Tragic Details About Prince Harry's Ex-Girlfriend Chelsy Davy

Chelsy Davy was once the envy of every woman in the world as the bombshell who captured Prince Harry's heart. She and the now Duke of Sussex dated on and off between 2004 and 2010, and the beauty was on the royal's arm for many poignant events, including the 2007 Concert For Diana in London, which honored his late mom. But the untold truth of Davy confirms things weren't as perfect as they seemed, as she's courted tragedy on numerous occasions.

One particularly tough time in Davy's life came when she failed to win over Harry's famous family. "I loved Chels' ease, that she wasn't complicated ... 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," the prince wrote of his ex in his memoir "Spare" (via Page Six). But the late Queen Elizabeth II wasn't her biggest fan, which was likely tough for the Zimbabwe native and a sign Harry and Davy weren't going to last. "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," Harry admitted. However, being unable to get royal approval is far from the only sad chapter in this law school graduate's life.

Chelsy Davy experienced a horrifying ordeal in 2006 when she was robbed at gunpoint while out with a friend at a Cape Town bar. The manager of the establishment, Devilliers Nienaber, opened up to Daily Mail about the scary incident, sharing, "Chelsy had been drinking quietly in the bar with a girlfriend, a fellow student. When these guys suddenly got up and threatened us with a gun, she stayed quiet and calm." The criminals took everyone's keys, credit cards, cash, and phones. "Chelsy was worried sick about losing her house keys and her mobile phone," Nienaber said. He also recalled how Davy and her friend stayed calm for their safety and comforted him once the criminals left as they waited for the police.

A decade later, Davy recounted the incident to The Times — and it sounded even more terrifying than the first report. She shared one of the robbers put a gun to her head, recalling, "They frogmarched us into the kitchen, made us all lie down, patted us down for valuables, said: 'The first person to look up we're going to shoot.' I was holding my friend's hand, we were both shaking." The victims emerged physically unharmed, but it no doubt left a devastating, lasting impression on Davy. Thankfully, she didn't let the incident stop her from enjoying Cape Town. In 2019, she shared a number of photos from a visit to the South African capital on Instagram.

Chelsy Davy's family experienced hardship in her home country of Zimbabwe. In 2010, Davy's maternal uncle, Ian Donald, told the Daily Mail her grandparents were forced to leave their farmland amid unrest in the African country. He told the publication that ex-soldiers employed by the government came to the farm to force their family out. "They told my parents not to come back, ever," he claimed. This was part of the redistribution program launched in 2000 by Zimbabwe's then-president, Robert Mugabe. The aim of the program was to address land inequities caused by colonialism, but it did turn violent at times. 

"They gave my parents four days to leave. These were old people, remember," Donald told the outlet. When Davy's grandparents returned two weeks later, they discovered their farm had been destroyed. Tragically, Davy's grandfather was diagnosed with Parkinson's after the incident and was in a coma before passing away five years later. Davy reportedly returned to her home country to support her grandmother after his death but hasn't spoken publicly about the ordeal herself.

The unrest in Zimbabwe didn't just affect Chelsy Davy's family's property; it also had an impact on her ability to learn as a child. Davy and her parents were forced to leave the African nation when she was a teenager. "The problem was that when all that kicked off, people started leaving, so the schooling system was affected as well. All the good teachers left," she told Tatler. She and her family started to worry that she wouldn't be able to get a good education if they stayed in South Africa. 

Because of this, the family moved to England to help Davy further her education. But she soon experienced a major culture shock. She told The Times, "I'd never worn makeup and suddenly everyone was in makeup ... People were like: 'Who is this weirdo from Zimbabwe?'" But while the move was no doubt a huge adjustment for the youngster, she later made friends at her new school.

Leaving Zimbabwe had such an impact on the star she later decided to help others in a similar situation. Davy created her own jewelry line, AYA, in 2016 and donated a portion of the proceeds to African schools.

Though Chelsy Davy eventually settled into life at school when she was younger, it was reportedly a different story when she attended a British college. An insider told the Daily Mail Davy lived a mainly solitary life while studying at the University of Leeds in 2007. "It has been difficult for her moving to Leeds, leaving all her friends, especially her brother Shaun, and starting all over again," an unnamed friend claimed. "... I don't think she has many friends there and is keeping a lot to herself."

The source also claimed Davy left campus as much as possible to visit her friends in the British capital. "I don't think she has spent much time in Leeds at all over the weekends," the source said, claiming that Davy used any excuse to go to London rather than staying in her college town. 

But it wasn't just the company Davy supposedly struggled with. After growing up in Zimbabwe, the insider claimed that the then-law student found the unpredictability of British weather made her homesick. "The weather is really getting to her, especially since they are going into summer in southern Africa and everyone is on holiday — while she is studying," they said. It's no wonder that as Davy got older, she chose to get the best of both worlds and split her time between London and Cape Town, South Africa.

Prince Harry and Chelsy Davy's relationship was more heartbreaking than we realized, as Davy has been vocal about how the intense spotlight that surrounded her relationship with Harry affected her. After their breakup, she told The Times, "It was so full-on: crazy and scary and uncomfortable. I found it very difficult when it was bad. I couldn't cope. I was young, I was trying to be a normal kid and it was horrible."

As part of Harry's phone hacking trial, he also got candid about how difficult the now jewelry designer found life in the public eye. The Duke of Sussex shared in legal documents that he worried for Davy's safety, admitting, "This intrusion was terrifying for Chelsy ... It made her feel like she was being hunted and the press had caught her and it was terrifying for me too" (via Newsweek). He added that they were both scared and paranoid, and he felt like the media's treatment of Davy wasn't fair. 

Harry also wrote about the constant criticism his now ex received in "Spare," suggesting the obsessive media attention was a big reason they ended 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 wrote (via Page Six). After splitting with the royal, Davy faded from the spotlight to enjoy a much quieter life.