THE BYO BEAUTY, THE PRINCE, THE UK MEDIA
■ The girl from Bulawayo shaking British media ■ Criminal charges loom in phone hacking scandal
AT the heart of the bombshell case, which has rocked the British media and could lead to a raft of criminal charges to some of the country’s most prominent journalists and executives, is a businesswoman, who was born in Bulawayo.
Chelsy Davy, who dated Prince Harry between 2004 and 2011, is a Zimbabwean businesswoman who went to school at Girls College in the City of Kings.
She is the owner and founder of jewellery brand Aya and travel agency Aya Africa and even practiced as a lawyer in London.
Her father, Charles Davy, is a wealthy safari farmer, while her mother, Beverly Donald Davy, was a beauty queen who was a former Coca-Cola model and was crowned Miss Rhodesia in 1973.
Chelsy is now married to hotelier Sam Cutmore-Scott and the couple has a son who was born last year.
Her seven-year romance with Prince Harry was at the heart of his decision to challenge the power of the British media, especially the tabloids, whom he accused of a web of unlawful activity, in the UK High Court.
Last week, Prince Harry won 15 of his 33 claims that the articles, which were published by the Mirror Group Newspapers, were gathered unlawfully including, but not limited, to the use of phone hacking methods.
Justice Fancourt ruled that he found evidence of “widespread and habitual” use of phone hacking at the Mirror Group Newspapers.
One of Britain’s most influential journalists, Piers Morgan, a former Editor of the Daily Mirror, was also fingered in the chaos of criminal activity.
Much of Prince Harry’s case against the MGN was centred on his romance with Chelsy and he blames the Press intrusion for the breakdown of their relationship.
“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,” Prince Harry said in his witness statement.
“We, naturally, spoke about all types of personal matters, including aspects of our relationship and this was often through voicemail.
“As my girlfriend, I trusted Chelsy with the most private of information and vice-versa.”