Before Prince Harry was married to Meghan Markle, he spent several years in a relationship with Chelsy Davy. Harry released his memoir, Spare, on Jan. 10, and he reminisces about his relationship with Chelsy in the book. The two dealt with a lot of ups and downs throughout their relationship, and the never-ending attention from the press and paparazzi wound up being their downfall. Chelsy was not able to handle the lifestyle that came with being in a relationship with Harry. Learn more about the pair’s romance and where Chelsy is today here:
Harry first mentions Chelsy in his book while recalling a trip to Cape Town in March 2004. He and a friend were looking for people to invite over for dinner, but didn’t know anyone who lived in Cape Town. That’s when Harry recalled meeting a girl from South Africa “years earlier” at the Berkshire Polo Club. “I remembered her being…different,” Harry revealed.
Harry wound up giving Chelsy a call and inviting her over. She showed up with her brother and a friend. “Turned out, my memory hadn’t lied. She was…different,” Harry confirmed. “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 during the barbecue. Different.” Harry noticed that Chelsy didn’t seem interested in his family, title or royal life. “She knew nothing about my biography, less than nothing about my family,” Harry shared. “Better yet, she was remarkably incurious.”
When Harry revealed that he and his friend were headed to Botswana the next day, Chelsy and her friend canceled their plans to join them. Chelsy and Harry had their first kiss during that three-day trip, “under the stars,” he recalled. After they separated, Harry showed up at Chelsy’s door just days later. However, once they arrived back in Britain, the paparazzi began swarming. “I advised Chelsy to treat it like a chronic illness, something to be managed,” Harry said. “But she wasn’t sure she wanted to have a chronic illness.” At that point, he was busy preparing for the military, and came to terms with the fact that things might be over between him and Chelsy.
When Harry was in military training, he kept in contact with Chelsy via text. She was his date to his “passing out” ceremony, where he officially became Second Lieutenant Wales of the Blues & Royals. However, Harry became a target as a soldier, and he was not able to go to war like he wanted. Instead, he took Chelsy to Botswana in 2007 to meet some of the most important people in his life who lived there.
Harry eventually became a trained pilot and began training to go to war. It was at this point that he and Chelsy had a”difficult chat” over the phone. “She knew I cared about her but she felt unseen,” Harry wrote. “She knew how desperate I was to go to war. How could she not forgive my being a bit detached? I was taken aback.” Still, even though the press began reporting that Harry and Chelsy had broken up, that was far from the truth. “She’d given me a touching, tender farewell and promised to wait for me,” Harry confirmed.
During one of Harry’s breaks from the war, he began wondering more about his future with Chelsy, who hadn’t asked him about what he experienced in combat. “Did she tiptoe around the subject because she still disliked my going? Or because she knew it would be hard for me to talk about?” Harry wondered. “I wasn’t sure and I felt that she wasn’t sure, that neither of us was sure about anything.” Harry opened up to a friend, Teej, about the situation, admitting that Chelsy didn’t love the “baggage” that came with dating him.
When asked if he could see himself marrying Chelsy, Harry couldn’t give a straightforward answer. “I cherished Chels’ carefree and authentic spirit,” he admitted. “She never worried about what other people thought. She wore short skirts and high boots, danced with abandon, drank as much tequila as I did and I cherished all those things about her…but I couldn’t help worrying how Granny might feel about them. Or the British public. The last thing I wanted was for Chels to change to accommodate them.”
After the trip to Africa, things just got worse, with the paparazzi following Chelsy to and from class, and even tailing her when she was home in Cape Town. She even found a tracking device on her car. “Chels said again that she wasn’t sure if she was up for this,” Harry recalled. “A life time of being stalked? What could I say?” The two went their separate ways.
By 2010, the two were back together, and Chelsy was there when Harry got his wings in May of that year. However, the reunion didn’t last long. “We had no choice — yet again,” Harry admitted. “We had all the same old problems. Nothing had been solved. Also, Chels wanted to travel, have fun, be young, but I was once again on a path to war. I’d soon be shipping off. If we stayed together, we’d be lucky to see each other a handful of times over the next two years, and that was no kind of relationship.” They took one final trip to Bostwana before ending it for good.
Before Prince William’s wedding in April 2011, there were reports that Harry had been phoning Chelsy to ask for advice on his speech. In Spare, Harry confirmed that the rumors were not true. “She and I weren’t in regular touch,” Harry explained. He also added that William checked in with him before inviting Chelsy to his wedding.
“It was hard seeing Chels at Willy’s wedding,” Harry revealed. “There were loads of feelings still there, feelings I’d suppressed, feelings I hadn’t suspected. I also felt a certain way about the hungry-looking men trailing after her, circling her, nagging her to dance. Jealousy got the better of me that night, and I told her so, which made me feel worse, and a bit pathetic.”
Chelsy also attended Harry’s wedding to Meghan in May 2018. However, he did not reference her attendance in his book, nor did he address the rumors that he and Chelsy had “one final phone call” the night before the nuptials.”
Chelsy’s father, Charles Davy, is a Zimbabwean safari farmer and millionaire who reportedly owns about 460 square miles of land in the African country. Chelsy, and her brother Shaun, grew up at their family’s homestead in Zimbabwe. Harry confirmed Chelsy’s background in his book, writing, “Her father owned a big game farm, and that was the fulcrum of her world. Though she’d enjoyed her years at a British boarding school, she’d always hurried home for the holidays.” Harry and Chelsy bonded over their love of Africa when they first met.
Chelsy received a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Cape Town in 2006. She later earned her law degree from Leeds University in 2009. She began working as a trainee solicitor at London law firm Allen & Overy in Sept. 2011, but quit her position in late 2014.
Chelsy studied at the Gemological Institute of America and started a jewelry brand called Aya in July 2016. In 2020, she launched Aya Africa, a luxury travel company. “Aya takes your African dreams and weaves it into reality,” the company’s website says. “We are proficent in our understanding of this diverse destination and supported by an extensive network of industry affiliates.”
Chelsy married Sam Cutmore-Scott in May 2022. It was a private wedding ceremony. In general, Chelsy and Sam have kept their romance very private, but were reportedly dating for three years before tying the knot. They have a son, Leo, who was born in early 2022, before the wedding. Sam is the director of a hospitality company, Bijou Collection, which was founded by his parents.
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