Prince Harry’s ‘inner circle’: Amid reports the Duke ‘asked friends to contribute’ to his memoir, Femail reveals his confidantes – from ‘second father’ David Foster to ex Chelsy Davy and Eton pal Tom Inskip
- Prince Harry reportedly reached out to exes and friends to contribute to memoir
- The Duke, 38, has cultivated a close inner circle over his years in the limelight
- From ‘father figures’ to friends now shunned, FEMAIL looks at Harry’s best pals
As Prince Harry prepares to release his long-awaited memoir Spare, royal fans will get a glimpse into his live in the royal family – and may also hear from a few of those closest to the Duke of Sussex.
Reports emerged this weekend that Harry, 38, had reached out to close friends and ex-partners asking them to contribute to his autobiography, ‘Spare’, which is due for publication on 10 January 2023.
However, according to The Sun, many of the people who were contacted by ghostwriter JR Moehringer politely declined the Duke of Sussex’s invitation.
Having made friends for life at Eton College, where he went to secondary school, as well as fellow soldiers in the Armed Forces and other high-society figures in royal circles, the Duke has formed a trusted social circle as he has grown up in the limelight.
Since moving with Meghan Markle, 41, to the US in 2020, the couple have also formed several close friendships in their new environment. But who is in Prince Harry’s ‘inner circle’, and which voices might royal fans expect to hear in his memoir?
Chelsy Davy
Prince Harry, 38, has reportedly reached out to ex-girlfriends and friends during the writing of his memoir, Spare. Pictured: The Duke of Sussex and his ex-girlfriend Chelsy Davy at the Army Aviation Centre, Hampshire, in 2010
Chelsy, 36, is now a mother-of-one and owns a jewellery business, but from 2004-2011, the Zimbabwean-born designer was best known for dating Prince Harry.
The pair met when Chelsy was at boarding school in Stowe, following her family’s relocation to the UK. For a few years they were just friends.
When the businesswoman finished school, she returned to Africa where she studied for a degree at the University of Cape Town. But, upon visiting South Africa on his gap year, Harry decided to look up his old friend and the pair reconnected.
Chelsy later moved back to the UK and studied at the University of Leeds, which allowed her to be closer to her beau.
For the next few years, they were a golden couple, with Chelsy often pictured at the sidelines of Harry’s polo matches.
She soon became accepted into the Royal Family, being invited to King Charles’s 60th birthday and later accompanying Harry to Princess Diana’s memorial concert in 2007.
The pair eventually split in 2011 in what was described as an amicable break-up – and several years later, Chelsy revealed how much she had struggled with being in the limelight.
In 2016 she told The Times: ‘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.’
Harry and Chelsy have clearly remained on good terms, because she was invited to his wedding to Meghan Markle at St George’s chapel in May 2018.
Earlier this year, she married Sam Cutmore-Scott, 37, who was in the year above the prince at Eton College, and the couple had their first baby in January, a boy named Leo.
Tom ‘Skippy’ Inskip
Tom ‘Skippy’ Inskip (pictured with Harry in 2013 at a wedding in King’s Lynn) is one of Prince Harry’s oldest friends, but reportedly fell out with the Duke after advising him to take things slow with Meghan when the pair first began dating
Tom Inskip’s father is Owen Inskip, a field-master of Prince Charles’s favourite hunt, The Beaufort, who has made a fortune over the years from a number of businesses, including ‘managing’ thousands of council homes for local authorities and upmarket estates.
Tom, also known as ‘Skippy’, is one of Prince Harry’s oldest friends, having met the Duke of Sussex when they were classmates at Eton College.
‘Skippy’ and sister Victoria — ‘Tor’ to her friends — have known Princes William and Harry since childhood.
The Inskips were regulars at Club H, the ‘nightclub’ William and Harry set up in the basement of Highgrove.
Mr Inskip was with Harry on his ill-fated trip to Croatia in August 2011, when they got drunk on vodka, whisky, beer and tequila, and were photographed jumping into a pool fully-clothed at a nightclub on the party island of Hvar.
He was also with him on a skiing trip to Verbier in November 2012 when they amused themselves by childishly hurling snowballs at unsuspecting passers-by from a balcony.
He was with him at a party in 2010 when Harry was seen inhaling ‘hippy crack’ — otherwise known as nitrous oxide or laughing gas — a recreational drug which, although perfectly legal, has been associated with a number of fatalities.
And he was with Harry during his infamous trip to Las Vegas in 2012, when the prince was photographed naked during a game of ‘strip billiards’.
But he’s been leading a more settled life since marrying flame-haired literary agent the Hon Lara Hughes-Young in Jamaica in 2017.
The groom and his bride, the daughter of Lord St Helens, hired out the super exclusive Round Hill Hotel and Villas, a private 110-acre plantation style resort first built as a colony of cottages for the rich, famous and glamorous of the 1950s.
It was one of the first events to which Harry took Meghan, and he was one of the ushers.
However the two apparently fell out after Tom warning Harry against marrying Meghan.
According to the 2020 book Finding Freedom, Tom expressed doubts about how quickly the relationship was moving and decided to warn his friend Harry.
He is believed to have advised Harry and Meghan to live together before ‘doing anything more serious.’
A source close to Duke and Duchess of Sussex told the book’s authors that although his advice ‘came from a good place,’ Prince Harry ‘didn’t totally see it that way’.
As a result, Mr Inskip and his wife Lara were reportedly ‘punished’ by being excluded from Prince Harry and Meghan’s wedding party at Frogmore House.
Cressida Bonas
After his relationship with Chelsy Davy ended, Harry dated model and actress Cressida Bonas for two years between 2012 and 2014. Pictured: The couple watching the rugby union Six Nations in 2014
After his long-term relationship with Chelsy Davy came to an end, Harry found love again with Burberry muse and actress Cressida Bonas.
Harry and aristocrat’s daughter Miss Bonas are believed to have been introduced by Princess Eugenie.
The pair dated on and off between 2012 and 2014, but ultimately split only a month after Miss Bonas attended an official engagement with Harry for the first time.
The couple had embraced in front of cameras, prompting speculation they might be about to get engaged but it later emerged the relationship had come under great strain in the weeks leading to their split.
The break reportedly came because Cressida was tired of the scrutiny that came with dating a member of the royal family.
Speaking at the Henley Literary Festival in 2016, Ingrid Seward, who has written several books about the Royals, said that the-then 27-year-old actress ‘couldn’t take it’ when she found herself being judged by total strangers.
She said: ‘A friend of mine’s daughter went out with Prince Harry, Cressie, the most gorgeous girl, she just said it was awful because every time she walked down the street she could hear people criticising her.
‘They would whip out their phones and take photos of her. They’d say “oh look at her hair”, “oh look at her clothes, look at her boots, she hasn’t got her laces done up”, I mean this is just a normal, pretty girl and she just couldn’t take it. She just thought “why are they getting at me”.’
However the couple remain on good terms and socialise in similar circles, with Princess Eugenie among Cressida’s closest friends.
Cressida, 33, even attended her ex-boyfriend’s wedding to Meghan in May 2018.
This summer Cressida, who now hosts a podcast, revealed she was expecting her first child with her husband Harry Wentworth-Stanley.
She appeared at the wedding of Lady Tatiana Mountbatten, daughter of Queen Elizabeth’s cousin the Marquess of Milford Haven, showing a hint of a baby bump.
Mark Dyer
Prince Harry has remained close to Mark Dyer, former equerry to King Charles in the 1990s, since the death of his mother Princess Diana. Pictured: The pair at the Sentebale Concert at Kensington Palace in 2016
Mark Dyer, 55, is a long-time mentor and is often referred to as the Duke’s ‘second dad’.
The former Welsh Guards officer, known to friends as Marko, served as an equerry to King Charles during the 1990s, and has remained close with Harry ever since.
It is said that, after the death of Princess Diana, Mark stepped up and was a strong presence in the lives of both Prince Harry and Prince William.
When Harry admitted to smoking cannabis as a teenager and Prince Charles insisted he spend a day at a residential centre for drug users in Peckham, South London, meeting recovering cocaine and heroin addicts, it was Dyer who escorted him along with his royal protection officers.
However, after his spell as an employee to the Prince ended he remained a mentor to Harry.
He was reportedly fond of the Prince’s former girlfriend Chelsy Davy and sneaked her out to the ranch where Harry was staying in Argentina during his gap year before starting his Army training at Sandhurst.
Royal biographer Penny Junor once described Mark as one of the ‘few people who talks some sense into [Harry]’.
Dyer enjoyed a brief romance with ex-royal nanny Tiggy Legge-Bourke but wed Texan heiress Amanda Kline in 2010.
Prince Harry was an usher at the ceremony at St Edmund’s Church at Crickhowell, in Powys, Wales.
The pair are so close, Harry and Meghan even decided to name Mark as Archie’s Godfather – with Harry holding the same responsibility for Mark’s own son Jasper.
These days, Mark runs a chain of bars and restaurants in west London, and he is also a trustee of Harry’s Sentebale charity.
It is thought Harry and Meghan had secret dates at Mark’s establishments when they first met.
Guy Pelly
‘Court jester’ Guy Pelly shares an unshakeable bond with both royal brothers Harry and William (pictured together watching England playing rugby at Twickenham)
‘Court jester’ Guy Pelly shares an unshakeable bond with both royal brothers Harry and William.
When, infamously, Harry was photographed wearing a Nazi uniform to a private fancy dress party, Pelly was at his side dressed as the Queen, whom he apparently mimicked to great effect.
When he was erroneously blamed by Palace officials for introducing the teenage Harry to drugs, and ostensibly cast out of the royal circle, he didn’t complain and stayed silent.
When it later emerged that he’d had nothing to do with Harry’s adolescent experimenting with cannabis, Pelly was welcomed back into the royal fold almost as a third brother.
He organised William’s stag night and is known for such antics as shimmying 40 feet up a marquee during a Prince’s Trust concert, stripped to his boxer shorts. And William asked Pelly to be godfather to Prince Louis in 2018.
Pelly has never spoken about his friendship with the royals.
He has remained close to Prince Harry over the years, and even visited the couple in California, alongside his wife Elizabeth Wilson, and their then-three-year-old daughter, Willow in 2020.
‘They were kindly invited by Harry and Meghan,’ a source told Richard Eden at the time. ‘Despite what’s been said about Harry losing touch with his old friends, he was keen to see Guy.’
The visit is understood to have taken place while the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were staying at the £14million mansion owned by American entertainment tycoon Tyler Perry.
Charlie van Straubenzee
Harry made annual summer visits to the Straubenzee family home in Cornwall while he was growing up and remains very close to Charlie
Prince William met Mr Thomas and Charlie Van Straubenzee’s when he attended Ludgrove School in Berkshire.
Thomas’ younger brother, Charlie is very close with Prince Harry and is godfather to his son Archie.
The families have been friends for decades, with their uncle, William van Straubenzee, a close friend of their mother Princess Diana.
Harry made annual summer visits to the Straubenzee family home in Cornwall while he was growing up.
The friends have been pictured together in the past attending events such as the Rugby World Cup in 2015, where they watched England play Australia.
Charlie and Harry were known as perpetual batchelors, and when Charlie’s relationship with Daisy got serious in 2016, a mutual friend told the Daily Mail: ‘This means Harry really does have to find a girlfriend.’ Luckily this was around the time he began his relationship with Meghan.
Both brothers were ushers at the Sussexes’ wedding in 2018 and Charlie even gave a speech at the reception.
In his wedding speech, Charlie allegedly made reference to the prince’s ‘ginger locks’ and teased Harry about his days as a dormitory monitor at their school.
‘All I wanted was a cuddle from my mummy,’ he said. ‘Instead Harry nicked my teddy bear and chucked it out onto the roof. Ladies and gentlemen, I ask you, how can you put someone in charge of a dorm when that someone is worse behaved than the whole dorm combined?’
The Duke of Sussex acted as Charlie’s best man at his wedding to Daisy, a society wedding and party videographer who runs a company with her sister Kitty, on August 4 later that year in Frensham, Surrey.
Princess Eugenie and her now-husband Jack Brooksbank also attended the nuptials.
Meanwhile Prince Harry is believed to be godfather to Charlie’s daughter Clover, whom he welcomed in 2020.
The Princes also knew Charlie and Thomas’s late brother Henry, who died in a car crash aged 18 in 2002.
The funeral was attended by members of the Royal Family, and a memorial fund was set up in his name in 2007, with Princes William and Harry as patrons. The charity helps schools in Uganda.
Every year a Christmas carol concert is held at St Luke’s Church in Chelsea, organised by the Henry van Straubenzee Memorial Fund to boost funds for its projects.
In 2020, Harry honoured his late friend Henry van Straubenzee with a Christmas donation to the charity fund set up in his name.
Tiggy Pettifer
Tiggy Pettifer – better known as Tiggy Legge-Bourke – was famously Harry and William’s long-term nanny in their formative years
Tiggy Pettifer – better known as Tiggy Legge-Bourke – was famously Harry and William’s long-term nanny in their formative years.
Harry was closest to her, and she has been part of every landmark event in his life —including his Sandhurst passing out parade and his graduation as a helicopter pilot at the Army Aviation Centre in Andover, Hants.
A constant by the princes’ side while they were growing up, Pettifer has remained close to both the royals over the years, and met Meghan before they married.
At the time, it was reported Harry wanted the girl he married to get to know the figure who, with the exception of his mother, was the single most influential woman in his childhood.
The Duke of Sussex is godfather to her son Tom Pettifer, who was pictured at the royal wedding.
Meanwhile Tiggy is one of the few publicly named godparents for Harry’s son Archie.
David Foster
David Foster, 72 (pictured with Prince Harry at a polo match at the Santa Barbara Polo Club in June 2022), helped the Duke and Duchess of Sussex find a property in Canada before they moved to California
Music mogul David Foster, 72, has been described by some as a ‘father figure’ to Harry, who has helped the Duke and Duchess of Sussex settle in North America.
Foster’s wife, Katharine McPhee, attended the same Catholic school as Meghan. The Duchess of Sussex was already at high school by the time Katharine was at the Los Angeles middle school.
She previously revealed how close her husband is to both Prince Harry and Meghan.
In May 2020 she told Access Hollywood: ‘My husband has a really, really beautiful relationship with Harry. They’re so cute. They’re like father and son.’
She explained how David helped set the Sussexes up with their Canadian $14.1 million mansion hideaway before they moved to LA.
He said his wife Katharine discovered that the Duke and Duchess were in need of a discreet spot for their first Christmas holiday with a then-seven-month-old Archie and Meghan’s mother Doria Ragland, and he was happy to oblige.
David said that he hooked the couple up with the sprawling property, which was located on the waterfront in North Saanich, near Vancouver.
‘I felt honoured that I was able to help Meghan there because I’m a Canadian and we’re a commonwealth country. It’s important to us, so I grew up with that kind of sentiment,’ David told DailyMail.com.
Meanwhile, it was reported that David had planned to throw the Duke a fun-filled party in celebration of his first Los Angeles-based birthday upon Harry turning 36.
The Mirror claimed that the party was set to be held at David’s Los Angeles home, with a source telling the publication that it was going to be a low-key and intimate celebration.
Meanwhile, in October 2020, it was reported that Harry and Meghan planned on spending Christmas in the US with the Duke’s ‘surrogate’ father David, a source claimed.
The couple were apparently hosting their own Christmas soirée in Los Angeles and planned on inviting his ‘surrogate’ dad, The Mirror reported.
‘Meghan very much wants to host the first Christmas at their new home with her mum,’ a source close to the couple claimed.
‘She’s really excited and is planning on doing all the traditions she grew up with as a child, including the cooking.’
According to the source, David and Katherine offered to host the festivities at their home, however, Meghan volunteered that she and Harry host at theirs.
Nacho Figueras
Ignacio ‘Nacho’ Figueras, 45 (pictured with Prince Harry at the Sentebale ISPS Handa Polo Cup 2022 in August) has been a staunch and vocal defender of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in the past
Ignacio ‘Nacho’ Figueras, has been described as the ‘David Beckham of Polo’, but to the Duke of Sussex, he’s simply a great friend.
While they may appear to come from different worlds, it is their shared love of polo which has pulled them into a close friendship.
He and Harry have been playing alongside each other in charity matches for the past decade, ultimately moving them to becoming close friends.
Both Prince Harry and Nacho regularly play in Sentebale’s charity matches to raise funds for Sentebale, an organisation co-founded by Prince Harry that supports children and young people affected by HIV in southern Africa.
The father-of-four attended the royal wedding in 2018 and has continued to play alongside Harry in the US for their Santa Barbara-based team, Los Padres.
Over the years, the 45-year-old has been a vocal supporter of the couple amid reports of a rift within the royal family.
Speaking about his friendship with the royal, Nacho told Town and Country magazine in 2019: ‘What I like the most about him is how real he is and how serious he is about improving life for kids that have not had the blessings that we’ve had.’
The same year, Nacho appeared on The Ellen Show, hosted by Ellen DeGeneres, and announced he would ‘defend his friends’ with his life.
During the interview he also described Meghan as ‘incredible’, and revealed how she ‘gave up everything for the man she loves’.
Hinting at his ‘brotherhood’ with Prince Harry, last year Nacho launched a selection of six fragrances, which included one named ‘Windsor’.
Dean Stott
Dean Stott retained a close bond with the Duke of Sussex for many years after the pair met on a training course for the British army and did tours together in Afghanistan
Dean Stott retained a close bond with the Duke of Sussex for many years after the pair met on a training course for the British army and did tours together in Afghanistan.
Dean and Harry have known each other for 15 years, which began ‘before he met Meghan’ and before Stott met his wife.
The SAS instructor is very defensive of the Duke and makes an effort to avoid the media headlines surrounding the Sussexes.
The duo have since drifted apart primarily due to both men spending more time with their separate families and the media frenzy following Harry and wife Meghan Markle after they stepped back from the royal family.
Earlier this year, he commented that it’s ‘nice’ to see Harry as ‘a family man’.
‘I have a young family and he has a young family so we can’t see each other as much – they’re not quite as local as people like to make out,’ Stott told The Daily Telegraph.
Arthur Landon
Arthur Landon (pictured) himself comes from royalty, as the son of Austro-Hungarian Princess Katalina Esterhazy de Galantha
Another friend of Harry’s who dates back to his school days, Arthur Landon is a royal himself.
He is the son of Austro-Hungarian Princess Katalina Esterhazy de Galantha and Tim Landon, but mainly works as a filmmaker.
When his father passed away in 2007, Arthur inherited his fortunes and soon became one of the wealthiest young men in the UK.
A friend to both Prince Harry and Prince William, Arthur was a guest at both their weddings.
He was also present on a now-infamous trip to Las Vegas in 2012, from which photos of a half-naked Prince Harry emerged.
However, Arthur managed to go unnoticed on the trip and was not pictured in any photos.
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