Prince Harry claims press intrusion led to Chelsy Davy breakup

Duke of Sussex has blamed the ‘prying eyes of the tabloids’ for ending his relationship with Chelsy Davy

The Duke of Sussex has faced a second day of questioning in his lawsuit against Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) for alleged phone hacking.

Throughout his High Court trial, Prince Harry has made several bombshell claims about the publisher of the Daily Mirror, such as using unlawful information-gathering to leak details about his personal life.

In fact, much of Harry’s case against MGN has focused on his past relationship with ex-girlfriend Chelsy Davy, a Zimbabwean businesswoman whom he dated from 2004 to 2011.

During his testimony on Tuesday (6 June), Harry blamed the “prying eyes of the tabloids” for ultimately leading to their breakup. “Our relationship was long distance for the majority of the time we were together, with Chelsy and I often living in different countries, so we relied on communicating by phone a lot,” he said in his 55-page witness statement obtained by The Independent.

“We, naturally, spoke about all types of personal matters, including all aspects of our relationship and this was often through voicemail,” he said. “As my girlfriend, I trusted Chelsy with the most private of information and visa versa.”

Prince Harry accused MGN of “blagging” the couple’s flight details and hotel bookings, as well as intercepting their voicemails after journalists turned up while they holidayed on a small island off Mozambique.

“I remember that whenever Chelsy and I went on a trip to Bazaruto, a small island off the coast of Mozambique, to try and get away from all the madness and enjoy some peace and quiet, journalists and photographers from MGN and the other tabloids would literally turn up and book into the hotel before we got there,” he claimed. “I now believe they had blagged our flight details and hotel bookings and/or intercepted our voicemails.”

“We were never on our own and able to enjoy each other’s company away from the prying eyes of the tabloids. This put a huge amount of unnecessary stress and strain on our relationship.”

Prince Harry arrives for day two of Mirror Group phone hacking trial in London (Getty Images)

Prince Harry also referred to a 2006 article that claimed Davy had gone “berserk” and slammed the phone down on Harry over his night out with Sandhurst cadets at the Spearmint Rhino club. The article said that Davy had “blew her top” that Harry had received a lap dance at the club.

“I don’t think Chelsy did go mad about me going there,” he said in his witness statement. “We did speak about it over the phone, but I promised her that I hadn’t had a lap dance and stayed with the three other cadets that had girlfriends.”

The duke said he believed journalists had access to one of their phone records and “put two and two together to make a story”.

Prince Harry said that their circle of friends became smaller and smaller and he found it hard to trust anyone, which led to bouts of depression and paranoia. “Ultimately, these factors led (Chelsy) to make the decision that a royal life was not for her, which was incredibly upsetting for me at the time,” Harry said.

He believed that tabloids wanted him to be single because it was “more interesting” and the “twisted objective” to ruin his relationships continues to this day in his relationship with wife Meghan Markle.

Prince Harry and Chelsy Davy attend 2008 Investec Challenge match in London (Getty Images)

“I always felt as if the tabloids wanted me to be single, as I was much more interesting to them and sold more newspapers,” the duke said. “Whenever I got into a relationship, they were very keen to report the details but would then, very quickly, seek to try and break it up by putting as much strain on it and creating as much distrust as humanly possible.”

“This twisted objective is still pursued to this day even though I’m now married.”

He continued: “At no point did I have a girlfriend or a relationship with anyone without the tabloids getting involved and ultimately trying to ruin it using whatever unlawful means at their disposal.”

Prince Harry and Chelsy Davy reportedly met in Cape Town in 2004, while Harry was on his gap year. After meeting, the two began dating and she pursued a law degree in Leeds which allowed her to be closer to Harry.

Over the years, Davy was seen attending Princess Diana’s memorial service alongside Harry on the 10th anniversary of her death. She was also invited to Prince Charles’ 60th birthday, and is said to have met the late Queen Elizabeth II at a society wedding during her relationship with Harry. Despite their split in 2011, she was invited to the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton’s in April that year.

Chelsy Davy attends wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at St George’s Chapel in Windsor on 19 May 2018 (AFP via Getty Images)

In his memoir Spare, which was released earlier this year, Prince Harry recalled how difficult it was to see “Chels at Willy’s wedding” and remembered feeling “a certain way” about seeing Davy speak to other men throughout the night.

The royal also shared in his memoir that he “couldn’t help” but think what his grandmother thought about Davy’s free-spirited lifestyle, and he “wasn’t sure” at the time whether Davy was “the one” for him. “The whole world isn’t made to put up with constant scrutiny, and I don’t know if Chels could bear it, and I couldn’t ask her to,” he said.

Speaking to The Times in 2017, Davy opened up about the press attention she received while with Prince Harry. “It was so full-on: crazy and scary and uncomfortable. I found it very difficult when it was bad. I couldn’t cope,” she said. “I was trying to be a normal kid and it was horrible.”

In 2018, Chelsy Davy attended Prince Harry’s wedding to Meghan Markle at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle. She married hotelier Sam Cutmore-Scott in May 2022 and gave birth to their son, Leo, earlier that year.

Additional reporting from PA.