William had promised Kate he would join the Middletons to celebrate Hogmanay at Jordonstoun House and Kate was eagerly awaiting his arrival. The eighteenth-century property on the outskirts of Alyth was set in snowy countryside. A Christmas tree twinkled in the grand drawing room, and with open fires burning in every room, the setting could not have been more romantic. But at the last minute William had a change of heart and decided to stay with his own family instead. He informed a tearful Kate during a late-night conversation on Boxing Day of the change of plan. For William it was no big deal, but for Kate the cancellation was a sign of something more sinister to come. She had good reason to be concerned. William had been having second thoughts and sat down with his father and his grandmother to have a frank discussion about his future with Kate. Both advised him not to hurry into anything.

Kate turned twenty-five on 9 January. The day before William had joined the Blues and Royals regiment of the Household Cavalry at Combermere Barracks in Windsor where he would be stationed until March. They had had a joint celebration at Highgrove before he reported for duty but Kate was still reeling over William's snub in Scotland. In the newspapers, however, the engagement rumour was gathering momentum once more. Kate's birthday was preceded by an article written by Diana's former private secretary Patrick Jephson in which he claimed that Kate was on her way to becoming a royal bride. Under the headline THE N NEXT P PEOPLE'S P PRINCESS, the article was highly speculative, but there was no doubting the thrust of the piece William was set to make Kate his bride and her twenty-fifth birthday looked like a likely date for an announcement. 'The smart money now says that brand Windsor is about to get a much-needed injection of fresh young glamour to complement its established octogenarian market leader,' he wrote in the venerable Spectator Spectator magazine. The story s...o...b..lled, and by the morning of Kate's birthday hundreds of photographers were camped outside her house waiting for the 'pre-engagement picture'. The rumours could not have been further from the truth William had no plans to propose. Instead he phoned Kate from the Combermere Barracks in Windsor to apologise. William was furious that Kate's birthday had been spoilt and in an unprecedented statement complained she was being hara.s.sed and said he wanted 'more than anything' for her to be left alone. For the first time Kate felt overwhelmed and desperately isolated. Usually she smiled brightly for the photographers, but this time as she made her way to work she looked as though she was about to crack under the pressure. As always in a crisis, she depended heavily on the support of her mother and sister. The Middleton mantra is 'Grin and bear it', which was exactly what Kate did, although her smile was beginning to wear thin. magazine. The story s...o...b..lled, and by the morning of Kate's birthday hundreds of photographers were camped outside her house waiting for the 'pre-engagement picture'. The rumours could not have been further from the truth William had no plans to propose. Instead he phoned Kate from the Combermere Barracks in Windsor to apologise. William was furious that Kate's birthday had been spoilt and in an unprecedented statement complained she was being hara.s.sed and said he wanted 'more than anything' for her to be left alone. For the first time Kate felt overwhelmed and desperately isolated. Usually she smiled brightly for the photographers, but this time as she made her way to work she looked as though she was about to crack under the pressure. As always in a crisis, she depended heavily on the support of her mother and sister. The Middleton mantra is 'Grin and bear it', which was exactly what Kate did, although her smile was beginning to wear thin.

For the first time those close to the couple began to speak of doubts about their relationship. The plans for a spring wedding were shredded as quickly as they had been drawn up, and the talk now, among their friends at least, was that an engagement was certainly not on the cards. William had started a two-and-a-half-month tank commander's course at Bovington, and although they enjoyed a skiing trip to Zermatt in March he and Kate were spending less time together. He had warned her that his schedule was packed and he would have little time to visit her. She understood but was upset when William came to London and went clubbing instead of seeing her. On one occasion he had spent the night at Boujis flirting with another girl. William was with Harry and a group of friends including Arthur Landon, Hugh Van Cutsem and Jack Mann, the son of ex-SAS officer Simon Mann, when Tess Shepherd walked into the club. The pet.i.te blonde knew some of William's friends and before long she and William were dancing, arms entwined, on the dance floor.

As March drew to a close William and Kate's relationship became increasingly strained. As if the embarra.s.sing night at Boujis was not enough, William further humiliated Kate when he was photographed with his arm around Ana Ferreira, an eighteen-year-old Brazilian student, at a nightclub in Poole not far from Bovington. From the picture it looked as though William had his hand on her breast. He had spent much of the night dancing on a podium with a local called Lisa Agar, and this time there were pictures to prove it. It was the final straw for Kate, and she delivered an ultimatum: either she had his full commitment or they were over. She was no longer prepared to be made a fool of. When they attended Cheltenham races at the end of March, their body language spoke volumes. Walking several steps ahead of Kate, William, his head cast down and his hands dug deep in his pockets, was deep in thought. By now both of them knew that their love affair had run its course. Kate's ultimatum backfired and William told her that they should have a break. Over the Easter weekend they agreed to separate for the second time.

While Kate mourned the end of their relationship at home with her family, William celebrated his 'freedom' in London at Mahiki. The two-storey bar in Mayfair had become a popular haunt with the princes. With its kitsch interior of bamboo screens, round wooden tables, retro-style ceiling fans and wicker basket chairs, the club, run by entrepreneurs Piers Adam and Nick House, is modelled on a Polynesian beach bar. A wooden canoe from Fiji hangs over the main bar to complete the look. While Boujis is smart and sophisticated, Mahiki is laid-back and fun, but the wealthy clientele have serious money to spend. The signature drink, the Treasure Chest, which is served in a wooden chest containing brandy, peach liqueur, lime, sugar and a bottle of champagne, costs an eye-watering 100.

It was hard not to draw comparisons between William and his father. Had William also met the right woman at the wrong time? Haunted by the spectre of the past, there were real fears at the Palace that Kate would become the next Camilla. While William partied, Kate received a message of support from the Duke of Edinburgh. So often misinterpreted as aloof and out of touch, he a.s.sured her that William would present a ring 'when the time is right'. It was a well-intended rea.s.surance that Kate valued.

While many might have moped, Kate was in no mood to indulge in prolonged self-pity; nor was she going to get depressed about the spiteful comments from some that she was too middle cla.s.s to be dating a prince. Instead she put on a brave face and a thigh-skimming minidress and partied. Her message to William was clear: 'Look what you're missing!' In the past some of William's friends had been lukewarm to Kate. They greeted her arrival at Boujis with stage whispers of 'Doors to manual', a reference to her mother's career as an air hostess and hitherto the source of much mirth, but now they rallied round. Guy Pelly, once viewed by Kate with suspicion but now a close friend, a.s.sured her that she was welcome at his club. They had not always seen eye to eye, and Kate had once complained that Guy was a bad influence on William. Once, when they were on holiday together, Kate had admonished William and Guy for recklessly riding their mopeds on the lawn in front of their villa where anyone could see them. Then there was Kate's habit of checking out restaurants to make sure their table was sufficiently discreet. But despite their differences Guy recognised that Kate was good for William. He knew the prince well and advised Kate to give him some s.p.a.ce. From someone best known as the jester of the royal court, it was wise counsel.

Not for the first time Kate bided her time and immersed herself in a project. Her close friend from Marlborough Alicia Fox Pitt had signed up to the Sisterhood, a group of twenty-one girls who planned to row from Dover to Cap Gris Nez near Calais in a dragon boat to raise money for charity. It proved to be exactly what Kate needed. 'Kate was very down and I think the training became her therapy,' Emma Sayle, who was in charge and became close to Kate, recalled.

Kate had always put William first and she said that this was her chance to do something for herself. I told her she was welcome to join but she had to do the same training as the rest of us. That involved a 6.30 a.m. session and two evening sessions a week. On top of that she was also in the gym and she lost a lot of weight. We trained on the river in Chiswick and Kate started off paddling with the others but I decided to put her on the helm because she was an excellent boatman and really well coordinated.

Unknown to anyone outside their inner circle, William and Kate were already heading for a reconciliation, according to Emma.

She was in touch with William the whole time, and by the end of her training she was back together with him and said she had to pull out of the race. William wanted her to do it and planned to meet her on the finishing line, but the whole thing was becoming a media circus. Kate said she was under a lot of pressure to pull out by Clarence House, which was a shame because it was the one chance Kate could prove to the world who she really was.

The problem was once again that Kate had become the story. She had been photographed during a training session and the picture was published on the cover of h.e.l.lo! h.e.l.lo! magazine. Previously Kate had complained about media intrusion and had asked for the Prince of Wales's lawyers to get involved. Now she was gracing a magazine cover. It was an unfortunate turn of events. 'Is it just me who is baffled by this young woman who, having winged, moaned and stamped her feet over the press attention heaped upon her as potential bride-in-waiting to a royal now seems driven by the oxygen of publicity?' enquired the magazine. Previously Kate had complained about media intrusion and had asked for the Prince of Wales's lawyers to get involved. Now she was gracing a magazine cover. It was an unfortunate turn of events. 'Is it just me who is baffled by this young woman who, having winged, moaned and stamped her feet over the press attention heaped upon her as potential bride-in-waiting to a royal now seems driven by the oxygen of publicity?' enquired the Daily Mirror Daily Mirror's columnist Sue Carroll. The Daily Mail Daily Mail 's royal commentator Richard Kay noted, 'Clarence House had watched on with growing unease as the Sisterhood's practice sessions had become a magnet for the paparazzi.' Kate pulled out of the race in August, but by then she and William had been secretly dating again for a couple of months. 's royal commentator Richard Kay noted, 'Clarence House had watched on with growing unease as the Sisterhood's practice sessions had become a magnet for the paparazzi.' Kate pulled out of the race in August, but by then she and William had been secretly dating again for a couple of months.

William had invited Kate to a fancy-dress party at his barracks in Bovington, and it had been clear to everyone there that they were back together. William, in hot pants, a 'wife beater' vest and policeman's helmet, had followed Kate around 'like a lost puppy' all night. Kate, who looked stunning and toned from her training, was dressed in a revealing naughty nurse's outfit. The theme for the night was Freakin' Naughty, and blow-up dolls were hanging from the ceilings while provocatively dressed waitresses handed out potent c.o.c.ktails. Outside, guests played on a bouncy castle and dived into a paddling pool full of gunge, but William and Kate stuck to the dance floor. 'They couldn't keep their hands off each other,' recalled a guest. 'William didn't care that people were looking. At about midnight he started kissing her. His friends were joking that they should get a room, and it wasn't long before William took Kate back to his quarters.'

On 24 June 2007 I revealed on the front page of the Mail on Sunday Mail on Sunday that William and Kate were together again, having been given the nod by a senior Palace aide that the relationship was back on track. By coincidence I had spent that weekend with Guy Pelly and William's close friend Tom Inskip at the Beaufort Polo Club. William and Kate had been due to attend but instead were holed up at Highgrove alone. They were back together and this time it was for good. that William and Kate were together again, having been given the nod by a senior Palace aide that the relationship was back on track. By coincidence I had spent that weekend with Guy Pelly and William's close friend Tom Inskip at the Beaufort Polo Club. William and Kate had been due to attend but instead were holed up at Highgrove alone. They were back together and this time it was for good.

Chapter 13.

Boujis nights.

Look but don't touch, touch but don't taste, taste but don't swallow rules are broken Boujis It was a Tuesday evening in June and a frisson of excitement rippled through the beautiful crowd at Boujis nightclub in South Kensington. One of its most famous patrons had just been whisked through the club and down the stairs to the exclusive VIP room. The group of long-legged blondes on the small dance floor had flicked their glossy hair and pouted at the young celebrity as he made his way through the throng. The resident DJ played his favourite house track, Shakedown's 'At Night', and Jake Parkinson-Smith, the club's affable manager, had cleared the velvet-upholstered suite ahead of the royal party's arrival. Parkinson-Smith has known both William and Harry for years and has a reputation for looking after his royal friends, who include the princes' cousins Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie. Harry's favourite drinks, Belvedere vodka and cans of Red Bull, along with several bottles of Dom Perignon champagne, were already chilling in stainless-steel ice buckets.

Ahead of his arrival a team of protection officers had swept the room and taken seats at a discreet table, where they sat sipping c.o.ke. The prince, dressed in jeans and an open-necked shirt (like everyone else he had been asked to remove his baseball cap), jumped up onto the sofa, an impish grin on his excited face. 'Let's party,' he shouted above the din, a 180 magnum of vodka held high above his distinctive crop of red hair.

Boujis DJ Sam Young has known the princes for a while. 'The reason the boys come back time and time again is because they feel relaxed and in an environment they trust. Boujis is like a private house party. They even used to have their own barman called Gordon to look after them.' Tables 11, 12 and 13, which are close to the VIP room, had also been cleared that night to ensure that there could be no snooping on the royal party which was just as well because Harry was out with the one girl guaranteed to rile Chelsy Davy, who was at home in South Africa working hard for her finals.

Natalie Pinkham, a pretty TV presenter, was Harry's date for the night. The twenty-nine-year-old had met the prince in 2001, when her then-boyfriend England rugby captain Matt Dawson introduced them at a match. With her impressive knowledge of sport and her ability to drink most grown men under the table, Natalie immediately hit it off with Harry. Natalie recalled their first meeting: 'Matt introduced us and I looked after Harry with Clive Woodward's wife Jane while we were in the stands, not that he really needed looking after. We just chatted to him and then Matthew and I became friends with him. I realised very quickly what a normal bloke he was. I was in my final year at university at this point and our friendship has continued since then.' They stayed in touch, and Harry would send Natalie emails while she was cooking baked-bean suppers in her student hall at Nottingham University to the disbelief of her housemates. In December 2001 there were reports that Harry had sent her a thong for Christmas and that he 'fancied her rotten' despite the six-year age gap. 'We get on well and have a lot of fun, but that's as far as it went,' Natalie told me.

The daughter of a barrister and property developer, Natalie is ambitious, good-looking, great fun and, much to her credit, fiercely protective of her friendship with Harry. On this particular occasion they were in the mood to party, and the champagne corks continued to pop as they danced and chatted in the dimly lit VIP room. When it came to closing time, Harry suggested continuing the party at Mark Dyer's house. The army officer turned publican often allows his bas.e.m.e.nt flat to be used as a party venue for Harry and his friends much to the annoyance of the long-suffering protection officers, who have to wait patiently in their cars until their royal charge is ready to call it a night. At Dyer's Harry can be himself, safe in the knowledge that what goes on inside those four walls stays there. The drink always flows freely, and good-looking girls are never in short supply.

By all accounts the evening had been a great deal of fun, but by 5 a.m. Natalie was ready for bed. As the prince escorted her to his waiting Range Rover, Natalie, a little unsteady on her feet after eight hours of drinking, begged Harry for a kiss goodnight. 'Not here,' he said before whisking her back down the steps. They emerged seconds later, blissfully unaware that their late-night encounter had been captured by a long lens. When the story hit the newspapers the next day, there was an awkward long-distance call to Chelsy in South Africa. It wasn't the first time Harry had had to explain himself.

It was May 2006 and Harry was a month into his reconnaissance training with the Household Cavalry at Bovington in Dorset. Unlike Sandhurst, where he had been expected to adhere to a strict timetable, he had plenty of free time and on Fridays he couldn't wait to get home to London and hit Boujis, where he was afforded VIP treatment known at the club as the 'royal comp'. Like William, Harry's royal status guaranteed him free drinks as well as the company of an endless supply of gorgeous young women. Sadly for Chelsy, 2006 was a summer of rather tacky confessions.

First was the rather breathless account of Catherine Davies, a thirty-four-year-old mother of two who claimed she was seduced by the soldier prince at a house party in Fulham. 'I was absolutely speechless. I was against the wall and he literally lifted me off the floor and gave me a lovely kiss which I was stunned by,' she told the Mail on Sunday Mail on Sunday. Miss Davies was apparently not the only woman to succ.u.mb to the prince's charms. That July he reportedly danced with a well-known page three girl and a ma.s.seuse who claimed the prince had kissed her on the lips at Boujis. The flurry of tabloid tales left Chelsy in tears and cast fresh doubts on their relationship. It was her best friend Kirsten Rogers, who Chelsy grew up with in Zimbabwe, who telephoned Harry to admonish him for being insensitive. When term finished, Chelsy flew to London to spend some time with Harry. They had not seen each other since their idyllic fortnight in South Africa that spring, and Chelsy was running up huge bills on her mobile phone talking to Harry. She had told her friends in South Africa that she was in the relationship for the long term but was worried about her boyfriend's roving eye. Harry a.s.sured her that she was the one, and for the first time Charles gave his seal of approval, allowing Harry and Chelsy to share a room at Highgrove. They also rented a four-bedroom house just a fifteen-minute drive from his officers' mess so that they could have some privacy.

If his indiscretions had put pressure on their relationship it didn't show, and the couple were inseparable that summer. They went to London to see friends and partied at their favourite nightclubs. In July they attended the Cartier International Day, where high-profile guests paid 200 for the privilege of watching the young royal play polo for the Prince of Wales's team. Harry did not leave Chelsy's side, a stark contrast to the previous year, when I witnessed Harry and Guy Pelly dancing wildly on the tables in the Chinawhite marquee after the prince had scored the winning goal. Harry was in the mood to celebrate, and cigarette in one hand and vodka and cranberry in the other, he had been surrounded by a gaggle of pretty girls. This time he was with Chelsy, in a stunning off-the-shoulder chiffon dress, and on his best behaviour. At one point they escaped the crowds to share a hot dog in the car park.

Harry was calmer when Chelsy was around, and her positive influence had not escaped the notice of his father. When she flew home in August she was confident they could last the distance. Secretly they had hatched a plan for her to move to Britain, where she would enroll on a postgraduate course. It was not long and she promised she would be worth the wait. This time she had no need to worry about Harry getting up to no good. On the advice of the boys' protection officers, Charles had told William and Harry to stay away from Boujis. There had been one too many headlines along the lines of THE B BOOZE B BROTHERS and they needed to keep a low profile. The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were said to be concerned that the princes were becoming too well known for their late-night antics. While no one was suggesting they should live like monks, they were in the public eye and some decorum needed to be preserved. and they needed to keep a low profile. The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were said to be concerned that the princes were becoming too well known for their late-night antics. While no one was suggesting they should live like monks, they were in the public eye and some decorum needed to be preserved.

With his military training due to end in October, Harry had to knuckle down to some serious work. Although the Household Cavalry is best known for its ceremonial presence at state occasions, one of the key reasons both Harry and later William chose to join the regiment is that it carries out front-line reconnaissance work. At the Royal Armoured Corps centre at Bovington Harry was acquiring the skills that would enable him to lead twelve men into a war zone, where his job would be to scout out enemy positions using Scimitar armoured vehicles.

It was the middle of August; Iraq and Afghanistan were both possible destinations, and there was a real chance that Harry would be flying out the following spring. 'Harry has started preparing himself for war,' I was told. 'He expects to be sent to Afghanistan to join the rest of his regiment.' The Ministry of Defence appeared to confirm the story: 'There is a requirement for reconnaissance troops in Afghanistan and there is a squadron from the Blues and Royals there at the moment. However, the current regime is due to change next spring.' But within weeks the prospects of Harry going to war looked unlikely. Senior sources in Harry's regiment explained that sending the prince off to war was proving a nightmare. Every day there were fresh reports in the press about where Harry and his men would be posted thus endangering not only the prince's safety but that of his men.

Chief of the General Staff Sir Richard Dannatt was in the unenviable position of deciding Harry's fate. There was a real risk if he sent the prince to war that Harry would be targeted by insurgents, and the Taliban were already baying for his blood. Extremist websites were offering bounties for Harry's head. He was a trophy as far as the enemy was concerned, and for the top bra.s.s at home sending Harry to the front line was an enormous worry. The Taliban were stepping up their attacks: forty-one British service personnel had been killed in just five months and there were real fears that Harry could become another casualty. Southern Afghanistan is one of the most dangerous places in the world, and no place, some argued, for the third-in-line to the throne. Even if Harry was to be stationed at headquarters in Kandahar, he would still face daily rocket attacks. A troop of a hundred Household Cavalry had been deployed to Helmand that spring, and one man had been killed and five seriously injured when their Scimitar armoured vehicle hit a landmine during an operation near Musa Qaleh.

General Dannatt's decision would not be made lightly; it carried so many ramifications for the royal family and the country as a whole if the worst happened. But what was the point of spending hundreds of thousands of pounds of taxpayers' money sending William and Harry to Sandhurst if they would never have the opportunity to put their training into practice? As head of the armed forces and Harry's commander-in-chief, the Queen had made it clear to senior officials at the Ministry of Defence that she would support a decision to send Harry to war, and the prince later acknowledged, 'She was very pro my going.' The Queen was proud of her grandson's achievements and did not believe that his hard work should be wasted. As the spare, Harry was in a different position to his older brother and made his feelings clear: if he wasn't going to be sent to war, he might as well hand in his uniform. His Uncle Andrew, the last royal to be sent to a conflict zone, had expressed similar sentiments in a BBC doc.u.mentary in 1991: 'Had I not gone to the Falklands my position within the navy would have been untenable.'

Harry had spent weeks training for battle at remote army stations around the UK. According to one officer who trained Harry on pre-deployment exercises at Castlemartin, the MoD's 2,400-acre firing range on the south Pembrokeshire coast, he was an exemplary leader.

We did a lot of training just after Christmas, which involved firing with the Scimitars. We also did small-arms firing in Lydd down on the south coast and at Thetford, where we practised what we would be doing on the front line. Harry was very good and came across as a competent commander. He's got a strong and confident personality and he has a very easy manner with the soldiers. Harry was taught about IEDs [improvised explosive devices] and mines. He and his troop had to experience being in the middle of a simulated explosion and Harry did well. He kept his nerve and led his men to safety. He also did cultural training, where he was briefed on the culture and language of the hostile territory he was being prepared for.Harry's favourite part was training in 'minor aggro'. He was taught how to get himself and his troop out of a hostile situation, and how to fight his way out of an ambush. One of the exercises involved him being petrol-bombed. He was dressed in combat gear, a protective helmet and a riot shield, and had a petrol bomb thrown at his feet. He responded exactly as he should have done and stamped his feet hard on the ground so the petrol ran off him and he could kick the fire out.

On 21 February 2007, after weeks of speculation, Harry finally received the news he had been waiting for. He was to join the Household Cavalry's A Squadron on a six-month tour of duty in Iraq that spring. The Ministry of Defence released a statement approved by Clarence House: We can confirm today that Prince Harry will deploy to Iraq later this year in command of a troop from A Squadron of the Household Cavalry Regiment. While in Iraq, Cornet Wales will carry out a normal troop commander's role involving leading a group of twelve men in four Scimitar armoured reconnaissance vehicles, each with a crew of three. The decision to deploy him has been a military one ... The Royal Household has been consulted throughout.

Harry was finally going to war. It was to be the first time a senior member of the royal family had served on the front line since Prince Andrew had fought in the Falklands twenty-five years earlier. Harry was thrilled, and at the end of April Chelsy, who was travelling around South America on her gap year, flew back to London to accompany him at his sending-off party at Mahiki. That night Harry was on his best behaviour. Just a month earlier, having ignored his father's instructions to stay away from his favourite night spot, he had been involved in an embarra.s.sing scuffle outside Boujis. Flushed from drinking the club's signature Crackbaby c.o.c.ktails, the prince, who once again had been partying with Natalie Pinkham, lunged at a photographer before losing his footing and falling over in the gutter. It was a humiliating end to the evening. At the sending-off party it was clear that his impending deployment had had a sobering effect on the prince, who left the party with Chelsy shortly after midnight. Once again the roles were reversed, and it was William who was last on the dance floor until the early hours with his friend Holly Branson.

Harry was on a high but his elation was to be short-lived. Within weeks of the announcement there was a dramatic U-turn. On the evening of 16 May General Dannatt announced that the twenty-two-year-old prince would not be going to Iraq after all. It was simply too dangerous. Just weeks before, two men from the Queen's Royal Lancers had been killed when their Scimitar vehicle was blown up while out on patrol in the desert. 'There have been a number of specific threats some reported and some not reported which relate directly to Prince Harry as an individual,' explained Dannatt, who had just returned from Iraq. 'These threats expose not only him but also those around him to a degree of risk that I now deem unacceptable. I have to add that a contributing factor to this increase in threat to Prince Harry has been the widespread knowledge and discussion of his deployment. It is a fact that this close scrutiny has exacerbated the situation and this is something that I wish to avoid in future.'

It had already been decided that Harry should lead a support troop doing deep desert patrols rather than reconnaissance, where he and his men would have been more exposed, but even being a part of a much larger force was seen as too risky. There had been too much speculation in the press about where Harry and A Squadron would be sent, and the Ministry of Defence had learned of plots to seize the prince and smuggle him across to Iran, where a rescue operation would have been near impossible. Abu Mujtaba, a commander in the Mahdi Army, the Shia militia loyal to the radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, told the Guardian Guardian newspaper, 'One of our aims is to capture Harry; we have people inside the British bases to inform us on when he will arrive.' A royal hostage crisis was something the Ministry of Defence was simply not prepared to risk. It was Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, the prince's private secretary, who informed Harry of the eleventh-hour decision. Publicly he put on a brave face, but it was enough to make him rea.s.sess his career. newspaper, 'One of our aims is to capture Harry; we have people inside the British bases to inform us on when he will arrive.' A royal hostage crisis was something the Ministry of Defence was simply not prepared to risk. It was Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, the prince's private secretary, who informed Harry of the eleventh-hour decision. Publicly he put on a brave face, but it was enough to make him rea.s.sess his career.

Clarence House acknowledged that the prince was 'very disappointed' but insisted that he 'fully understands and accepts General Dannatt's difficult decision'. There is no doubt it was the toughest test of his commitment to his military career to date. Harry knew there was no guarantee this wouldn't happen again. He had no intention of being a toy soldier and was incensed when the pressure group Republic described his training at Sandhurst as a 'scandalous waste of taxpayers' money'. If his military future was twiddling his thumbs in an office, he would rather quit the army now and do something worthwhile with his life. He had set up his own charity Sentebale to help children in Lesotho. If the military could not find a place for him, Harry would find another outlet for his pa.s.sions and talent. As far as he was concerned, he had spent his whole life defending himself against accusations that he was little more than a playboy. Joining the army had given him the chance to prove his detractors wrong and show that there was much more to him.

Friends of the prince suggested it was no exaggeration to say that Harry slipped into a state of depression upon hearing the news. 'Harry was devastated,' an officer who had trained with him told me.

His soldiers ended up going to war without him, which was incredibly hard. He had spent months with his team getting them ready to go to war. He was 100 per cent focused and spent a lot of time with his men. To watch them going off would have been one of the hardest things for Harry. He'd done all his training, but he wasn't allowed to go and do the job he'd been trained to do. It was very hard and we all felt sorry for him. He felt as though he was letting his men down by not going to Iraq with them. He saw them as his soldiers and he felt a huge sense of responsibility for them.

'I have never seen Harry so down in the dumps,' one of his best friends told me over a lunch at the Automat restaurant in Dover Street, just up the road from Mahiki. 'His words are that he is absolutely gutted, he feels all his training has been a waste of time.' Harry told his colleagues, 'If I am not allowed to join my unit in a war zone, I will hand in my uniform.' William, as always, was on hand to support his brother, but there was little comfort he could offer and he knew he would face a similar fate. As second-in-line to the throne, he realised that he too would have to watch his fellow officers go to war while he stayed at home. Harry joined his brother in D Squadron of the Blues and Royals until the MoD decided exactly what to do with him. His senior officers a.s.sured him they would exhaust every option to get him to war; in the meantime they told him to sit tight.

It was not surprising that Harry's rebellious streak emerged again. If he couldn't be a soldier prince he might as well be a party prince, and he hit his favourite nightclubs hard. PR DISASTER BUT BUT H HOPE OF OF S SECRET R ROLE FOR FOR H HARRY was the was the Evening Standard Evening Standard's front page. Aware that he was fast losing interest, the MoD decided to send him to Canada. Harry had had several talks with General Dannatt and senior officials, who explained that he was going to be retrained as a battlefield air controller. It was, they explained, the easiest way to get him to the front line, but it needed to be done covertly. In May Harry flew to Alberta, to the British Army Training Unit in Suffield 160 miles south-east of Calgary, to spend three months learning how to carry out live-fire exercises. But within days of his arrival Harry was on the front page of a local newspaper, photographed in a provocative clinch with a waitress. He had gone to a late-night bar, with two of his bodyguards and a group of army colleagues to drink sambuca shots and rum and c.o.ke. The worse for wear, Harry couldn't resist chatting up one of the waitresses, an attractive twenty-two-year-old called Cherie Cymbalisty. 'He was very forward and told me I was stunning,' she recalled. 'He certainly didn't mention anything about having a girlfriend. He sure didn't act like he had one.'

This time it wasn't just Chelsy asking questions. Harry's men were fighting in Iraq, and here was the third-in-line to the throne chatting up girls apparently without a care in the world. While one could forgive him for letting off steam, here was Harry acting the fool when the death toll of British servicemen in Afghanistan had just reached sixty. As his grandmother privately remarked, sometimes Harry just lacked common sense.

Chapter 14.

Remembering Mummy.

We wanted to have this big concert full of energy, full of the sort of fun and happiness which I know she would have wanted. And on her birthday as well, it's got to be the best birthday present she ever had.Prince William, 2007 By the start of August Harry was back home from Canada. The speculation about his being posted to Afghanistan had finally subsided, much to the relief of General Sir Richard Dannatt, who had started secret talks with the Queen, Prince Charles and Harry's private secretary about the possibility of deploying Harry to the front line by Christmas. It was therefore the epic concert that William and Harry were planning to commemorate the tenth anniversary of their mother's death that filled the pages of the press.

They had first announced their intention of organising a memorial service and concert in memory of their mother the previous December. On 1 July 2007, after seven months of intensive planning, the concert was actually going to happen. It had always been William and Harry's plan to celebrate what should have been Diana's forty-sixth birthday, as this marked a decade since her death, but the event was not to be a maudlin affair. The brothers decided that the concert should reflect their mother's joie de vivre, and the eclectic line-up of West End show casts, performances from the Royal Ballet and some of the world's biggest rock stars perfectly captured the mood. From the outset William had said that he and Harry wanted to 'put their stamp' on both the memorial service and the concert. 'We want it to represent exactly what our mother would have wanted. So the church service alone isn't enough,' he said. 'We want to have this big concert on her birthday full of energy, full of the sort of fun and happiness which I know she would have wanted. It's got to be the best birthday present she ever had.'

It may have been ten years since her death, but Diana's memory was still vivid and not just for the princes but also with the public, who still adored her, and the newspapers, which remained infatu ated with every detail of Diana's life. The public side, Harry said, was only a very small part of their mother. They liked to remember her without the cameras, when she was 'just Mummy', dancing barefoot to Michael Jackson in the drawing room of Kensington Palace and making them laugh with her naughty jokes.

Until now they had had little opportunity to put their own mark on their mother's memory. There had been calls for a memorial, but the 3 million fountain in Hyde Park opened seven years after her death was at first felt feeble and inadequate. William and Harry had joined their father, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh for the opening, but the fountain had been dogged by controversy. It simply didn't seem appropriate or fitting to many, including Diana's friend Vivienne Parry, who was on the committee of the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund.

I had a falling out with Rosa Monckton, who was also on the committee, over the fountain. She said it was sleek and elegant and I said it looked like a puddle. I heard Diana herself say she didn't want a statue, and she wasn't keen on having a hospital or anything named after her. There was a tension between what the Spencer family wanted and what the nation wanted. The British public wanted a monument they could go and visit and take their children to, but sadly the fountain never was.

As if to advertise its failure, the fountain became clogged with leaves and was fenced off as a health and safety hazard. By the end of that first summer it was more of a sputter than the majestic fountain it was intended to be and subsequently became closer to being.

Having recently turned twenty-five, William was legally ent.i.tled to the income accrued on the 6.5 million left to him in his mother's will. Unusually, Diana's will had been changed by a variation order granted by the High Court three months after her death, to protect her sons. Essentially the changes meant that they could not access the capital of her 12 million estate until they were thirty, but they could access the interest it had earned without consulting the trustees. It was also agreed that William and Harry would take over the princess's intellectual property rights, which had been given to the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund. While William appreciated the work the fund had done, he was determined to give it a serious shake-up. There was a feeling, particularly within the Palace, that Diana's name, which at one stage had appeared on margarine packets, had been cheapened and over-commercialised.

'The boys were wisely kept out of all the rows that were going on, but there were huge problems with Diana's image,' recalled Vivienne Parry. 'Diana's sister Sarah and Paul Burrell, who was also on the committee, decided to give Flora the rights to use Diana's signature on their margarine packets. Sarah had actually signed it off even though we were all opposed to it, as was Diana's mother Frances, who was still alive at the time. Diana's name was and still is very powerful, and it's understandable that William and Harry are so protective of their mother's legacy.'

The concert and memorial were perfect opportunities for the boys to reinvent their mother's image. It was William and Harry's first joint charity venture and their most ambitious project to date. The concert, which would take place at the new Wembley Stadium, was to feature twenty-three artists and would be broadcast around the world by the BBC. Everyone remembered the young and vibrant Diana dancing to Duran Duran at Live Aid twenty-two years before. Now the very same band, who had lined up to meet the princess and shake her hand, would be singing for her together with, among others, Tom Jones, Rod Stewart, Supertramp, Lily Allen, Joss Stone and Take That.

William and Harry made the decision early on that it was to be a party for the younger members of the royal family, and while some of Diana's family were invited, the old guard, including their father, who according to William didn't know how to p.r.o.nounce Beyonce's name, were not. Although the princes did not have their own private office at this stage, they had a team of aides at the Palace to help them plan the event. Sir Malcolm Ross, who had coordinated the Queen's successful golden jubilee celebrations in 2002, was in charge of the operation together with Geoffrey Matthews, the princes' private secretary, and their personal secretary Helen Asprey. An advisory board of key figures from the music and entertainment industry, including Nicholas Coleridge, managing director of Conde Nast, Andy Cosslett of Intercontinental Hotels Group, Willie Walsh, chief executive of British Airways, Universal Music's chairman Lucian Grainge, the director of the National Theatre Nicholas Hytner and Sir Tom Shebbeare, director of Prince Charles's charities, was also created to work alongside the boys' aunt Lady Sarah McCorquodale. Theatre impresario Andrew Lloyd Webber had also agreed to be involved, and by the New Year plans were well under way. Both William and Harry were kept abreast at every stage of the planning by Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, who travelled around the country with detailed plans of the ever-changing event for the boys to authorise.

William wanted to oversee every last detail, and was given permission to leave his regiment in Dorset to come up to London for regular meetings at Clarence House. According to one senior royal aide who was present, he chaired every meeting with confidence and authority. 'William was very hands on. He would arrive in meetings totally au fait and up to speed. He had enormous skill, which I was quite taken aback by, and he was incredibly competent. If there was a point he wanted to take further with anyone individually, he would close the meeting, thanking everyone for their time, before asking the person he wanted to speak to if they would stay behind. He got the job done, and we were all very happy with how he handled it.'

With so much hype in the weeks leading up to the concert, it was decided this was the perfect opportunity for the boys to give an international television interview. Given their mother's popularity in the States, it was suggested that they appear on America's biggest breakfast programme, NBC's Today Today, which paid a reported $2.5 million for the exclusive. A year earlier William and Harry had appeared on British television with their father to be interviewed by Ant and Dec for the thirtieth anniversary celebrations of the Prince's Trust. They appeared relaxed as they sat on either side of their father as he spoke about the work of the trust. But this time the spotlight was firmly on them. The footage, as far as NBC was concerned, was worth every dollar.

It was honest and compelling, and William and Harry came across exactly as their mother would have hoped. They were normal; they had girlfriends; they hated the press attention that came with their t.i.tles and were uncomfortable with intrusions into their daily lives. If they had not been born princes, William said he would have loved to be 'some sort of heli pilot working for the UN maybe', while Harry said he dreamed of being a safari guide in Africa. Harry claimed only the people who actually knew them really understood them. There were questions about Kate Middleton, and William, who had obviously been well briefed ahead of the interview, gave nothing away. He certainly wasn't prepared to confirm whether she would be coming to the concert.

Sitting on a cream sofa in the drawing room of Clarence House dressed in chinos and open-necked shirts, the brothers took it in turns to answer the questions. In front of the cameras they were relaxed, shared an easy on-screen banter and finished one another's sentences. There were jokes about Harry having done nothing in the run-up to the concert, while William claimed to have had all the bright ideas. Their self-deprecation and warmth won them an army of fans. This after all was the first America and the rest of the world had really seen of the boys since they walked behind their mother's coffin ten years before.

For the first time the boys opened up about Diana's death and how they had coped without her in their lives. Harry spoke with great candour about his mother and how he was haunted by what had happened in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel on 31 August 1997. 'For me personally, whatever happened ... that night ... in that tunnel ... no one will ever know. I'm sure people will always think about that the whole time,' he said. 'I'll never stop wondering about that.'

'Straight after it happened we were always thinking about it,' added William. 'Not a day goes by when I don't think about it once in the day ... For us it's been very slow ... It has been a long time.'

Harry talked about the trauma of being continually confronted with images of their mother since her death and his sadness that the tragedy would never be a closed chapter in their lives.

It's weird because I think when she pa.s.sed away there was never that time, there was never that sort of lull. There was never that sort of peace and quiet for any of us. Her face was always splattered on the paper [sic] the whole time. Over the last ten years I personally feel as though she has been she's always there. She's always been a constant reminder to both of us and everyone else ... When you're being reminded about it, [it] does take a lot longer and it's a lot slower.

While time had healed the rawest wounds, it was clear that the pain of losing their mother so suddenly and publicly had left a deep scar.

When asked how they coped with life in the goldfish bowl of royalty it was Harry who answered: 'We know we have certain responsibilities, but within our private life and within certain other parts of our life we want to be as normal as possible. Yes, it's hard because to a certain respect we will never be normal.'

When on 1 July 2007 Sir Elton John took to the stage at the new Wembley Stadium to introduce William and Harry the applause from the crowd of 63,000 people was thunderous. They had both admitted to being nervous, but as they stood in front of a giant screen illuminated with the letter D, Harry found his confidence. 'h.e.l.lo, Wembley,' he shouted to the crowds. He looked to William and grinned broadly. The day was blessed with fine weather and Elton John opened and closed the concert on a black-lacquered grand piano. There was no rendition of 'Candle in the Wind', which he had sung at her funeral; the mood was of celebration, not sadness. The outpouring of grief ten years earlier was a distant memory. There would be no more tears, this was a time for happiness, but as the black and white images of Diana taken by her favourite photographer Mario Testino flickered across the stage, there was no mistaking the emotions she still elicited.

As the cameras focused on the royal box, William and Harry, surrounded by their friends and relatives among them Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, Peter and Zara Phillips and Earl Spencer's daughters Kitty, Eliza and Katya beamed with pride. At one point William raised his arms in the air and started wiggling his hips only to be chastised by his brother. Kate, dressed in a white Issa trench coat, stood two rows behind William and was careful not to meet his eye, although keen-eyed watchers might have read much into her singing along with every word of Take That's 'Back for Good'. She had in fact spent the days leading up to the concert sitting at the kitchen table in Clarence House going through the final running order with William and helping him with the speech cards he kept in his blazer pocket throughout the day. It was the first time they had appeared in public together since the news that they were dating again, but Kate wanted the day to be about Harry and William and insisted on sitting with her brother James. Chelsy, who had flown in from Cape Town, was seated on Harry's right-hand side in the front row. Pretty in a black dress, her blond hair sc.r.a.ped back into a ponytail, they danced together and were inseparable at the VIP party after the show.

Although Palace aides were concerned that the late-night party could send out the wrong message in the run-up to the anniversary of Diana's death, William and Harry were adamant that they wanted to thank everyone who had been involved with the concert. Event planner and nightclub owner Mark Fuller, who is also a long-serving amba.s.sador of the Prince's Trust, said it was their way of saying thank you. 'People were desperate for an invite to the after party, but the boys wanted to keep it intimate and low key. Everyone agreed to help out for free and the boys were incredibly grateful. They made a point of coming and thanking every waitress and kitchen porter before the party started,' said Fuller, who was in charge of the catering and helped to look after the star guests. The boys were on their best behaviour, although Harry couldn't resist sneaking off with Chelsy for a little time to themselves. It had always been William and Harry's intention that any funds raised from the concert would be split among their charities, and the 1 million that was raised was divided up between eight, which included Sentebale and Centrepoint.

The hour-long memorial service, which was held at the Guards Chapel in the Wellington Barracks on 31 August, was understandably a more sombre affair, and the message was as clear as it was simple: let Diana be celebrated for her life, and let her rest in peace. The candlelit ceremony took place just a stone's throw from Buckingham Palace, where back in July 1981 Diana had kissed her prince charming on the balcony in front of adoring crowds. The Right Reverend Richard Chartres, Bishop of London, echoed William and Harry's pleas for their mother's memory to be finally laid to rest. In Paris a sea of flowers had been laid above the Pont de l'Alma tunnel, while flowers, cards and poems from members of the public were pinned to the gates of Kensington Palace and Althorp, Diana's childhood home and final resting place.

But as had been the case for most of Diana's married life, Camilla unwittingly cast something of a shadow over the memorial service. There was a furore when it was reported that the d.u.c.h.ess would be attending. Camilla herself had had misgivings and wanted to stay away, but Charles had insisted she be there. Diana's close friend Rosa Monckton, who had spent ten days holidaying with the princess shortly before her death, voiced her opposition in an article for the Mail on Sunday Mail on Sunday. 'I know such services should be an occasion for forgiveness, but I can't help feeling Camilla's attendance is deeply inappropriate.'

While Camilla was said to be tearful over the criticism levelled at her and the invidious position she found herself in, Charles, who can be stubborn especially when it comes to the subject of his late ex-wife, insisted that Sir Michael Peat, his private adviser, continue to brief his press aides that the d.u.c.h.ess would attend. William and Harry had invited their stepmother, but as the day drew nearer Camilla found herself under terrible pressure, and she and Charles argued on a daily basis over whether she should attend. It was only two years since Charles and Camilla had married, and the public had by no means embraced their potential future queen. Camilla was still viewed with suspicion and disliked by many, and her public image remained fragile. William and Harry were upset the service was being overshadowed by the controversy and there were fears of a public backlash if the d.u.c.h.ess turned up. Eventually the Queen intervened at the eleventh hour and gave Camilla her blessing to stay away. Camilla issued a personal statement: 'On reflection I believe my attend ance could divert attention from the purpose of the occasion, which is to focus on the life and service of Diana.'

At the service William sat in the front pew next to the Queen, who was dressed in vibrant purple. He had chosen to give a reading from St Paul's letter to the Ephesians; Harry would deliver the eulogy. The boys had asked 500 friends and family, including many members of their mother's former staff from Kensington Palace. Diana's chefs Mervyn Wycherly and Chris Barber, who had also attended William's confirmation, as well as her former secretary Victoria Mendham, were invited. Representatives from the plethora of charities of which Diana was patron also filled the chapel along with prime ministers past and present and stars from the world of show business. Twelve of Diana's G.o.dchildren, her G.o.dparents, and all of her pageboys and bridesmaids were also there. Her former butler Paul Burrell, who had been at the centre of an inquiry into a number of the late princess's missing personal artefacts, was pointedly not invited, nor was Mohamed Al Fayed. His daughter Camilla, who had shared the boys' last summer with their mother in St-Tropez, was the only member of the Fayed family at the memorial. William and Harry had personally written to her and asked her to come.

When I interviewed Camilla Fayed much later she said, I was very surprised. I was the only one in my family to be asked along. Of course they couldn't ask my father. I still don't know to this day why they invited me. I was very nervous about going. I hadn't seen or spoken to William since the summer Dodi and Diana died. We were desperate to write to them or speak with them, but we were told not to have any contact, which was very hard because we had all grown close that summer. I couldn't believe I was finally going to be able to see William and Harry at the memorial service. I had Elton and his husband David Furnish to look after me they are very dear friends and they were an amazing support. Without them I don't know if I could have gone. I spoke to William and Harry and they both thanked me for coming. I would have loved to talk to them more but it wasn't really the time or the place. We both lost loved ones that day; our lives were both torn apart. I lost my brother and it has taken me years to be able to talk about that summer. It was a tragedy that destroyed both our families. For me it was very important that I was there to represent my father and our family, and it was very honourable of the boys to invite me. I'm so glad I went.

Like many of the congregation, Camilla was moved to tears when Harry delivered his eulogy. Wearing his regimental tie, he spoke of his mother's 'unrivalled love of life, laughter, fun and folly'. She was, he said, 'our guardian, friend and protector. She never once allowed her unfaltering love for us to go unspoken or undemonstrated. She will always be remembered for her amazing public work. But behind the media glare, to us, just two loving children, she was quite simply the best mother in the world.' He added, 'We would say that, wouldn't we? But we miss her. Put simply, she made us and so many other people happy. May this be the way she is remembered.' His lip quivered, but despite the emotion of the moment Harry did not lose his self-control. His heartfelt tribute was as spine-tingling and touching as the solitary card on top of Diana's coffin, which had borne the single word 'Mummy' written in his hand.

When Harry returned to sit down, he walked across the church to the pews where the Spencer family was seated and joined them. It was the first time the two families had been together since Diana's funeral, at which Earl Spencer had given his heartfelt but bitter eulogy in which he claimed Diana 'needed no royal t.i.tle to continue to generate her particular brand of magic'. His defence of his sister, while applauded by the nation was seen as a thinly veiled attack on the Windsors, and the families had not spoken since. Many wounds were healed that day.

Chapter 15.

Off to war.

There's no way I'm going to put myself through Sandhurst and then sit on my a.r.s.e back home while my boys are out fighting for their country. That may sound very patriotic, but it's true.Prince Harry, September 2005 It was half past eleven on Friday 9 November 2007 when the promoter of the Amika nightclub received a call on his mobile from a rather refreshed-sounding Prince Harry. 'We've just finished dinner. We want to come and party! We're on our way down now.' The newly refurbished nightclub was located on Kensington High Street in west London and had a VIP room that could only be accessed using a special swipe card. Harry, who was stationed just twenty miles away at Windsor, had become a regular at the club, which was popular with the well-heeled Chelsea crowd who could afford the fifteen-pound c.o.c.ktails.

There was no chance of a repeat of the Boujis episode when Harry had lunged at a photographer: the prince was driven into a private car park beneath the club and whisked into the venue through labyrinthine corridors without the paparazzi even knowing he was there. He always shunned the VIP room, which came complete with its own team of staff, a vintage champagne bar and extravagant velvet wallpaper. Instead he preferred to sit at a booth in the corner of the club's main room, where he had a perfect view of the stage on which half-naked dancers performed in a cage. Anyone else would have to spend a minimum of 1,500 for the privilege of sitting at this, the best table in the club, but the bill was always waived for Harry.

He walked into the club, his baseball cap pulled low over his face, collapsed into the deep black leather seat and reached for the magnum of vodka already on ice. Several jugs of mixers had also been arranged on the table, but Harry was not interested in watering-down his drinks. He called over the waitress and asked for half a dozen shot gla.s.ses. It had already been decided who would be waiting on Harry and his group of friends that night, and as the gorgeous Trinidad-born Christiane made her way over to the table, Harry stood up to greet her.

On the last occasion he had dropped in with Chelsy, who had come to London for a break from Leeds University, where she had started a postgraduate course in law in September. Clearly happy to be reunited, the couple celebrated with two magnums of Moet et Chandon and sneaked off to share cigarettes in the corridor leading to the car park, another privilege reserved solely for them. At the end of the night Harry had laughingly tried to pay the 2,000 bill with his army ident.i.ty card only to be informed that the drinks were on the house. So too were the magnums of vodka slipped into the boot of the protection officers' Range Rover courtesy of the bar manager because the drinks fridge at Clarence House had, according to Harry, run dry.

On this occasion he was not with Chelsy but his friend Arthur Landon, the youngest man on the Sunday Times Sunday Times Rich List, and Arthur's make-up artist girlfriend Charlotte Cowen. Harry was uncharacteristically subdued and sat in the corner, uninterested in the elegant girls circling his table hopefully. It was only when Christiane sat down to chat with him that Harry perked up. He had known her from Boujis, where she used to wait on the VIP tables, and they got along well. Having secured her telephone number Harry had spent the past fortnight texting her, and the rumour among his friends was that she had recently accompanied the prince home to Clarence House. News of their friendship had even reached Christiane's home town in Trinidad where her family and friends were devouring every detail of the burgeoning romance, even though Christiane loyally refused to discuss the relationship. 'Trinidad society is abuzz with some girl who has been seeing Prince Harry,' I was informed. It had not taken long for the news to travel halfway across the globe. Chelsy was furious and told Harry the relationship was over. It was not just his wandering eye; she was desperately homesick and miserable in Leeds. Things had got off to an inauspicious start in September, when Harry had kept her waiting at Heathrow airport for close to an hour after she landed. When he eventually arrived looking like he had just rolled out of bed, he swore furiously at the photographers who had gathered en ma.s.se in the terminal. Rich List, and Arthur's make-up artist girlfriend Charlotte Cowen. Harry was uncharacteristically subdued and sat in the corner, uninterested in the elegant girls circling his table hopefully. It was only when Christiane sat down to chat with him that Harry perked up. He had known her from Boujis, where she used to wait on the VIP tables, and they got along well. Having secured her telephone number Harry had spent the past fortnight texting her, and the rumour among his friends was that she had recently accompanied the prince home to Clarence House. News of their friendship had even reached Christiane's home town in Trinidad where her family and friends were devouring every detail of the burgeoning romance, even though Christiane loyally refused to discuss the relationship. 'Trinidad society is abuzz with some girl who has been seeing Prince Harry,' I was informed. It had not taken long for the news to travel halfway across the globe. Chelsy was furious and told Harry the relationship was over. It was not just his wandering eye; she was desperately homesick and miserable in Leeds. Things had got off to an inauspicious start in September, when Harry had kept her waiting at Heathrow airport for close to an hour after she landed. When he eventually arrived looking like he had just rolled out of bed, he swore furiously at the photographers who had gathered en ma.s.se in the terminal.

Just ten minutes away, Chelsy was hosting her own party at the trendy members-only Cuckoo Club in London's West End. Dressed in a tight-fitting minidress, she was surrounded by her close group of girlfriends, including her best friend Olivia Perry, known to everyone as 'Bubble'. As Chelsy leaned in and told them the news, the girls, champagne gla.s.ses in hand, were on the edge of their seats. 'It's over,' Chelsy told them dramatically before draining her flute. 'He doesn't make enough effort, and I need to be my own person. I don't even know if I can trust him any more.' As Bubble p