Ex-model: ‘I wasn’t cut out to be Prince Harry’s girlfriend’
ONE of Prince Harry’s ex-girlfriends has said she feels “lucky” their relationship did not last and that she “takes [her] hat off to people who can cope with that lifestyle”.
Florence St George, a former model who dated Prince Harry in 2011, said she struggled with the attention their relationship received.
“My privacy ended abruptly, and the scrutiny began,” she told Stella magazine.
“A new story would appear almost every day in the press, my school friends were interrogated and there were photographers outside my front door.
“I take my hat off to those people who can cope with that lifestyle, but I knew I couldn’t. Although it was sad at the time, I feel lucky that the relationship was short lived.”
Mrs St George married Henry St George, the vice-president of the Grand Bahama Port Authority, in 2014 and the couple now have two children, Iris and Jimmy.
After giving birth to her first child, she suffered from postnatal depression and turned to pottery as a form of therapy.
“The feel of the smooth, wet material was so calming,” she said. “I made a tiny pinch pot – digging my thumb into the centre of the clay and slowly moulding it into shape.
“I was so absorbed in the task, and when I finished it, I felt a whoosh of positivity. For that moment, I felt like myself again.”
Her passion for pottery prompted her to apply to take part in the television programme The Great Pottery Throw Down two years ago, but she feared her past relationship with Prince Harry would be dragged up.
“I wondered whether I was mad for applying at the time – I had to work past a lot of self-doubt, and I was convinced they’d use my story, labelling me as ‘Harry’s ex’, but the producers never pushed that story,” she said.
“They treated me as just another contestant and I was so grateful for that.
“It was a hugely rewarding experience.”