Prince Harry Opens Up On Chelsy Davy Relationship, How Queen's Opinion Played Role In Split

Prince Harry has detailed his on-again, off-again relationship with Chelsy Davy and their breakup in his memoir, "Spare."

In extracts obtained by Page Six ahead of the book's Tuesday release, the Duke of Sussex looked back at the love he lost before he met and married his wife, Meghan Markle.

"I loved Chels' ease, that she wasn't complicated," the 38-year-old royal wrote. "She didn't care what anyone thought. She wore miniskirts and high-heeled boots, danced however she wanted, drank tequila like me, and all of this made me really happy."

Prince Harry admitted that what his grandmother Queen Elizabeth II thought of Davy, whom he dated on and off from 2004 to 2011, weighed heavily on him at the time, but he didn't want his then-girlfriend to change to "please" members of the royal family.

"I couldn't help what my grandmother thought about it. Or the people. And the last thing I wanted was for Chels to change to please them," he wrote in the book.

Prince Harry also recounted how paparazzi stalked her, with one allegedly placing a tracking device underneath her car.

Looking back, he confessed that he "wasn't sure" whether Davy, now 37, was "the one" for him as he reflected on how the press hounded her throughout their relationship.

"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 explained. "Chels insisted that she was not sure if she was prepared for all of that. A whole life with someone on your heels? What could I say to her?"

Prince Harry wrote that when they broke up, he believed he would "miss her very much" but supported her decision to put her "freedom" first.

"If I had the choice, I'd want to live like that as well," he added.

Prince Harry and Davy ultimately called it quits in 2011 but have since maintained an amicable relationship. She was even present at the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's royal wedding in 2018.

Davy married Sam Cutmore-Scott in May 2022. She gave birth to their son, Leo, in October.

Some royal experts were convinced that Davy could have been the "right girl" for Prince Harry, including British journalist Andrew Morton, a biographer of Princess Diana and Markle.

The royal author believed that the downside with Davy was that she couldn't bear the publicity, which Markle, a former actress, was all about.

"Chelsy could have been the right girl for him," Morton previously told New Idea. "They spent a long time together, but she just couldn't take the publicity. Now, by contrast, we have someone who is an actress, who was used to treading the red carpet, who [is] in the tradition of a Grace Kelly kind of character. Because after all, royalty is about theater, and Meghan [knows] all about that."

Prince Harry's memoir "Spare" will be released Tuesday. Buckingham Palace told Page Six it will not be commenting on the contents of the book.