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Chelsy Davy Launches New Jewelry Line Inspired By Her African Heritage

By Stacey Cole
Published on: 02:26 PST, Jun 29, 2016

Chelsy Davy, Prince Harry’s ex-girlfriend, launched her ethically-sourced African jewelry line named AYA Africa recently. The boutique will feature items that are made from African emeralds. Trained and qualified as a solicitor, 30-year old Chelsy Davy only recently turned her hand to designing jewelry, which made use of African emeralds.

It was natural for Chelsy to have African influences on her jewelry designs because she was born and brought up in the African country of Zimbabwe. Chelsy’s childhood was spent in 1980s Zimbabwe, where her father owned a game park, which was approximately twice the size of Surrey. Chelsy had the liberty of roaming freely in the park where, on a daily basis, she encountered giraffes, lions, warthogs, monkeys and wild elephants. Her upbringing inspired Chelsy Davy to tend towards extreme adventure sports, and the bold, vibrant and optimistic jewels launched by her new jewelry line symbolize her African roots.

The Zimbabwean was excited at the launch party of her new jewelry line because the occasion was graced by none other than Princess Eugenie, Prince Harry’s cousin, who is a close friend of the former could-have-been royal.

Princess Eugenie received a warm embrace from Chelsy, who was more than happy to welcome her royal friend at the launch party. In fact, Chelsy appeared to be thrilled when the two friends were photographed together. According to the Daily Mail, the two close friends were also spotted together during the launch of Irene Forte’s organic beauty brand in London.

Chelsy was all smiles as she supported Irene’s product line along with Eugenie.

The royal reunion took place only a few days after Chelsy Davy admitted that she is still close to Prince Harry. The royal pair famously split in 2011, shortly after the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. And according to Woman’s Day, even though the formerly on-again, off-again royal couple seem to have split up for good this time, both parties have happily admitted that they are and hope to remain good friends.

Even after their seven-year courtship ended, Chelsy remained a part of Prince Harry’s social circle, so it comes as no surprise that the pair have frequently been spotted attending the same parties and social functions, and it is a testament to their maturity that they ended their relationship on good enough terms that they could happily socialise together after the split.

Now, after quitting her job at Allen and Overy in 2015 to follow her dream of designing her own jewelry line, it seems that Chelsy has also made plenty of time for socializing. The Zimbabwean is known to be a private person and she has done her best to avoid the limelight by focusing on her career, despite her royal connections. In fact, it is rumored that Chelsy’s split with Prince Harry happened because she was not in the position to handle the pressures that would naturally befall a royal wife.

Chelsy Davy never spoke to the press when she and Prince Harry were together, despite the fact that those were the years when she was most haunted by the paparazzi, who took every opportunity to splash her photos across various tabloids, oftentimes accompanied with phrases like “leggy Zimbabwean blonde” or “tumbling out of nightclubs.”

According to The Australian, the paparazzi pursued Chelsy to such an extent that she felt that she was being hunted like game.

The scary and uncomfortable feeling understandably made her feel trapped and, in the end, she decided to break up with Prince Harry as she found it impossible to cope with the media pressure and hype that surrounded their relationship. The paparazzi were so intrusive that Davy admits to retreating to her native Zimbabwe to give herself the opportunity to handle the breakup away from the media’s scrutiny.

Currently, Chelsy Davy is enjoying life as a jewelry designer and, even though she is ambitious, she is very much committed to social responsibility. She has planned to fund education in the mining region of Zambia from where she sources the emeralds used in her creations, and the funding is sure to increase as her new venture gathers momentum.

[Photos by Ben A. Pruchnie/Getty Images]

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