WILL KATE AND CHELSY BE ROYAL BRIDES?

GIRLFRIENDS: Chelsy Davy and Kate Middleton

Saturday May 17,2008

By Richard Palmer, Royal Correspondant

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ROYAL wedding fever is in the air with strong indications that Princes William and Harry are preparing to marry their girlfriends.

Harry will formally introduce Chelsy Davy to the Queen for the first time today when the couple attend the wedding of the Princes’ cousin Peter Phillips at Windsor Castle.

And in a sign of her growing standing with the Royal Family, Kate Middleton will be representing the absent Prince William at the ceremony.

He is away in Kenya at a long-standing commitment – the nuptials of his childhood sweetheart Jecca Craig’s brother Batian.

William, 25, and Kate, 26, are expected to announce their engagement later this year or early in 2009, while a marriage between Harry and Chelsy, once regarded by courtiers as unthinkable, now also looks increasingly likely.

Prince William with girlfriend Kate

Leeds University student Chelsy, 22, looked stylish in a tailored jacket and jeans yesterday as she did some last-minute cramming for an exam.

Just as important will be her meeting with the Queen today, who returned from a state visit to Turkey yesterday.

All the signs point to the fact that the British public may soon have to get used to knowing Kate and Chelsy as Princess William of Wales and Princess Harry of Wales.

Chelsy is losing her party-girl image

Under protocol rules, if they married, the pair would have to take the names of their husbands, like Princess Michael of Kent. Charles Kidd, editor of Debrett’s Peerage and Baronetage, said: “It might sound a bit strange at first but I’m sure the public will soon get used to it.”

Eventually, Harry, 23, is expected to be given a dukedom that would make Chelsy a Duchess – one possible title is the Duchess of Cambridge – but that can only happen when Prince Charles is King, according to Mr Kidd.

“It’s only the children of the monarch who can be given these titles,” he said. “Once the Queen dies and is succeeded by Prince Charles then that could possibly change but until then it will be Princess William and Princess Harry.”

William and Kate have dated for six years – apart from a brief split last year – and are expected to wed after he leaves the Army.

Courtiers have always thought that his younger brother’s relationship with Chelsy would fizzle out but after four years of an often tempestuous love affair, the couple now seem closer than ever.

Despite once saying that her main ambition was to be famous, Chelsy – daughter of controversial Zimbabwean businessman Charles Davy – for a long time looked uncomfortable to be in the spotlight.

A marriage between Harry and Chelsy looks likely

Many royal insiders found it hard to imagine the blonde party girl adopting the mantle of a Princess and undertaking engagements such as visiting hospitals and charities.

But Harry’s decision to invite Chelsy to sit with his father and brother as he received an Afghanistan campaign medal from Princess Anne at Windsor on May 5 has forced many to rethink.

“That was very significant,” said one veteran royal watcher. “In all the time before Prince Charles got married I can’t remember him ever taking a girlfriend to anything like that. Now she is going to this wedding and meeting the Queen. It all points to a wedding.”

There are signs too that Chelsy has started to tone down her wardrobe and lose her party-girl image. It all means the couple threaten to overshadow the royal marriage today.

Princess Anne’s son Peter Phillips, 30, will become the Queen’s first grandchild to marry when he walks down the aisle with his Canadian bride Autumn Kelly, also 30, at St George’s Chapel.

However, the couple have attracted criticism for selling the wedding photographic rights for a reported £500,000, provoking accusations that they are using the Queen to make money while refusing to do official royal duties.