Who Is Chelsy Davy—Prince Harry's Ex He Feared Would Be 'Harassed To Death'

Before he met and married Meghan Markle, Prince Harry embarked on a number of high-profile relationships with women within the orbit of the royal family and British high society.

Of his relationships, the most prominent was with Zimbabwe-born Chelsy Davy, whose family ran a big game farm in South Africa. Within months of their relationship becoming public, Davy was a figure of intense public interest—something Harry has since spoken of his, and her, discomfort over.

In court filings, made as part of his ongoing lawsuit against the publishers of the British tabloid Daily Mail over historic phone-hacking and privacy invasion allegations, the prince said that Davy was the victim of unlawful information-gathering techniques such as wiretapping and bugging.

The media intrusion, the prince said, made Davy feel as if she was being "hunted." In the end, he said, she questioned whether she wanted a "lifetime of being stalked?"

Here, Newsweek looks at who Chelsy Davy is and what Prince Harry has said about their relationship in both his memoir and court filings.

Who Is Chelsy Davy?

Chesly Davy was born in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe in 1985—the daughter of Charles Davy, a South African big game farmer and Beverley Donald Davy, a former winner of the Miss Rhodesia beauty contest.

Davy was educated in England and spent her school vacations at her family home in South Africa. She attended Cheltenham College, not far from Prince William and Harry's childhood home at Highgrove in Gloucestershire, though the pair did not meet until their teenage years.

After school, Davy began a course of study at the University of Cape Town in economics and went on to undertake a law degree at the University of Leeds in England.

While in Cape Town in 2004, Davy received a call from Prince Harry who she had met some months earlier at a polo match in the U.K. He invited her to dinner at the British Consulate-General where he was staying with friends.

From there, the couple developed a relationship which was soon made public.

Davy has not spoken to the press about her relationship with the prince, and after the pair ended their relationship in 2011, they remained friends. Davy was invited to the royal weddings of both Harry and his brother, William.

In 2022, it was revealed that Davy had married her long-term boyfriend, hospitality industrialist Sam Cutmore-Scott. She gave birth to her first child earlier that year.

Today, Davy heads up her own jewelry company, Aya, which draws inspiration from its founder's upbringing in Africa.

What Did Prince Harry Say About Chelsy Davy in Spare?

Since their breakup, Chelsy Davy has not spoken in-depth about her experiences as Prince Harry's girlfriend. However, in his 2023 memoir Spare, the prince gave his side of their life together, including the pressures placed on the relationship by the press.

On meeting her for a second time in South Africa in 2004—the starting point of their relationship—Harry described his initial impression of Davy as "different."

"She was...different," he wrote. "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.

"Unlike so many people I knew, she seemed wholly unconcerned with appearances, with propriety, with royalty. Unlike so many girls I met, she wasn't visibly fitting herself for a crown the moment she shook my hand."

After bonding over their shared love of Africa, and spending a few days together during his visit, the prince wrote of his deepening feelings but added when the couple returned to London, the press attention became difficult for Davy.

The couple's relationship began its closure after Harry's first tour of duty with the British Army in Afghanistan from 2007 to 2008. Shortly afterward, he spent time in South Africa with friends who became like surrogate parents, Tania "Teej" Jenkins and Mike Holding.

"Teej asked point-blank if I could see myself married to Chels," he wrote.

"I tried to explain. I cherished Chels's carefree and authentic spirit. 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. And the last thing I wanted was for Chels to change to accommodate them.

"I wanted so badly to be a husband, a father...but I just wasn't sure. 'It takes a certain kind of person to withstand the scrutiny, Teej, and I don't know if Chels can handle it. I don't know that I want to ask her to handle it.'"

Later, Harry recounted that Davy was increasingly concerned about how the press knew her whereabouts and the contents of her private messages. After telling her brother to inspect her car, Harry said a tracking device was found on Davy's car.

"Chels said again that she just wasn't sure if she was up for this," he wrote. "A lifetime of being stalked? What could I say? I'd miss her, so much. But I completely understood her desire for freedom. If I had a choice, I wouldn't want this life either."

The couple ended their relationship in early 2011, coming face to face again at Prince William's wedding in April. Though the prince admitted to feeling "a certain way" when he saw other men watching Davy dance at the reception, the couple moved on to other partners, with the prince eventually settling down with Meghan Markle after their meeting in 2016.

What Did Prince Harry Say About Chelsy Davy in His Court Filings?

Prince Harry referenced Chelsy Davy in court filings associated with his unlawful information-gathering lawsuit against Associated Newspapers Limited in 2023.

He gave examples of stories he alleges the publisher acquired information for through illegal means such as phone-hacking, bugging, or wiretapping. In one story, relating to a private vacation taken by the prince on which Davy surprised him by attending, he wrote: "I was never suspicious of Chelsy in relation to stories like this but I was of her friends. If I saw this story at the time, I would have been very frustrated and angry."

These invasions of privacy, he said made Davy feel "shaken."

"This intrusion was terrifying for Chelsy: it made her feel like she was being hunted and the press had caught her and it was terrifying for me too because there was nothing I could do to stop it and now she was in my world," the filing, seen by Newsweek, read.

"She was 'shaken' and I was really paranoid about trying to protect our privacy, as the article says. Their behavior and treatment of Chelsy [were] not normal. I was scared that Chelsy was going to run in the opposite direction or be chased and harassed to death."

The lawsuit is ongoing with initial hearings scheduled to close on Thursday with a deferred judgment expected shortly thereafter.

Newsweek has approached Chelsy Davy by email via her jewelry band, Ava, for comment.

James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek's royal reporter based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.

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