Now that Prince William is getting marriage, attention is naturally being paid to the spare, Prince Harry and when he will walk down the aisle. Specifically will he walk down the aisle with his long time on/off girlfriend Chelsy Davy or will there soon be someone else on the horizon? If Kate Middleton is in the Princess Diana mold (but without the emotional baggage), royal watchers speculate whether Chelsy Davy is in the Sarah Ferguson mold (jolly, loads of fun but hopefully better able to manage her money). While Kate Middleton worked briefly as an accessories buyer for Jigsaw and then for her parents company, Party Pieces, while waiting for her Prince to propose, Chelsy Davy is pursuing a law career. Which would make her more Cherie Blair than Fergie!
Chelsy and Harry have had a famously tempestuous relationship ever since they met in 2005 when Chelsy was attending the posh Cheltenham Ladies College when she was 19 and Prince Harry was 20. The pair managed to keep the relationship under wraps until that November when they were seen on holiday together at a remote polo lodge near Buenos Aires (Harry like his brother, father and grandfather is mad about polo!). Shortly after, Prince William in an uncharacteristic moment of candor admitted that his brother was madly in love (basically he threw him under the bus to keep reporters off his back about his own love life). The couple maintained a long-distance relationship for 3 years while Chelsy attended college back at the University of Capetown where she studied economics. The Zimbabwe born Chelsy grew up at her family's homestead in the Lemco Safara Area, where her father runs his safari companies. Luckily for Chelsy, Prince Harry like his brother, adores Africa.
By this time, the couple had already weathered rumors of the Prince's alleged cheating after Harry celebrated the end of his military training at Sandhurst by blowing off steam at nearby lapdancing club. That wasn't the only instance where the media reported that the Prince had a roving eye. After university and several months traveling extensively in the US, Chelsy moved to the UK to study law at Leeds in 2007 in order to spend more time with her prince. The couple seperated for the first time that fall when Harry missed Chelsy's birthday party to attend the Rugby World Cup final in Paris. Chelsy reportedly told her friends that she 'needed space to carve out her own identity' and that Harry needed to do some growing up but the pair reconciled a few weeks later.
Unlike Prince William and Kate Middleton who made a pact not to show affection in public, Harry and Chelsy were always very tactile with each other. If fact, it could be said that they couldn't keep their hands off each other. The two certainly had alot in common. Unlike Kate Middleton who is a lightweight when it comes to drinking, and is always perfectly coiffed and ladylike, Chelsy was known to drive around Capetown in college in a silver Mercedes coupe, designer shades holding back her fringe. She likes to live hard, play hard, and study hard.
The biggest fly in the ointment of the relationship (besides Harry's immaturity) was the fact that Chelsy wasn't keen on the media scrutiny. FYI - if you are dating a Prince whose mother is an icon, there is going to be a great deal of media scrutiny. If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen. In an interview published just before his 21st birthday in 2005, the Prince said, "I would love to tell everyone how amazing she is. But, you know, that is my private life and once I start talking about that, then I've left myself own self open, and if anyone asks me in the future, then they'll say 'Oh well hang on, you told them but why aren't you telling us?" Unlike Kate Middleton, who in unprecedented move agreed to provide a royal protection officer, Chelsy was not afforded the same protection. That's the difference between dating the heir and the spare.
In 2008, the couple split up again. This time Chelsy posted the news on her Facebook page when she changed her status to 'Not in a Relationship,' indicating just how serious this breakup actually was. The break-up apparently came about because Harry decided to join the Army Air Corps to train as a helicopter pilot, a minimum 2 year course, meaning that the couple would be spending increasing time apart (Sarah, Duchess of York cited the constant seperations as the reason for her break-up with Prince Andrew, the Duke of York during their 6 year marriage). Reports also surfaced that the Prince preferred to spend his free time with his army buddies than with his girlfriend. You know the one who had moved across the world to be with him.
This time the couple were apart for about eight months. During that time Prince Harry was briefly linked to Sky sports reporter Caroline Flack, but a friend told the Daily Mail's Katie Nicholl "Harry has had a few flings but they have not been serious. He still holds a flame for Chelsy, but they both have to work out whether the relationship can work." Chelsy wasn't lonely for long either, she was linked to several men incuding a property developer named Dan Philipson and nightclub promoter Dominic Rose. Soon the estranged couple were meeting secretly to try and see if they should make another go of it. By September 2009, they were a couple again but the romance didn't last and once again they split up in 2010. Chelsy left England to go back to South Africa to practice law and to travel. It appears, that unlike Kate Middleton, Chelsy wasn't prepared to wait for Harry to grow up or to propose to her.
By 2011, she was back in the UK, to being training at London law firm Allen & Overy. It wasn't long before the couple were spotted around town and speculation has been rife that Chelsy will be Harry's date to big brother William's wedding on the 29th. That is if he makes it back from the Artic in time! Recently Chelsy was seen at the wedding of the Duke of Northumberland's daughter along with Kate Middleton's sister Pippa.
Soon the question remains, will Harry grow up and propose to Chelsy finally? Will Chelsy every learn to deal with the media attention that comes along with being a member of the Royal family.
