Author Claims Princess Diana 'Never Told' King Charles She Was Expecting a Boy While Pregnant

Royal author Ingrid Seward has claimed that Princess Diana knew she was expecting another boy but did not tell her husband, King Charles, before Prince Harry's birth at St Mary's Hospital in 1984.

Seward says Diana kept the baby's sex from Charles because he wanted a daughter. The claim, set out in Catherine & Diana, concerns a pregnancy Diana later recalled as bringing a brief period of closeness to their marriage.

Princess Diana's Unshared News

'Oddly, despite the closeness she had felt with Charles before Harry's birth, she never told him she was expecting another boy,' Seward writes.

'She knew he longed for a daughter, and her extreme vulnerability made her keep this piece of intimate information from him.'

Diana separately described the weeks around Harry's arrival in recordings made for biographer Andrew Morton, which were later included in a documentary.

According to Today, she said the six weeks before the birth were the 'closest' she and Charles had ever been.

'And then as suddenly as Harry was born, it just went bang, our marriage. The whole thing went down the drain. He wanted two children and he wanted a girl.'

Seward writes that the birth 'ended one of the brief happy periods' in the couple's marriage. Diana's recollection describes that change in their relationship, but the quoted passage does not address whether she had told Charles the baby's sex.

Princess Diana and Family Expectations

Harry's birth prompted excitement among royal followers and the waiting press outside St Mary's Hospital. Charles's public response was that it was 'absolutely marvellous'.

Harry has since described a joke his father apparently made after his birth about how 'wonderful' it was that Diana had given him an 'heir and a spare'. William was ahead of his younger brother in the royal line of succession.

The accounts concern different moments in the couple's lives. Seward describes an alleged decision during the pregnancy, while Harry's account relates to his father's words after his birth.

Charles later spoke publicly about wanting a girl when his first granddaughter, Princess Charlotte, was born in 2015. Visiting Poundbury in Dorset, he said he had been 'hoping for a girl' and described her as 'beautiful', according to The Telegraph.

The report also quoted Charles as hoping his granddaughter would look after him when he was very old.

Royal author Russell Myers also writes about a hoped-for daughter in William & Catherine, describing William's wishes before George's birth.

'William had privately voiced his preference for having a girl, and was keen to incorporate a tribute to his late mother, most likely in the form of a middle name,' he claims.

Catherine preferred Alexander or Alexandra, Myers writes. The couple did not find out the baby's sex in advance, and George was given Alexander as a middle name. Charlotte, born two years later, was named Charlotte Elizabeth Diana.

Charlotte is the feminine form of Charles, while her full name also includes Diana's. The choice linked William's daughter to both her grandfather and her late grandmother.

Charles has not publicly addressed Seward's claim about Diana's pregnancy or Harry's account of the remark after his birth.