But as the congregation stood in anticipation of the arrival of the bride, there was perhaps just one person whose feelings must have been different. Clutching her Order of Service, Chelsy Davy stood as the magnitude of the occasion began to grip each and every guest. Harry’s ex had been invited to attend the Royal Wedding, both because of her continued friendship with William and Kate and the fact she was still good friends with Harry. As a thousand pairs of eyes focused on the beautiful Royal bride, Chelsy must surely have been wondering ‘what if?’
Her split from Harry stemmed in no small part from her inability to cope with all the baggage that comes with dating a prince. If ever Chelsy needed reminding of what she had given up, the sight of this occasion laid bare everything she dreaded about committing to Harry. The little barefoot tomboy who grew up surrounded by animals on her father’s African ranch could never have imagined she would one day be watching a global spectacle like this.
As the guests waited for William to arrive not twenty minutes earlier, I had spotted Chelsy sitting in her seat three rows back from the front. She was alone and although immaculately dressed, didn’t look at all comfortable. I noticed her fiddling with the Order of Service, almost awkwardly trying to focus on something as she waited.
Had things been different, had her relationship with Harry continued, she must have known it could have been her at the centre of such an occasion. By her own admission Chelsy hated being photographed. Despite her stunning looks, she had always felt awkward in the public gaze. By turning her back on Harry, she turned her back on the kind of limelight that she would never be able to cope with.
While Kate craves being normal with William, she has never struggled with the big occasion or the trappings of being a Royal girlfriend or wife. No one could ever get used to this level of attention, but from the start of their relationship dating a Royal never seemed to affect Kate in the way it had haunted Chelsy. Sure, there were things Kate hated about the baggage that came with her role. The focus on her family and friends, the photographers following her in the street and the constant stream of bitchiness fired at her through the pages of the gossip columns. But in the end Kate was willing to ride the worst aspects for the sake of being with the man she loved.
Chelsy, however, was unable to cope with what a life with Harry would entail. The sad thing about this impasse was that in a way her reluctance to date a prince made her a perfect match for Harry, who longed for a relationship with someone he could trust.
From her vantage point at the side of the abbey, Chelsy would have looked on with very mixed emotions. Everyone enjoys seeing two friends finally tie the knot. But for her, the significance of what she was seeing held a far deeper meaning, and according to one of her close friends Chelsy admitted after the wedding that it made her feel sick to the stomach.
‘Chelsy will always hold a special place in her heart for Harry,’ the friend said. ‘But William and Kate’s wedding day was a watershed for her. Seeing the scale and the magnitude of the day convinced Chelsy that she and Harry were right to separate. While Harry and Chelsy both share a love of Africa and the outdoors, the wedding really brought home the reality that they come from different worlds.
‘Deep down Harry must have hoped his brother’s wedding may have softened Chelsy. But it had the opposite effect. The last thing Chelsy would ever want is to be thrust in front of the cameras in that way. She is a private person, she enjoys the simple things in life. This kind of circus would suffocate her soul.’
Of course in the end few commentators focused on Chelsy that day. Amid the excitement of the occasion most became side-tracked by another possible suitor for the handsome officer and eligible best man. That attention went, unfairly, to Kate’s younger sister, Pippa. At the time she was single, and the image of her bending down to adjust her sister’s dress on the steps of Westminster Abbey became a talking point all over the world.
Pippa the bridesmaid was, in line with tradition, walked back down the aisle by Harry, causing a frenzy of speculation that the two shared a chemistry. This was as much an embarrassment to Harry as it was to Kate’s chief bridesmaid, but in the end it served as an unlikely if welcome diversion for Chelsy.
Pippa looked fabulous as she dutifully helped her sister through the big day. For many people this was the first time Kate’s younger sister had been seen on the world stage. In Britain she was already well known, thanks to her good looks and the list of wealthy young men she classed as friends. But on the global stage, the wedding day helped elevate Pippa to instant stardom, and talk of Harry and Chelsy fell right off the agenda. It wouldn’t be long before Chelsy was dating again and Harry began to try his luck elsewhere.
The wedding of William and Kate, memorable for so many reasons, will always mark the end for Harry and Chelsy. Without a sea-change in her life, Chelsy will remain convinced that she and Harry were not to be.
CHAPTER 18
HARRY’S OTHER WOMEN
William and Kate’s fabulous wedding day had once again focused the eyes of the world on the British Royal family. The fairy tale romance between the future king and his first serious girlfriend had viewers across the globe glued to their television sets. Proof, if it were needed, that the public’s fascination with the British House of Windsor was as strong as ever.
The ‘living museum’ had a new exhibit, and the sight of the stunningly beautiful Kate walking down the aisle was enough to make even the most staunch republican wonder what other public ceremony could define a country so completely. It was a triumph for a family whose future role had not that many years before been called into doubt. Since the tragic death of Princess Diana, her sons had stepped up to the plate and the dark days of divorce and scandal were safely confined to the past.
But as her elder son tied the knot, guaranteeing the legacy would continue, the question many were beginning to ask was ‘What about Harry?’ When his relationship with Chelsy Davy was in full swing, the pair seemed inseparable, and they shared a love of Africa, the outdoors and wild parties that made them seem to the outside world a perfect match. But this romance had run its course by the time Kate had made an honest man of her prince. Harry was single, and the sight of him standing by his brother’s side on that April day in 2011 had merely highlighted the fact. For most people who follow the ins and outs of the Royal soap opera, their fondness for Diana’s youngest son was matched only by their desire to see him too find a soulmate.
Rumours about the supposed spark between the best man and chief bridesmaid that day were nothing more than wishful speculation. Pippa and Harry, although good friends, would never be an item. Even if their respective siblings had allowed it, they had very little in common beyond their ceremonial duties that day. So it was little surprise that when Kate and William set off for their first overseas tour together in June that year, their arrival in Canada would be overshadowed by events back home. Just a few weeks after the wedding day, red-blooded Harry had struck up a friendship with the ex-girlfriend of Formula One racing champ Jenson Button.
There was no need to explain what it was about the leggy lingerie model turned actress that had caught Harry’s eye. Besides her stunning looks, Florence Brudenell-Bruce ticked just about every box when it came to finding a suitor for a prince. Educated at a posh private school and with a history of art degree to her name, Flee – as she was known to friends – was a 25-year-old society girl whose ancestors included James Thomas Brudenell, the Seventh Earl of Cardigan, one of Britain’s most famous war heroes. Her wine merchant father Andrew was, like Harry, an Old Etonian, and the family were so well bred that she was actually a distant relative of her new boyfriend.
Unlike Chelsy, Flee seemingly had no problem with being in the limelight – in fact she appeared to enjoy it. During her fling with Button she had spoken openly about the romance and never seemed to complain about being splashed all over the pages of glossy magazines. Perhaps this is why news of their fledgling relationship was greeted with such high expectatio
ns among the seasoned Royal reporters. After years of a turbulent on-off relationship with Chelsy, had Harry finally found ‘the one’?
It was The Sun that broke the story after Harry’s black Audi A3 car was spotted outside Flee’s £2.5million flat in London’s trendy Notting Hill. The palace advisers made no attempt to deny the relationship – yet another clue that it was serious. From the outside looking in, it appeared that Harry and Flee were the perfect match, a beautiful couple who, it was hoped, would follow in the footsteps of William and Kate. But unfortunately this whirlwind romance was over before it had barely got off the ground. Only a few weeks after the widespread media speculation had raged, the couple had split, dashing hopes of a new fairy tale for the Royal family.
Harry’s infatuation with art collector Flee may have been real, but after their split her friends revealed that she found it impossible to cope with Harry’s flirting with other girls. Only weeks into the romance, Flee had questioned whether they had any future together, not least – claimed her friends – because of the level of female attention he received. A source close to Flee said: ‘She felt he had a wandering eye all the time, and she wasn’t really into not knowing who he was flirting with or talking to when they were apart. So she ended it. She didn’t want to carry on in a relationship that wasn’t going to go anywhere. Call it a summer fling. They both enjoyed themselves but Flee wasn’t interested in taking things further.’
Things were said to have come to a head, according to the same source, when the couple went to the upmarket Kimberley music festival in Norfolk later that summer. ‘At one point Harry was in an area of the festival known as the Tractor Shed, flirting with another pretty blonde. Flee saw he was chatting to her and got very jealous and disappointed.’ Then Harry, who was twenty-six at the time, was spotted surrounded by bikini-clad girls after a friend’s wedding on the Spanish isle of Majorca.
Another of Flee’s friends thought the break-up was partly caused by what she called the ‘Chelsy factor’. She said: ‘Harry had been with Chelsy for a long time and although he made it clear to Flee that the relationship was over, it was obvious he still had feelings for her. From time to time Harry would talk about places where he would like to take Flee on holiday. Unfortunately, these were often the same places where he and Chelsy had enjoyed time together. She saw this as a bit of a warning sign and never felt too comfortable.’
Less than two years after the split with Harry, Flee would quash any chances of the affair being rekindled when she married multi-millionaire Henry St George in a lavish ceremony in the south of France. The public focus on the relationship between Harry and Flee slipped away almost as quickly as it had surfaced. But it did leave one lingering question. How would Harry ever find someone he could enjoy a serious relationship with after Chelsy?
When William and Kate first met they were both students at St Andrews in Scotland. Because he remained in full-time education, William was seen as ‘off limits’ to the press. It was in the context of this vacuum that their friendship was able to blossom. Sadly for Harry, the agreement to give the boys space in the wake of their mother’s death had long since expired by the time he found himself in his late twenties and single. Trying to find love is hard enough at the best of times without having to accept the intense public interest in who you choose to date.
This subject has riveted the press just as much as it has frustrated Harry and his team of advisers. While he accepts that his position as a senior member of the British Royal family means there will always be a preoccupation with his love life, in reality it has made it even harder for Harry to hold down a long-term relationship.
It was several years after his split from Flee that Harry finally spoke out about the difficulties he faced in finding a girlfriend. In an interview marking the start of the Invictus games for wounded soldiers, Harry told an American TV station he was prioritizing his work over his love life until his nephew Prince George was old enough to make him look ‘boring’. While accepting that the Royal family is ‘completely aware that we are in a very privileged position,’ he said the level of attention his love life received had made the job of finding a girlfriend harder.
He went on to admit feeling ‘massive paranoia’ about even talking to women, because of the attention. ‘Even if I talk to a girl, that person is then suddenly my wife, and people go knocking on her door,’ he said. ‘If or when I do find a girlfriend, I will do my utmost to ensure that me and her can get to the point where we’re comfortable before the massive invasion that is inevitably going to happen into her privacy,’ he said.
‘To be fair, I haven’t had that many opportunities to get out there and meet people. At the moment, my focus is very much on work. But if someone slips into my life then that’s absolutely fantastic. When people finish work in the City or wherever work is, if you want to have a bit of downtime, you might go to the pub with your mates,’ he said. ‘I do that less, because it’s not downtime for me. I don’t know who I’m going to bump into, I don’t know if someone’s going to try and grab a selfie. So there is very little private life.’
Whether or not people sympathize with Harry’s frustration, the reality is that there is another, far more difficult force to control than the media. The advent of social media has made it even more difficult for Harry to have a girlfriend in the public eye. The press can, and often does, rein itself in when the view of the readers is that they have overstepped the mark. But this does nothing to stem the tide of social media trolls who can use the internet as a platform to make unkind, inaccurate and, at times, downright unpleasant remarks.
The first time this issue was really brought home to Harry was when he embarked on his next relationship following the fling with Flee.
Being part of a human caterpillar is perhaps not the most conventional way of gaining the attention of the British press. But then again, when the two legs in front of you inside the costume belong to a princess, it is perhaps not that surprising that you find yourself on the front pages of the national papers the following day.
It was April 2010, and the Duke of York’s eldest daughter, Princess Beatrice, had agreed to take part in a world record attempt. She, along with twenty-eight other runners, would attempt the London Marathon and in so doing earn a place in Guinness World Records for ‘the most people to complete the 26 mile run while tied together’. Behind Beatrice in the caterpillar was a model called Cressida Bonas, the daughter of four-times-married Lady Mary-Gaye Georgiana Lorna Curzon, famously one of the Sixties ‘It’ girls.
Even without the caterpillar suit, the stunning model’s background, and her friendship with Harry’s cousins, Beatrice and Eugenie, made a chance meeting with the Royal considered to be the most eligible bachelor in the world a dead cert. In May 2012 the inevitable finally happened when Cressy – as she is known – was introduced to Harry as she rubbed shoulders with the great and the good at the Valley festival on a friend’s Hampshire estate.
Despite the famous falling-out between Princess Diana and Sarah, Duchess of York – the pair are said to have blanked each other in the year leading up to Diana’s death – Harry has always had a soft spot for his cousins. Similar in age, they were playmates at numerous family get-togethers, and perhaps because he never had a sister, he formed a close bond with Bea and Eugenie which continues to this day.
The daughters of the Duke and Duchess of York are famed for their social life, mixing in the circles of the children of the wealthy elite and titled families alike. So it was no surprise that when Harry noticed the pretty, slim blonde by his cousin’s side he was captivated. Having been single for more than six months, he couldn’t take his eyes off the mysterious, bohemian-looking girl next to Eugenie.
‘Harry, this is Cressy, she was one of the caterpillars,’ joked the princess, keen to play the role of cupid-in-chief for her close friends. After a few minutes of small talk, Eugenie slipped away, confident that her matchmaking powers were working. Of course Cressida knew all about her cousin�
��s friend, his ups and downs, his life as a pilot and his taste for beautiful women. But she must have also known that when it came to catching the prince’s eye, she ticked all the boxes. She too was blonde, well educated and from a family with historic ties to the Royals. Eugenie may well have been planning the chance encounter for a long time, knowing that Harry would not be able to resist the carefree nature of her beautiful friend.
Unlike many in the Royals’ circle, Cressy was outgoing, enjoyed letting her hair down and was more than capable of giving Harry a run for his money. A model for fashion house Burberry, she had attended Stowe, Chelsy’s old school, before moving to university in Leeds, where Harry’s old flame had also studied. The couple had a great deal in common and their friendship quickly turned into romance. Unusually for Harry, within two weeks they even stepped out in public together at the premiere of the Batman film The Dark Knight Rises.
As seems always to be the case with Harry, he fell head over heels within days of meeting his latest squeeze. Every break he had from his helicopter training was spent rushing to be by Cressy’s side. This was the first real relationship he had had since splitting with Chelsy and it gave him the warm feeling inside that he had craved for so long.
Within weeks Cressy was Harry’s official plus one when he attended the birthday of Sam Branson, son of Virgin tycoon Richard. They shared a room on the family island of Necker before Harry flew to Las Vegas with his mates. It is perhaps testament to how quickly their romance had blossomed that it survived the revelations that Harry had stripped naked during a game of pool in the suite he shared with his close friends. Even the sight of other women splashed all over the front pages was not enough to break the budding relationship.
When Harry returned to Afghanistan for his second tour of duty, this time as an Apache pilot, Cressy stayed dutifully at home waiting for his e-mails and texts to say he was OK. Their time apart simply brought them closer together, and when Harry returned from his four-month deployment, the relationship reached another level.
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