Swipe left? Di’s Hewitt seeks love on Tinder
He achieved notoriety by going public with details of his affair with Princess diana, conducted in secret as her marriage to the Prince of Wales disintegrated.
But even now, some 35 years after first becoming diana’s riding instructor and then worming his way into her affections, James hewitt betrays no sign of declining into a respectable dotage.
i can disclose that the former household cavalry officer, now 62, is on the prowl once more, this time using the dating app Tinder, on which you swipe left to reject someone, or right to match with them.
Naming himself simply ‘James’, hewitt has posted a vintage photograph of himself, sporting sunglasses and well-groomed copper hair, as he pauses while enjoying a day on the slopes.
‘he’s not in France, he’s in devon,’ one of his contemporaries assures me, adding that hewitt is eager to make the acquaintance of West country divorcees aged about 50, perhaps especially those living close to dartmoor.
after parting from diana, the boulevardier enjoyed a number of entanglements, notably with Big Brother star Lisa Jeynes and effervescent glamour model cassie Sumner, who subsequently caught Prince harry’s eye during his carefree bachelor days.
‘he seemed fascinated with my breasts,’ cassie reflected after her encounter with the young Prince. ‘he spent more time looking at them than my face.’
hewitt suffered a stroke and a heart attack in 2017, then demonstrated admirable powers of recovery by accompanying a mystery blonde, many years his junior, to devon’s chagstock music festival in 2018.
he’s disinclined to elaborate on his reasons for trying his luck on Tinder. ‘i spoke to James about this and there is no comment,’ his agent, Teresa Quinlan, tells me.
Prospective dates should perhaps bear just two things in mind. hewitt can be an expensive taste, as diana found. ‘entirely dressed him, from head to foot, that man,’ she reflected. and he lives in a twobedroom flat with his mother.