Prince Harry’s smitten with Cressida Bonas, but won’t be at her sister’s wedding

 
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Robert Jobson25 February 2013

Prince Harry’s relationship with Cressida Bonas is “serious” but he will not accompany her to her sister’s wedding in South Africa, the Evening Standard has learned.

It has been widely reported that the pair would attend the ceremony at Sir Richard Branson’s private game reserve near Kruger National Park, where the tycoon’s son Sam will marry Miss Bonas’s half-sister Isabella Calthorpe.

But informed sources say the prince — who is on a charity trip to Lesotho and South Africa this week — will not stay on to meet Miss Bonas and will not be at next week’s wedding.

Harry, 28, was photographed kissing the 24-year-old dance student last week at the Swiss ski resort of Verbier, where they spent a few days with a party that included Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, and their parents Prince Andrew and the Duchess of York.

“Everyone seems very sure that Prince Harry is accompanying Cressida to Sam Branson’s wedding,” a well-placed source told the Standard.

“I am told Harry is not going at all. He is there on a charity mission. His relationship is going well, but after the skiing pictures I think some in the media are getting a bit ahead of themselves. They are young and having fun together. Of course, the prince is keen to protect her from over-exposure, from intrusion into her privacy.”

Harry was reportedly due to meet Miss Bonas’s parents at the wedding, leading to rumours of a possible future engagement. She is the daughter of well-known entrepreneur Jeffrey Bonas and Lady Mary-Gaye Curzon, the daughter of the 6th Earl Howe. However, it is now understood that the prince has already met Lady Mary-Gaye, a former Sixties “It” girl.

Harry and Miss Bonas reportedly met at a music festival last summer and a close friend of the couple said that they were smitten.

One friend said: “Cressie’s a lovely girl. Harry and her are really enjoying being together. It is a real romance.”

Another added: “Harry and Cressie are at the exciting stage of a relationship where they just want to spend as much time together as possible.”

St James’s Palace does not comment on Harry’s personal life but confirmed that he was in South Africa on a fund-raising mission for his Aids charity Sentebale.

The prince is spending three days in Lesotho and South Africa from today until Wednesday, meeting vulnerable children affected by HIV and Aids.

He will also make private visits to the Kananelo Centre for the Deaf in Lesotho and the Reitumetse Church Project, which provides clean water and housing for people in need.

On his final day, he will be the guest of honour at the Sentebale gala dinner in Summer Palace in Johannesburg, where he will give a speech before the dinner. The evening will mark the launch of a fundraising campaign for a centre which will enable the charity to help four times the number of children it does at present.

Harry founded Sentebale in 2006 with Prince Seeiso of Lesotho in memory of their late mothers. Its name means “forget me not” in the language of Lesotho. The prince last visited the country in June 2010 on a joint overseas tour with his brother William.

Harry is on five weeks’ leave from the Army after spending 20 weeks as an Apache helicopter pilot based in Helmand’s Camp Bastion.

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