It seems like a monthly thing nowadays – once a month, we have to check in on Chelsy Davy, despite the fact that she and Prince Harry broke up at least five years ago. To be fair, I do think there’s some truth to the rumors/stories that Harry “still holds a candle” for Chelsy. And to be fair, I don’t think Chelsy is really encouraging the speculation that she and Harry might give it another go at some point. Chelsy has a whole new career as a jeweler – she’s started her own jewelry line, and she’s designing jewelry with ethically mined gems. So to promote her new career, Chelsy has been talking. And of course most people want to know about Harry.
Six years after their split, Prince Harry’s ex-girlfriend Chelsy Davy reveals the pair will always remain close. The Zimbabwe-born beauty, who recently unveiled her new jewelry line, Aya, is opening up about her enduring friendship with the prince.
“I think we will always be good friends,” she told The Sunday Times’ style section. After studying at Leeds University in England, Davy entered the legal world, working for London law firm Allen & Overy. But she gave that up two years ago and started down the road to her dream project. And Davy, who was Harry’s first serious longterm girlfriend, is likely to have a big supporter in the prince.
The pair met him in 2004 and they dated on-and-off for about seven years. Davy remains part of Harry’s inner social circle and she frequently attends parties alongside other royal family members, including Princess Eugenie. The pair, who bonded in Africa (after meeting on his gap year between Eton College and the Army) and toured the continent many times together, were wary of the intrusiveness of the media during their relationship.
“I found it tough,” she admitted. “It’s not something you get used to.”
Davy has since thrown herself into her new business. She took a gemology course (“I’m quite a geek like that,” she said about learning about the chemical structure of stones) and has been sourcing the precious raw materials for her delicate jewelry in Zambia herself. The company also helps out by donating to schools in mining areas.
She says that while marriage is a “very beautiful thing” – and is in the cards for the future – for now, she is all about building her brand.
“I want to be my own person,” she said. “I want to create something amazing and make a difference.”
People always yell at me when I say this, but here we go again: I think Chelsy is the gun-shy one. If she wanted to be with Harry, she would make it happen and he would go back to her in a heartbeat. She is the one saying no. She is the one who is ambivalent about marriage. She’s also rightly concerned that if she did end up with Harry, she would have to give up her goals, her dreams, her privacy, her lifestyle. So what is Harry doing? Is he pining away for Chelsy? Or is he just discreetly dating different women? Or is he trying to find his “Kate,” the middle-class girl with princess fantasies who is all-too-willing to give up everything to be royal?
Photos courtesy of Getty, WENN.
She’s definitely the one that got away.
But I think Harry’s problem is that he likes feisty, independent women and his status doesn’t mesh well with a feisty, independent wife. If he was a little less royal (say, William’s cousin instead of brother), these two would have sealed the deal years ago.
I actually see Harry being single into his early forties and then marrying someone “inappropriate” because by then the palace will be so happy to see him married, they will actually be ok with a wife that has a life of her own.
I agree – especially the part about Harry’s prolonged bachelorhood. Chelsy and Harry always looked so passionate and happy together, looking in to each other’s eyes and laughing. I really liked them together.
God she’s a pretty girl. Reminds me of Sienna Miller, both physically and (from what I can imagine) in personality.
She has a certain spark about her doesn’t she? I think I’ll always be partial to her.
Agreed. Some of it is her willingness to smile genuinely and not do that posed mouth only slightly smiling thing a lot of celebs do.
She has grown on me. I wish they would get back together.
I disagree on her being the one making decisions in their relationship. They were two 20’s somethings that were great friends and having as much sex as possible. Usually with each other but, not always.
Theirs was not some fairytale love. They fought a lot and there were break ups, times where there was proof Harry was going out with others. He trusted her but, she wasn’t the one that got away.
I agree. As I’ve commented once before, I am fed up by people always portraying Harry as the one waiting for Chelsy. They’ve been over for 6 years now after multiple breakups in the years before. That doesn’t show some kind of fairytale love, but more a relationship by young people who’ve hardly been living in the same place at the same time and when they did, they broke up after a few weeks. They probably were passionate about each other, but they never had a healthy relationship.
No, Harry is not sitting at home crying after Chelsy and would take her back in a heartbeat. Give the guy some credit.
I think both Harry and Chelsy have moved on. The comments about marriage and wanting to be “her own person” are the diplomatic, but very clear way of indicating why she didn’t go forward with Harry. It’s very important for someone to explore themselves before settling down like that. You don’t want to lose yourself in the other person and/or relationship. I think that sense of loss feels even greater when the public essentially attaches you to your significant other (even years after the breakup).
ETA: In regards to them always being good friends, the social circles and dating pools of the aristocracy are so small that I can’t imagine people have any choice but to end things well and/or eventually get back on good terms.
I think it was a mutual parting due to different wants, needs, goals being an issue. No one wanted to bend first even if they wanted the other. Just my take. Sacrifice is hard when walking away is easier with so many options and distractions of youth and wealth. If they met in a small town with less pressure and no titles, odds are they would probably be breeding by now. Not sure if that’s a good thing or not…
I totally get it if Chelsy’s not into the life, because she already has the status and money that being royal would confer, but from the palace’s perspective, I don’t really see her occupation as an ethical jewelry designer as a hurdle. Isn’t that kind of a good job for the wife of the spare? It’s not controversial, it relies on her tight little social circle, and it’s flexible.
In the BRF, the wife of the spare wouldn’t be allowed to have a job. They tried that with Edward and Sophie (failed). They tried it with Sarah Ferguson and it mostly failed (books she published before they divorced). It worked a little better for Anne’s two husbands, but that was because Anne was fourth down, they both refused titles, and neither was ever a working royal.
I wasn’t a fan of her initially, during the perma tan phase, but she is now definitely my favourite of Harry’s precious girlfriends.
I found Cressida utterly wet in comparison.
Hahaha. I agree about Cressida!
Relationships are generally about compromise. They work because two people like each other enough to find solutions. That is, IF they like or love each other enough.
I just never believed this ‘I don’t want marriage or a relationship with him/her because I want to be my own person’. The two are not mutually exclusive. Actually, that is the magic of love, to experience yourself and the world with a partner by your side. That’s it. You can still have a job, travel and be yourself in a relationship, IF you find the person that likes you enough to be with you through it all and to find solutions to whatever comes your way. There are solutions to all kinds of relationship problems if the partners want to stay together. And yeah, I think there must be a solution even to Harry being a royal.
I hope Harry is not hung up on her because I see no real affection in her words, just lines. Maybe in reality they know they are just friends and these words are just for the press.
“no real affection in her words”? If she was anything other than circumspect, the stories would be all about how she is pining for Harry. If she refused to speak of him at all, they would spin it as, “she cannot bear to speak of him” or some other lies. As it stands, years after they stopped dating, the stories are still mostly about their former relationship instead of her new jewelry line.
You can be an independent, successful person and be a successful royal. Those are not mutually exclusive. It is possible that they were each other’s first love, not meant to be forever, and she knew she never wanted to be a part of the silliness of a royal family long-term. There is no solution to that problem in this case, because his wife will be required to be a working royal.
I like her. I want to be her friend.