Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Today

Harry's Hairy Tale

Aired December 17, 2002 - 11:03   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: The British are buzzing today over word of an outlandish plot to swipe a lock of Prince Harry's hair. A newspaper -- and you can read that tabloid -- has apparently hired a private eye to orchestrate the hair-brained scheme. An attractive young seductress would make her way into Harry's life and pluck a strand or two of the royal hair, or at least that's how the story goes.
Anyway, well, the point of all this, to test Harry's DNA to show if he really is Prince Charles son. Rumors have run wild for years that Harry's true father is actually the former calvary officer James Hewitt, Diana's one-time lover.

And we call on Richard Quest to see what he has to say about all of this, and to ask Richard, who's your daddy? .

Hey, Richard.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, good morning.

This is an extraordinary tale that absolutely took everybody by surprise. It wasn't a newspaper that was actually involved. What happened was they learned of this scandal. Somebody was going to try and prove that Prince Harry wasn't the son of Prince Charles. And to do it, they were going to get a femme fatale to come along and pluck a strand from his hair -- from his head, we assume anyway, and test it for DNA, the idea being it would prove you could test it with Hewitt. The police got wind of it, and warned the palace.

This is the sort of thing that we've been seeing in the newspapers over the past few years, because the other side of the Hewitt story, first of all, he's supposed to be Harry's dad, but the second thing is, he's also been trying to sell the letters that his one-time lover Diana wrote him for about 10 million pounds, about $16 million. So the papers, Daryn, absolutely (UNINTELLIGIBLE) of this salacious story, the sort of thing that really you wouldn't believe unless it was actually in the British tabloids.

KAGAN: Absolutely. And people read and believe the stuff, right?

QUEST: Well, no one's quite sure on the Harry and the hair story. It sounds almost too incredible to be true. But the question of Harry's parentage, and I don't want to get unsavory, not at this time of the morning in your part of the world, that would be just disagreeable at least, but the question of whether or not Charles is the father. Now, let me just read, this is from the book "Diana," written by the bodyguard. Diana apparently told the bodyguard that -- her bodyguard -- that Charles was the father. She said "I don't know how my husband and I did have Harry, because by then, he had gone back to Camilla." This book of bedtime stuff.

KAGAN: Keep going. Keep going.

QUEST: But one thing is absolutely certain is that we did. So Hewitt's trying to flog the letters. We don't know who Harry's dad is. We haven't got the hair to test the DNA. It's another day in the British royal family.

KAGAN: Absolutely. It's been quite an interesting week. Tell me a little bit more about this intruder who stopped by for directions, I think, and ended up inside St. James palace with Prince Charles.

QUEST: Well, you know, I've not read that lately. It wouldn't surprise me, though, because the security at the palace is a real issue. You'll remember, some years ago, of course, there was the break-in at Buckingham Palace. Now, on that occasion, Michael Fagan actually got inside the palace, sat on the queen's bed until she was able to ask him if he wanted a cigarette. I didn't she smoked, but I don't know, she got rid of him.

On this occasion, I can imagine what happened. St. James Palace, which is in the heart of London, not that far from me at the moment, not particularly secure, open. You can walk through various parts of it. The royals, I'm afraid to say, need more security.

KAGAN: It sounds like it, if nothing else, to keep the likes of you, Richard, from stopping by if you live that close.

QUEST: I've never been allowed to get closer than me to you.

KAGAN: Richard, only you can explain the royals to us. You know, a lot of that is kind of foreign and we don't understand it over here in America, but when we bring you on, somehow it's all so clear. We appreciate it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired December 17, 2002 - 11:03   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: The British are buzzing today over word of an outlandish plot to swipe a lock of Prince Harry's hair. A newspaper -- and you can read that tabloid -- has apparently hired a private eye to orchestrate the hair-brained scheme. An attractive young seductress would make her way into Harry's life and pluck a strand or two of the royal hair, or at least that's how the story goes.
Anyway, well, the point of all this, to test Harry's DNA to show if he really is Prince Charles son. Rumors have run wild for years that Harry's true father is actually the former calvary officer James Hewitt, Diana's one-time lover.

And we call on Richard Quest to see what he has to say about all of this, and to ask Richard, who's your daddy? .

Hey, Richard.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, good morning.

This is an extraordinary tale that absolutely took everybody by surprise. It wasn't a newspaper that was actually involved. What happened was they learned of this scandal. Somebody was going to try and prove that Prince Harry wasn't the son of Prince Charles. And to do it, they were going to get a femme fatale to come along and pluck a strand from his hair -- from his head, we assume anyway, and test it for DNA, the idea being it would prove you could test it with Hewitt. The police got wind of it, and warned the palace.

This is the sort of thing that we've been seeing in the newspapers over the past few years, because the other side of the Hewitt story, first of all, he's supposed to be Harry's dad, but the second thing is, he's also been trying to sell the letters that his one-time lover Diana wrote him for about 10 million pounds, about $16 million. So the papers, Daryn, absolutely (UNINTELLIGIBLE) of this salacious story, the sort of thing that really you wouldn't believe unless it was actually in the British tabloids.

KAGAN: Absolutely. And people read and believe the stuff, right?

QUEST: Well, no one's quite sure on the Harry and the hair story. It sounds almost too incredible to be true. But the question of Harry's parentage, and I don't want to get unsavory, not at this time of the morning in your part of the world, that would be just disagreeable at least, but the question of whether or not Charles is the father. Now, let me just read, this is from the book "Diana," written by the bodyguard. Diana apparently told the bodyguard that -- her bodyguard -- that Charles was the father. She said "I don't know how my husband and I did have Harry, because by then, he had gone back to Camilla." This book of bedtime stuff.

KAGAN: Keep going. Keep going.

QUEST: But one thing is absolutely certain is that we did. So Hewitt's trying to flog the letters. We don't know who Harry's dad is. We haven't got the hair to test the DNA. It's another day in the British royal family.

KAGAN: Absolutely. It's been quite an interesting week. Tell me a little bit more about this intruder who stopped by for directions, I think, and ended up inside St. James palace with Prince Charles.

QUEST: Well, you know, I've not read that lately. It wouldn't surprise me, though, because the security at the palace is a real issue. You'll remember, some years ago, of course, there was the break-in at Buckingham Palace. Now, on that occasion, Michael Fagan actually got inside the palace, sat on the queen's bed until she was able to ask him if he wanted a cigarette. I didn't she smoked, but I don't know, she got rid of him.

On this occasion, I can imagine what happened. St. James Palace, which is in the heart of London, not that far from me at the moment, not particularly secure, open. You can walk through various parts of it. The royals, I'm afraid to say, need more security.

KAGAN: It sounds like it, if nothing else, to keep the likes of you, Richard, from stopping by if you live that close.

QUEST: I've never been allowed to get closer than me to you.

KAGAN: Richard, only you can explain the royals to us. You know, a lot of that is kind of foreign and we don't understand it over here in America, but when we bring you on, somehow it's all so clear. We appreciate it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com