Diana referenced James Hewitt in her interview with Martin Bashir, as shown on The Crown season 5 – here’s what TV the real Hewitt appeared on.Â
