Prince Harry has revealed why Chelsy Davy was “unlike so many other girls” he had dated. The Duke of Sussex claims in his new explosive book “Spare” that one of the Royal Family’s bodyguards, Marko, “encouraged” him to call the Zimbabwean businesswoman during a trip to Cape Town in 2004. Harry, 38, had originally met Ms Davy At the Berkshire Polo Club years earlier and thought she was “different” from others.
Recalling the moment he asked her to come over for dinner, Harry said: “To my surprise, the number was still active. And she answered. Stammering, I reminded her who I was, told her I was in her city and wondered if she would like to come.”
To Harry’s joy, Ms Davy accepted the invitation, so long as she could bring a friend and her brother.
He adds: “It turned out that the memory hadn’t fooled me. She was… different. That was the word that popped into my head when I first met her, and the one I thought of on that most recent encounter, and then again and again at the barbecue. Different.
“Unlike so many people I knew, she seemed totally oblivious to appearances, to my royal status. Unlike so many other girls I’d met, she wasn’t imagining how the crown would look on her as soon as she shook my hand.”
The Duke goes on to discuss how things instantly hit off with Chelsy, who was free of what he dubs “throne syndrome”, and adds he saw a future with her as “a real possibility”.
After the meeting, the two began dating and Ms Davy pursued a law degree in Leeds, which allowed him to continue seeing her.
Ms Davy, now 37, is said to have met the Queen at a society wedding during her relationship with Harry, and attended Princess Diana’s memorial service alongside Harry on the 10th anniversary of her death.
She was also invited to Prince Charles’ 60th birthday.
Speaking to The Times in 2017, Ms Davy opened up about the press attention she received while with Prince Harry.
She said: “It was so full-on: crazy and scary and uncomfortable. I found it very difficult when it was bad. I couldn’t cope.”
The pair have remained close friends despite calling their relationship off in 2011.
Ms Davy was also invited to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding in 2018 and Princess Eugenie’s wedding to Jack Brooksbank later that year.
In May 2022, Davy married hotelier Sam Cutmore-Scott and gave birth to their son, Leo, earlier that year.
