Prince Harry has revealed that his ex-girlfriend Chelsy Davy was ‘unlike so many girls he met’ because she didn’t have ‘throne syndrome’ and ‘wasn’t visibly fitting herself for a crown the moment she shook his hand’.
In his bombshell memoir Spare, which hit shelves on Tuesday, the Duke of Sussex, 38, described the moment he reunited with Chelsy in Cape Town, South Africa, in 2004 – after first meeting ‘years earlier’ at the Berkshire Polo Club.
‘She was…different,’ said the royal. ‘That was the word that had come to mind when I first met her, and it immediately came to mind now, and then again and again.’
He continued: ‘Unlike so many people I knew, she seemed wholly unconcerned with appearances, with propriety, with royalty.
Prince Harry has revealed that his ex-girlfriend Chelsy Davy (pictured in 2008) was ‘unlike so many girls he met’ because she didn’t have ‘throne syndrome’ and ‘wasn’t visibly fitting herself for a crown the moment she shook his hand’
‘Unlike so many girls I met, she wasn’t visibly fitting herself for a crown the moment she shook my hand. She seemed immune to that common affliction sometimes called throne syndrome.’
Former City lawyer Chelsy, 37, who is married to successful hotelier Sam Cutmore-Scott, dated Harry on-and-off for six years from 2004.
In his book, Harry recalled how Chelsy seemed ‘bored’ by his title and knew ‘less than nothing’ about his family.
Harry had told friends before they split in 2011 that she was ‘the best thing that’s ever happened to me’.
In his bombshell memoir Spare , which hit shelves today, the Duke of Sussex , 38, described the moment he reunited with Chelsy (pictured together in 2007) in Cape Town, South Africa, in 2004 – after first meeting ‘years earlier’ at the Berkshire Polo Club
They met in England when they were both at school but got together in 2004, during Harry’s gap year travels in Zimbabwe, where Chelsy’s millionaire father owns and runs a game reserve.
The relationship became so serious that palace officials remarked he had started calling her ‘wifey’ and she in turn called him ‘hubby’.
It was clearly serious when Chelsy attended not only Harry’s cousin Peter Phillips’ wedding to Autumn Kelly – where she was introduced to the Queen – but she was also invited to Prince Charles’s 60th birthday celebrations.
But the pressures of their conflicting careers and long periods apart as Harry served in Afghanistan took their toll.
Prince Harry’s bombshell memoir Spare (pictured) was released in the UK today
They split in 2011 and Chelsy, who was born in Zimbabwe and now runs a jewellery and luxury travel business, has remained largely out of the spotlight in the 12 years since.
Elsewhere in his memoir, Harry has claimed Prince William ‘recoiled’ from Meghan Markle’s hug during their awkward first meeting.
He described the moment he introduced his brother, 40, to his girlfriend, 41, as a ‘classic collision of cultures’.
The meeting took place in late 2016 at the Prince and Princess of Wales’s Kensington Palace apartment, shortly before Prince Harry and Prince William went on a shooting trip.
The Duke explains Meghan had already met Princess Eugenie, her then-boyfriend Jack Brooksbank, the Duchess of York, Prince Andrew and the Queen.
Chelsy, who was born in Zimbabwe and now runs a jewellery and luxury travel business, has remained largely out of the spotlight in the 12 years since her split from Prince Harry (pictured together in 2006)
Describing the short walk from Harry and Meghan’s home Nottingham Cottage to Apartment 1A, the duke admitted that he was more nervous for his girlfriend to meet William than anyone else.
When his brother answered the door, Harry says William was a ‘bit dressed up’ in smart trousers and a shirt.
He wrote: ‘I introduced Meg, who leaned in and gave him a hug, which completely freaked him out. He recoiled.’
Giving some context to the awkward encounter, Prince Harry said his brother wouldn’t usually hug someone he didn’t know.
In contrast, Harry explained how this was just Meghan’s way of greeting strangers.
He continued: ‘Maybe Willy expected Meg to curtsey? It would have been protocol when meeting a member of the Royal Family for the first time, but she didn’t know and I didn’t tell her.’
After ‘exchanging a few warm words’ in the doorway, the Prince of Wales invited the couple into the flat – prompting Kate and William’s black cocker spaniel Lupo to start barking.
When the couple asked after Kate, William told them that she was out with their children George and Charlotte.
Following the brief meeting, Meghan returned to spend her first night alone in Nottingham Cottage while the brothers embarked on their shooting trip.
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