‘The girls scared me a bit. Everyone was more grown up than me. I was this innocent, stunted child who’d been brought up in the bush, a little kid. I tell you, 14-year-olds in England are not little kids. I’d never worn make-up and suddenly everyone was in make-up. My eyes were like saucers: “Wow, this is bonkers.” It was very exciting though. People were like: “Who is this weirdo from Zimbabwe?” But I made some fabulous friends.’
It is testament to Chelsy’s character that the ‘Weirdo from Zimbabwe’ quickly fitted in at Stowe, where she was to rub shoulders with the children of some of the richest and most powerful people in the country. Chelsy was bright, and the fact that her parents and brother Shaun were so many miles away forced her to bond with others and make close friends quickly. Soon her sense of humour and her quirkiness had made Chelsy one of the most popular students. And if her schooling in Zimbabwe had left her behind the others academically, she soon caught up.
One former pupil, who was in the year above Chelsy, recalled: ‘She was very different from the other students, but she used that to her advantage. When someone joins the year there is always an interest in the “new girl”. But the fact that she spoke with a broad African accent, and seemed so different to everyone else, made her very popular. It helped that she was naturally very attractive. Many of the boys in her year fancied her and she was seen as a mysterious girl, even though she was a bit of a tomboy.’
Outsider or not, she enjoyed studying in England and passed her A levels with distinction. It was during her time in the lower sixth-form that she was introduced to Prince Harry through a mutual friend. Several of Chelsy’s classmates had friends at Eton and they probably first met at a party or joint school event. Whenever it was, she clearly had made an impression on the prince, who, because of his ‘accident of birth’, has always felt like the odd one out.
In some ways that is exactly what he is, a prince among commoners. But growing up feeling different and being treated differently from everyone else had a profound impact on Harry. He yearned to be normal, hated being treated differently by classmates and people he met from other schools.
So while their upbringings had been poles apart, in Chelsy he found someone who shared his feelings of being different, standing out in their social environments. And it was no surprise that when the young prince visited Cape Town in April 2004 he decided to look Chelsy up and invite her out.
After finishing her A levels, Chelsy had earned a place studying Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Cape Town University in what was a far more familiar environment. By now she was part of a close-knit group of friends who made the most of studying in one of the great cities of the world. Her parents agreed to buy a house in the upmarket Cape Town suburb of Newlands, where she lived with her brother Shaun.
After Chelsy and Harry met at one of her favourite clubs in the city, the pair became very close, and within weeks the prince had invited her to join him for a polo trip to South America.
A friend recalled the whirlwind romance and said: ‘Chelsy was living in Newlands when she started dating Harry. In the first few months their friendship had been kept secret and it wasn’t until she flew to Argentina to spend some time with him that details of their relationship leaked out.
‘They were very good together. They both shared a love for the outdoors and Africa. Because of her upbringing, Chelsy must have seemed like a breath of fresh air for Harry. She must have been very different from the usual girls that caught his eye. She was outgoing, funny and tough, and it was clear from very early on that Harry was mad about her.
‘In the early days things seemed relatively normal. Of course Harry would come and see her at her house with his bodyguards in tow. But other than that he seemed like a normal, fun-loving guy and there’s no doubt Chelsy fancied him rotten. But as soon as their friendship became public I think Chelsy was shocked by all the attention. For someone who is so attractive, she doesn’t like being photographed and being the centre of attention is the last thing she wanted. She saw Harry as a vulnerable and slightly clumsy person with a good heart. She liked to mother him and he enjoyed spending time with her and her brother.’
It is not surprising that Harry found Chelsy’s confidence and strength of character so appealing. And if there was any doubt about how tough she could be, Chelsy also revealed in her interview a horrifying moment that would have traumatized someone less strong.
After finishing a dissertation in her final year at the University of Cape Town, Chelsy and a female pal decided to go out and celebrate with a well-earned drink in a bar just up the road from her house. After a few minutes a gunman stormed in and raided the bar in what must have been a terrifying ordeal for everyone inside.
But recalling what happened that day, Chelsy revealed her steely side in the matter-of-fact way she spoke about it. ‘Very few people in Cape Town escape a run-in with crime,’ she said, and then she described the moment the gunman came up to the table where she and her friend were sitting: ‘He put a gun to my head. They frogmarched us into the kitchen, made us all lie down, patted us for valuables, and said, “The first person to look up we’re going to shoot.” I was holding my friend’s hand, we were both shaking.’
Being robbed at gunpoint and surviving the ordeal of having a weapon held up against her head seemed only to be a minor distraction for Chelsy. For most people the trauma of such an event could have scarred them for many years. But she is tough and clearly able to shrug off what happened as if it was just another life experience that she survived.
Sadly, though, the experience of being the focus of media attention, and the baggage that comes with dating a high-profile Royal, were things that Chelsy found impossible to shrug off with the same ease.
By the time she updated her Facebook profile and announced her split from Harry, Chelsy had decided that there was no future in her relationship with the prince. As soon as she arrived back in the UK after graduating from Cape Town the strains on their relationship were proving too great. And by the time Harry had started his pilot’s course in January 2009 it seemed they would never be able to reconcile their differences.
There were many occasions when Chelsy found herself the centre of media attention purely because of her association with Harry. And this made her feel uneasy. She had never liked being the centre of attention, even as a child. Rumours that she once modelled were found to be untrue. Her friends revealed that she hated being photographed, despite her natural good looks and long blonde hair. Being followed by photographers and finding herself splashed over the pages of newspapers and magazines never sat comfortably with Chelsy.
She would often go to great lengths to avoid the media attention. For example, when Harry passed out of Sandhurst and the Queen came to watch his Sovereign’s Parade, Chelsy opted to stay away. It was only after the press had left that she made the journey to the base and attended the Passing Out Ball with her lover.
This was in such sharp contrast to when William passed out of the academy a few months after his brother. Once again the Queen attended the parade, but this time Kate Middleton and her parents, Carole and Michael, arrived in full view of the waiting newsmen. The fact Kate was there was greeted as a sign that the couple might soon be getting engaged. The following month, when Kate celebrated her birthday, a scrum of photographers and TV crews gathered outside her London flat in scenes that were reminiscent of the days when Princess Diana’s engagement to Prince Charles had been announced.
Unlike Kate, Chelsy never came to terms with being pictured and pursued. It made her feel like a hunted wild animal and at times it caused huge friction with Harry.
When Peter Phillips got married in 2008, he and his bride, Autumn Kelly, had taken the unusual step of allowing the celebrity magazine Hello! to cover the event. When the wedding edition came out the following week, Chelsy was horrified to see that several pages of the magazine had been devoted entirely to pictures of her and Harry. This was the last thing she wanted, and she was furious wi
th her lover for allowing his cousin to lay them open to such a spectacle.
At Leeds University Chelsy had been followed and photographed on regular occasions, even though Harry was miles away. She pleaded with him to find some way of stopping the press from sitting outside her student house, but there was little Harry could do. He knew that this was simply part and parcel of dating a senior Royal.
Being the girlfriend of a prince did not entitle her to a Royal protection detail and this again put strain on the relationship. Harry was very frustrated by the fact there was nothing he could do, and when Chelsy got upset he often got the blame.
Chelsy’s arrival in England to study at Leeds should have brought the couple closer together but in reality it quickly began to tear them apart. At university she made a new set of friends, many of whom had never met Harry and none of whom were in his trusted circle. This put Harry off from visiting Chelsy at university, meaning they saw less and less of each other. By the time he started the pilot’s course in 2009 the relationship had nosedived, and eventually Chelsy decided to break things off.
It was fortunate for Harry that the break-up coincided with his time living and working at the same place as his brother William in the stable block of a stately home near their base at RAF Shawbury. William was there for his brother and the demands of studying learning to fly helicopters proved a welcome distraction for Harry.
While Harry was determined not to let it end there, William convinced his brother to give Chelsy the time and space she needed. When William and Kate had split amid a fanfare of publicity, their time apart made them realize they were actually right together. Harry hoped the same might apply for him and Chelsy. Perhaps a break-off period was just what they needed to work things through.
In May that year the palace arranged for William and Harry to take part in a photocall to update the media on the training they were both undergoing at RAF Shawbury. In an interview with the BBC, Harry described how demanding the course had been in the first few weeks.
He said: ‘On the helicopter course you start with something like four or five weeks of ground school and exams. Exams have never been my favourite and I always knew that I was going to find it harder than most people.’
The princes stood side by side during the interview inside one of the aircraft hangars at their base. As is so often the case when they do an interview together, Harry was quick to poke fun at his brother. Referring to what it was like to have finished the theory section and to finally be at the controls of a helicopter, he said: ‘I’m through that now and have finally got hands on to a job that I absolutely adore. It’s hard work but I’m better than William, which is all that matters.’
The jibe at his brother prompted a laugh from William, who took his chance to hit back when asked whether he had been helping Harry with the exams. William replied: ‘I’ve helped him an awful lot, he needs a lot of help. It’s the RAF way, you have to help the Army out quite a lot.’
The carefully set-up interview meant questions about Chelsy were off limits. But despite this Harry gave an insight into where his mind was focused at the time.
Asked if his helicopter training was all about his return to the front line, Harry said: ‘It is. I’ve always had a love of helicopters, I’ve always wanted to be a pilot, mainly of helicopters rather than fixed wing, even though I’m under the impression that fixed wings are slightly easier to fly than helicopters. I’m really enjoying it and as everyone knows it is my easiest way of getting back to the front line and maybe safer, maybe not safer, I don’t know.
‘There’s a bit of pressure from certain places, which I’m sure you’re aware of, for the reasons why I’m allowed back and if I do go back, apparently I can’t do the same job as I had. So I’m looking somewhere different and the challenge of becoming a helicopter pilot.’
Harry was then asked if he was confident of getting back to the front line by this means, to which he replied: ‘Massively so, unless they stop flying helicopters in Afghanistan, which hopefully they won’t do. As I say, I’m just loving flying helicopters at the moment and I just hope I can be better than the best, that’s what I always strive to be. To get out to Afghanistan again would be fantastic and my best chance is to be a helicopter pilot. I will fly whatever I’m told to fly and will go back there whenever I’m good enough, which could be in about five years’ time.’
It was clear in the interview that Harry had committed himself to his career, and a sign perhaps that thoughts of Chelsy had been put on the back burner for the time being.
Finally, William and Harry were asked about what it was like living together while they trained at the same air base. Both the boys grinned before Harry joked: ‘This is the first and last time we’ll be living together.’
To which William said: ‘It’s been a fairly emotional experience. Bearing in mind I cook for him and feed him every day, I’d say he’s done rather well. He does do a bit of the washing up then he leaves most of it in the sink and then it comes back in the morning and I have to do it.’
Harry insisted his brother was lying about their domestic arrangements as the pair shared a laugh. If the break-up with Chelsy had taken its toll on Harry, then there was no way he was going let on during the photocall. Clearly his sights were firmly set on getting back to Afghanistan and making the grade as a helicopter pilot.
Behind the scenes, though, William had been a huge support to Harry as he came to terms with the end of his five-year romance with Chelsy. The bond between the brothers – which was so obvious as they laughed and joked at each other’s expense that day – was stronger than ever. With William by his side, Harry was able to forget about his relationship problems and focus on the job in hand.
CHAPTER 15
SANDHURST
‘You’ll call me “Sir”, I’ll call you “Sir”, but the only difference is, you’ll mean it,’ barked the instructor.
If Harry had been expecting an easy ride as he embarked on his military career, then his first encounter with the Non Commissioned Officer (NCO) tasked with bashing the young Royal into shape would serve as a sharp reminder of the scale of the task ahead.
As the instructor’s words echoed in his head, Harry nervously began to unpack his kit, carefully placing his standard issue boots and khaki greens in the small wooden cupboard by the side of his bed. One error, an item left out of place and Officer Cadet Wales, as he would now be known, knew he would face the wrath of his new masters.
For any cadet, the first day at the world famous Royal Military Academy Sandhurst is a nerve-wracking event. But if you are the third in line to the throne you know the next forty-four weeks represent a make-or-break moment in your life.
This was it, the 20-year-old must have thought, as he tried to remember the detailed instructions on how he was to unpack his kit. This was the real deal, the day he had been dreaming about since boyhood. For Harry the challenge of embarking on his training to become an officer in the British Army represented one of the biggest days of his life. If, like many of the 250 or so cadets who also arrived at the base that day, Harry couldn’t make the grade, he knew he would be judged a failure for the rest of his life.
The choice of a military career was one of only a handful of roles available for someone in Harry’s elevated position. And failure to reach the high physical, mental and emotional standards now expected of him at Sandhurst would be humiliating.
After all, if he dropped out, having failed to reach the required standards, this would reflect badly on his family and in particular his grandmother, and commander-in-chief, the Queen.
Just minutes earlier Harry, wearing a smartly pressed blue suit, matching tie and checked shirt, had stepped out of the car with his father, Prince Charles. As the cameras captured the occasion, he then said goodbye and nervously made his way up the steps of Old College, the building that would now be home for the rest of his training.
Of course, at school Harry had immersed himself in the Eton cadet force and was nev
er happier than when he was in uniform, marching, shooting on the rifle range or camping out overnight on end-of-term mini-exercises. But Sandhurst was a mile away from the experience of playing soldiers and munching on canned meat as they spent a few hours under a hedge.
The academy course would test not just the cadets’ ability to master the basics of infantry training. Here, they would have to cope with the entire range of skills expected of a young officer in the British Army. Harry would be pushed to the limit of his physical abilities. Even when his sodden feet were raw with blisters and his body weak and disorientated through lack of sleep, he would be expected to show leadership skills and the ability to work as part of a team.
Nothing he had ever experienced could have prepared him for what was ahead. But it was not the physical tests he would face that worried the young Royal. Harry was tough, he knew that even in the lowest moments of training he would find the resolve to continue. No, what terrified him as he arrived at Sandhurst that day were the demands that would be placed on his mental skills. Throughout the course he would be expected to write essays, and to attend lectures on military history, international relations and the political aspects of life as an Army officer. Worse, he would even have to pass vital exams that would test his skills in English and maths. Failure in any of these aspects of the course would mean that at best he would be bumped down a term and forced to join a new intake of recruits. At worst he could be kicked off the course altogether.
Sadly for Harry, he had good reason to worry. At Eton he came bottom in his first-year exams and was the only student in the sixth form who was allowed to take just two A levels. He achieved a B in art and a D in geography.
In order to win a place at the academy, he had already undergone the Regular Commissions Board selection. Part of this involved him taking what the would-be cadets call the ‘intelligence test’. In this test of his suitability to become a commissioned officer he had to complete a series of multiple-choice questions. These computer tests are used to assess an individual’s powers of reasoning, general knowledge and intelligence. Candidates also have to take part in a planning exercise, group discussions and give a short lecture to other members on the course.
Prince Harry Page 19