Who IS left to HARRY?
Another weekend, and yet another wedding that’s NOT his – as the last of his friends leaves the singles club. So now the only question being popped is...
IN BRILLIANT late-spring sunshine, the society wedding reception was in full swing. Surrounded by friends in his inner circle, Prince Harry, in good spirits, smiled as the bride launched her white bouquet into the air. Rushing forward, her arms outstretched, Susanna Warren – one of the Prince’s oldest friends – grasped it triumphantly. Making fun of the age-old tradition that whoever catches the bouquet will be next to walk down the aisle, Harry also raised his hands and appeared to try to catch the flowers himself.
Captured on camera at the wedding of Carly Moss and Harry Collins at Porthilly Farm in Rock, Cornwall, last month, the light- hearted moment fittingly sums up the current state of Harry’s love life. Celebrating yet another wedding of a close friend, the Prince must surely have acknowledged the sad irony that, despite being one of Britain’s most eligible bachelors, he is now the last single man among his group of friends. Indeed, nine of his inner circle are married and two are in longterm relationships.
For as the society wedding season begins in earnest, the 31-year-old Prince’s recent public admission that he would ‘love to settle down’ reveals his deep yearning for a family of his own. As he said some months ago: ‘I would love to have kids right now. It would be great to have someone else next to me to share the pressures.’
At a recent birthday party, a somewhat disheartened Harry confided to television presenter Denise Van Outen: ‘I’m not dating and for the first time ever, I want to find a wife.’ Such is his determination to find ‘the one’ that Harry’s quest for a wife has now taken on the precision of a military exercise.
He has decided that he can no longer afford to waste time on relationships that, ultimately, are not destined for the altar.
His seven-year affair with Chelsy
Davy and the lengthy relationship with Cressida Bonas, which ended two years ago, have made him realise that he must ruthlessly axe liaisons that seem unlikely to lead to a wedding.
‘Everyone was having a laugh about Harry going for the bouquet because he’s the last of us who have yet to settle down,’ says a friend.
‘Susanna caught the bouquet, so hopefully she’ll be up the aisle next but we all feel a little bit sorry for Harry.’
ACCORDING to his friends, there is still no one special in his life two years after he split from Bonas. But it’s not for want of trying. Indeed, the past few months have seen Harry get back in touch with two former flames – beauty editor Lady Natasha Howard, and nutritionist Jennifer Medhurst.
According to one source close to the Prince, he first dated Medhurst after he split from Davy but got back in touch with her earlier this year. However, she is now in a serious relationship with another man.
Another source reveals how the Prince has also re-established contact with Natasha, the Earl of Suffolk’s daughter. She was once touted as a potential Royal bride.
While a Kensington Palace spokesman declined to comment on Harry’s private life, the Prince has openly voiced his frustrations at the level of scrutiny directed at the girls he dates.
In an illustration of just how exclusive and entwined the young Royals’ social set is, Jennifer and Natasha are old friends.
‘Jen and Natasha know each other and they all go way back,’ says a friend of Harry. ‘Jen first had a thing with Harry after he split from Chelsy years ago. They have always mixed in the same circles and Jen has also dated Harry’s best mate, Guy Pelly.
‘Jen got a text from Harry out of the blue at the end of last year. He sends random texts out to girls he knows are single and they usually start with “Hey girl”, so you never know if you are the only one receiving them.
‘Jen took a chance and she told us she saw a bit of Harry at the start of the year.
‘It was all pretty casual then Harry basically stopped texting. Jen got the feeling there was probably someone else on the scene and now she’s moved on and is happily with someone else.’
When asked about her relationship with the Prince, Miss Medhurst told The Mail on Sunday: ‘We are friends. We have seen each other but as friends.’
Harry, of course, is known for his happy-go-lucky nature and irrepressible joie de vivre. He is popular and sociable and, after his time in the Army, he is ready to settle down. Friends, who notice an inner sad- ness at his failure to meet a suitable girl, insist his Royal speed-dating strategy is an earnest attempt to meet Miss Right, rather than a shallow attempt to play the field.
One says: ‘I was with him at a party just before he went off to Orlando for the Invictus Games. I felt a bit sorry for him.
‘He is really keen to find a girl and settle down. It’s just a case of finding the one and you get the impres- sion that he’s beginning to feel the pressure. He wants to settle down, get married and have kids like his brother.’ Lady Natasha, who has a successful career as a beauty writer for Vogue, is 29, of impeccable lineage and should have been perfect for Harry, but for whatever reasons, after reconnecting in recent months she was ruled out the running by the Prince. She was initially mooted as a possible future bride for Harry when they were seen dancing together at the Womad music festival five years ago – sparking the inevitable rumours of a romance. At the time Tash, as she is known to her friends, turned Harry down. But according to friends of the pretty politics graduate, she got back in touch with the Prince earlier this year. ‘There’s no heartbreak on either part – it simply didn’t come to anything and they have both moved on,’ says a mutual friend. The Prince has stayed characteristically tight-lipped about his private life, telling American interviewer Jenna Bush Hager at the recent Invictus Games that he was single and didn’t have a girlfriend. ‘Harry is quite limited by who he can date because the girls he sees have to be discreet and trustworthy. He’s paranoid about the press finding out who he is dating so he does everything possible to keep the relationship quiet,’ one source says. ‘When he is in a serious relationship, it’s not unheard of for the woman he is seeing to be advised by Palace aides on how to keep a low profile. They can be whisked in and out of the Palace without anyone finding out.’
HARRY said in a recent interview he has a ‘massive paranoia’ about even talking to women, because of the attention it attracts. ‘Even if I talk to a girl, that person is then suddenly my wife, and people go knocking on her door. If, or when, I do find a girlfriend, I will do my utmost… to ensure that me and her can get to the point where we’re comfortable… before the massive invasion that is inevitably going to happen into her privacy.’
This pressure was blamed for the demise of his relationships with Cressida and Chelsy.
Meanwhile, Harry’s best friends are either engaged, married or having children. Tom Inskip is planning his wedding to his girlfriend Lara Hughes-Young; Guy Pelly is married to heiress Lizzie Wilson; Tom Van Straubenzee has been married and is now divorced; Arthur Landon is set to announce an engagement to Alessandra Balazs; and Jake Warren and his wife Zoe now have twins.
Many of the young aristocratic girls in Harry’s circle once tipped as possible brides are now off the market. Such is the shortage of possible suitors that both the Duchess of Cambridge and the Duchess of Cornwall have made personal missions to help find Harry a girlfriend, as has Princess Eugenie, who introduced Harry to Cressida.