Splitsville For Prince Harry, Girlfriend

Prince Harry and longtime girlfriend Chelsy Davy have called it quits.

Davy announced it, as CBS News correspondent Sheila MacVicar put it, "in the most modern way -- on Facebook."

As MacVicar observed, "The fun-loving prince found a fun-loving blonde and, for five years, the couple was happy -- and close."

But, MacVicar pointed out, "Prince Harry has made a major commitment to his military life. He's now planning to spend two years training as a combat helicopter pilot, and he intends to return to frontline duty in Afghanistan."

Davy moved from South Africa to be closer to the prince. She has a career ahead of her as a lawyer.

Katie Nicholl, showbiz editor of The Mail on Sunday says, "She gets really homesick. She misses the sunshine, she misses her family, she misses her friends."

Increasingly, MacVicar points out, there was less time for them as a couple, and unrelenting attention from photographers piled on even more pressure.

"Chelsey also has a few difficult months ahead of her," Nicholl says. "She's going to be taking her finals for her postgraduate law degree at Leeds University. She has a lot on her plate. I think she probably realized she would come second. He also had to come second to her studies and, for the time being, the decision was made to split."

Patrick Jephson, Princess Diana's former private secretary, remarked that, "Of course, if you are in the dynasty business, as the Windsors (British royal family) are, this is of more than just gossipy interest."

It hasn't taken long for establishment knives to have sharpened, MacVicar adds.

And, says Jephson, "The palace's more conservative views have also somehow become known, so we know that Chelsy was never really considered princess material, that she is party-loving blonde. Imagine that!"

Nicholl cautions that people shouldn't "be under the illusion that Harry isn't absolutely heartbroken. He's finding this really tough. I mean, there have been tearful conversations. Yes, it's amicable. Yes, they will still be friends. They will still talk. (But) he's lost a fabulous girlfriend, someone who brings him honesty, brings him friendship, is just a really normal normal person, and he doesn't have many normal people in his life."

Davy "may have dumped her prince," MacVicar concludes, but she's "probably got her life back."