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YES, HARRY

By Susie Boniface, sundaymirror.co.uk 19/08/2007

Prince Harry with Chelsea Davy (pic:matrix)

EXCLUSIVE Prince proposes on safari, Chelsy says 'I will'.. but no official engagement until after her uni

Prince Harry has asked girlfriend Chelsy Davy to marry him... and she's said "yes".

The couple declared their love for each other on a recent safari break in Botswana.

But they do not intend to become officially engaged until brainy Chelsy finishes her studies and Harry has seen active Army service overseas.

A friend said: "It will be 18 months down the line before they go public about their engagement."

By then Harry, 22, is likely to have a desk job in Britain, and Chelsy, 21, will have finished her post-graduate course in politics at Leeds University.

Yesterday it also emerged that Harry's brother William, 24, has taken his on-off sweetheart Kate Middleton, 25, to a romantic island in the Seychelles for a week-long break - amid speculation that he too may propose.

Harry's friend meantime added: "Harry and Chelsy are serious about each other and are both keen to make more of a commitment.

Neither of them can imagine living without the other. It's just a question of how and when it will happen."

Since they met in 2004 the pair have lived on separate continents, meeting only for holidays.

Zimbabwe-born Chelsy, who lives in South Africa, has been travelling around South America with her brother Shaun, while Harry has been on training exercises with his Army unit. When she moves to Leeds next month Chelsy - who is recovering well after an emergency appendix operation on Thursday - will be able to spend weekends with Harry at Highgrove in Gloucestershire. She will also be able to socialise with a network of friends at the university, where several of her old school pals are also students.

The friend added: "Harry is far more serious than the public image he has of being a party prince. Chelsy shares a lot of his concerns and interests, such as his charity projects in Africa and carrying on his mother's work. They are very well-matched... a stable couple who are the best of friends.

"He has also come to realise that what he and Chelsy have is pretty special. It's natural they would want to settle down.

"For now he does not want her to be a public figure and they both want time for their relationship to develop as normally as possible."

And Harry has underlined this by deciding he does not want Chelsy to be at his side for Princess Diana's memorial service on August 31 as he felt this would put too much pressure on them both.

Chelsy has handled the spotlight better than Kate, who hired lawyers to keep the media at bay. There was a wobbly moment when Harry was pictured with scantily-clad barmaids on an Army trip to Canada, but Chelsy accepted his apology and assurances that nothing untoward went on.