A close polo-playing friend of Prince Harry is in
mourning today after losing his father in a skiing accident just two years after
he lost his mother to cancer.
Company director Martin Hitchman, 54, lost control while skiing in deep snow
on a black run in the Bulgarian resort of Bansko.
He hurtled headlong into rocks and never regained consciousness. He died in
hospital in Razlog.
His twin sons,
20-year-old Edward, one of Britain's brightest polo talents, and Matthew, last
night flew back to England from the skiing holiday - an early Christmas present
from their father.
The twins' stepfather William Hitch, said neither twin saw the accident.
He said the family is devastated and added: "This has come after their
mother, Annie, my late wife, lost a battle against cancer. Now they have lost
their dad. Martin was divorced from Annie before she and the boys came to live
with me but he was always a big part of their life."
Edward was a Young England team-mate of Prince Harry and played when they won
the test match against Young Australia at Windsor last year. He also joined
Harry in the royal box to watch the England side take the honours in the Rugby
World Cup in Australia earlier this year.
Buckingham Palace sent its condolences.
HELLRAISING Prince Harry will not be prosecuted over a nightclub brawl because it is "not in the public interest". A file was passed to Crown lawyers after Harry, 20, was involved in a bust-up with a photographer outside Mayfair's Pangaea club following a four-hour booze-up inside. The prince lunged at paparazzo Chris Uncle, pushing his camera into his face and splitting his lip.
He was restrained by his bodyguards as he screamed: "You f***ing w***er! Why are you f***ing doing this?"
The incident in October was thought to have been caused by Uncle's camera hitting Harry as the royal got into a car. Harry later apologised to his father Prince Charles and his Scotland Yard bodyguards, saying he was "contrite".
The CPS said: "Our advice to police earlier this week was not to prosecute. The reason we gave was that it is not in the public interest."
But if a complaint is made, the News of the World, which on Sunday published a picture of the prince fishing on a public beach on the island, will insist it did nothing wrong.
The paper and its rivals are believed to be increasingly frustrated with what they see as the royal family's intransigent attitude to the press.
The News of the World confirmed yesterday that eight militia members were dispatched by government officials to ask reporter Sarah Arnold and a photographer to leave the area. Two unarmed men then boarded the boat on which they were travelling and searched them for 20 minutes.
It said miles of public beaches had been sealed off during the visit of Prince Harry, who was on holiday there with his friend Chelsy Davy, and a three-mile exclusion zone was formed around his party.
Despite booking into a hotel on the island, the writer and photographer say they were given just 15 minutes to leave; they did not approach Prince Harry or his party, nor attempt to take pictures of them in private areas.
The paper's editor, Andy Coulson, refused to remove his staff from the region, saying they had not broken the law or the PCC code on privacy. "Frankly, it shouldn't matter whether you're on Canvey Island or Paradise Island," the News of the World argued in a leader on Sunday. "Harry's right to privacy should be no different to any holidaymaker's."
Clarence House refused to confirm whether the palace had sought advice from the PCC before the incident but said it was still considering a formal complaint. "We are concerned that Harry can enjoy the same right of privacy as any other citizen and we're concerned if there's intrusion on that. We continually have conversations with the PCC and editors," a spokesman said.
Relations between the tabloid press and Clarence House have remained strained over the past two years. In October, Harry was pictured scuffling with paparazzi in the early hours of the morning outside a London club.
Some newspaper commentators have argued that Prince Harry has made himself fair game for photographers with his party lifestyle. During England's rugby World Cup win in Australia last year, he was regularly pictured out on the town, and there was a similar dispute when photographers followed him to a ranch in the outback where he spent some of his gap year.
The PCC director, Tim Toulmin, and its chairman, Sir Christopher Meyer, have had to deal with more complaints in recent years from those in positions of power. It received its first complaint from a member of the royal family in 1991 when the Duke of York complained about a number of articles relating to his children. The complaint was upheld and since then the royal family has turned to the body with increasing regularity, particularly regarding intrusion into the lives of younger royals.
The prime minister, Tony Blair, has also made greater use of the PCC than his predecessors, using it to keep his children out of the public eye.
In April, Clarence House clashed with the Sun when it published pictures of Prince William and a female friend on a skiing holiday alongside the headline "Finally Wills gets a girl". Paddy Harveson, Prince Charles's director of communications, temporarily banned the paper's veteran royal photographer, Arthur Edwards, from photoshoots.
On that occasion there was no complaint to the PCC because the photograph was clearly taken in public.
The PCC's rules state: "It is unacceptable to photograph individuals in private places without their consent.
"Private places are public or private property where there is a reasonable
expectation of privacy."
Harry and me
By Clive Goodman
PRINCE Harry's stunning girlfriend Chelsy Davey has lifted the lid on their blossoming romance and confessed: We wanted it to be secret.
The 19-year-old blonde revealed how the royal lovebirds tried to keep their relationship under wraps as they snuggled up to each other on holiday at a polo ranch in Argentina last month.
She told how she secretly made her way there on a private plane, separate from Harry.
Bubbly student Chelsy laughed as she said: "I sort of got seen at the beginning of the trip when I arrived there, but we weren't seen again after that, ha, ha, ha.
"Harry was pretty pleased about that."
Now the Zimbabwean beauty is preparing for yet more sunshine cuddles with her prince —on a paradise island off the coast of Mozambique.
And again she's aiming to keep a low profile.
"I hope we'll be able to give everyone the slip," she said with a smile. "But I doubt we'll be able to pull it off."
Difficult
Chelsy will again jet out to the resort on a separate flight to Harry.
The couple will be joined by a group of close friends as they take over one tiny islet in the Bazaruti Archipelago—a cluster of exclusive islands—in the Indian Ocean.
They will stay in five-star luxury beach huts and go scuba diving and island-hopping on a catamaran during their five-night stay.
But Chelsy—who lives in Cape Town, South Africa—says that afterwards she and Harry hope to spend private time together before Christmas.
And the daughter of a wealthy Zimbabwean businessman is under no illusions about what lies ahead as their romance develops in the public eye.
"It's very difficult for him to have any kind of normal relationship with anyone," said Chelsy.
The 20-year-old prince first met her while she was a schoolgirl at Cheltenham College, not far from his Highgrove home in Gloucestershire.
They were reunited when Harry stayed in Cape Town as part of his southern African trip for his gap year. And friends noticed a chemistry between them.
"He's very fond of Chelsy —although he isn't booking Westminster Abbey for the wedding just yet," explained one pal.
Chelsy took the fun-loving prince to top local clubs where they partied until the early hours with his Aussie pal George Hill.
Then the prince invited Chelsy and her pals back to the British ambassador's official residence.
Prince Charles had used diplomatic contacts to allow Harry to rent the palatial six-bedroom mansion for just £15 a night.
The prince had been spotted snogging Chelsy passionately on the dance floor of the Rhodes House nightclub.
Then she whisked him off to a private nightspot, The Fez, where the royal party downed a whole bottle of vodka in shots.
"It wasn't the sort of party the diplomatic staff were used to," laughed one aide.
Harry and his pals spent the rest of the break sightseeing. "They were taken shark watching—that part of the world is famous for Great Whites," said a pal.
"They also had a trip out to Robben Island where Nelson Mandela had been imprisoned. Then it was beer, beach, blondes—not necessarily in that order. Harry and Chelsy were never far from each other's side."
One man who knows just what it's like to fall under the spell of Chelsy spell is Bath and England under-18 rugby star Nick Abenandon.
They had a four-month romance while they were pupils at the posh boarding school in Cheltenham.
"She is a foxy girl. She enjoys a lot of drinking and partying and is a really great person to get on with," said Nick.
The couple canoodled in the sports hall, the school theatre and even in Nick's housemaster's room.
Nick said: "She is a very sexy, attractive girl and really nice. She was always very mature but loved to have a good time."
Nick, then just 16, told how Chelsy would secretly climb out of her dorm window for nights on the town.
Kissed
"I had my eye on her from the moment she came to the school. I didn't know whether she felt the same way until halfway through the fifth year," said Nick.
"I told one of her friends that I quite liked her. It took a few weeks from there before anything happened.
"She'd been going out with someone else for a couple of months. But after about three weeks her friend told me to meet her after prep and we met up in the school rackets room. We talked about our feelings for each other.
"Then during prep one evening I texted her. I said something like ‘Hi Chels, I'm free tonight if you want to meet up'. She texted back saying she'd meet me after prep." Nick and Chelsy headed for the seclusion of the school sports office.
"We were standing, looking at each other. She was wearing jeans and a jacket and was looking very attractive.
"I said ‘What would you do, if I kissed you?'. And she replied ‘Why don't you find out', so I did—and it was brilliant.
"I put my hands on the back of her neck and kissed her. She ran her fingers through my hair. We kissed for about two minutes. It was good—I'd been wanting to do it for a while.
"We couldn't keep our hands off each other after that.
"We'd meet up for kisses and cuddles anywhere—the Latin room, behind the stage in the theatre, once even in my housemaster's classroom. It was a bit of a challenge."
Their relationship fizzled out when Chelsy left to sit A-levels at another public school. But Nick will always remember the fun nights out.
He said: "She really enjoyed going out, she loved partying and was a sexy dancer. She was always up for getting on the podium in the club and doing the moves. And she was always the first to get a round in.
"I think she and Harry will get on very well, although I could hardly believe it when I found out they were seeing each other.
"Harry comes across as a good laugh and just like any other guy. I think they will make a pretty good couple."