They may be compared to Diana and Fergie, but princesses-in-waiting Kate Middleton and Chelsy Davey are independent modern women, who are ushering in a new era in royal love matches, writes Jo Michaels.
They’re young, they’re good-looking — and like the late Diana and Fergie before them — they have both captured the heart of a prince.
It’s deja vu time in Britain as Kate Middleton and Chelsy Davy — the girlfriends of Prince William and Prince Harry — team up to form an unlikely alliance while each waits for her man to propose.
Just as Diana Spencer and Sarah Ferguson were thrown together by circumstance and, like naughty schoolgirls, came to share secrets, play pranks and rely on each other for support, so Kate and Chelsy are learning that it helps to have an ally when you are the commoner in the court of Queen Elizabeth II. The two young women — both the daughters of self-made millionaires, both products of exclusive private schools — have formed a close friendship in recent months, going on double dates and sneaking together into the side door of St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, to witness the May 17 wedding of the queen’s grandson Peter Phillips and his Canadian girlfriend, Autumn Kelly, and, afterwards, laughingly chatting to the Duke of Edinburgh, the queen and the occasion’s wedding planner.
And, yet, though they sip champagne and giggle on the sidelines, these young princesses-in-waiting are total opposites.
Kate, 26, is the Sloane Ranger or Diana of the pair. Unkindly labelled “Waity Katie” because she has yet to have a ring on her finger, she is naturally elegant and demure. She courts royal approval and is said to be devastated by the queen’s private concerns — recently leaked — that she should find herself “a proper job” before William announces an engagement. Kate appears to do little more than go to the gym, lunch, shop, get her hair done and hang out at nightclubs such as Mahiki and Boujis. Her one job, at fashion chain, Jigsaw, was short-lived; her main job seems to be being William’s girlfriend. Friends defend Kate, saying she is stuck between a rock and a hard place, wanting to be a career girl, but pursued relentlessly by the press pack. Kate smiles willingly enough for the paparazzi, but she retains a sangfroid or reserve that has made her the most intriguing woman in Britain today.
By contrast, Chelsy, 22, a high-spirited party girl with a mane of highlighted blonde hair, is the Fergie — or Britney — of the duo. “She’s so hot. Isn’t she beautiful?” Prince Harry told friends at her 21st birthday, where he wore a custom-made T-shirt with the words “Official Bodyguard of Miss CD” emblazoned on the front. While some may think Chelsy is a little too wild to be royal bride material — inner circle royals are said to be appalled by her image and her father’s links to reviled Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe’s government don’t help &3151; there’s a sense that in this less formal age of royalty, she may yet prove them wrong, especially if Harry digs in his heels to stand by her.
Kate and William have been dating for five years and Harry and Chelsy for four after being introduced by mutual friends in South Africa. There is no doubt the couples are deeply in love. Prince William has said his brother is “madly in love”, yet it is only this year their relationships have been seen as serious enough to countenance an engagement.
To read the full story of Kate and Chelsy, pick up a copy of the July issue of The Weekly.
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