On a sunny day at the beginning of November, Bella was leaving the Billings, Montana office of The Foundation. Her long brown hair slicked back in a pony tail and wearing tan slacks, a crisp white button down shirt and a red trench coat, Bella made her way out of the office and to the parking lot. She had just put on a pair of sunglasses when a woman with curly red hair stopped her. At first Bella assumed she was looking for directions. Instead, the woman began to pepper Bella with questions about her relationship with Prince Edward. Startled by this intrusion into her privacy, Bella, refusing to answer any questions, made her way to her car, but not before the flashes of the camera caught her.
The next day, all the Jutland papers had Bella's picture plastered across the front of them. "Edwards new love" one said. "Is Bella the one?" was another headline.
"We knew, from looking at the Prince's calendar, when he would be gone. It took a bit more digging to find out where he was going." Victoria Ond, editor- in- chief of Nyheder i Dag (News of the Day) "We began to dig and we hit a goldmine when we discovered he had made a trip to America in October. A bit more digging and we were able to find out why he made the trip."
"Everybody wants to know who the prince is dating," she continues. "As journalists, it is our duty to tell the stories the people of Jutland want to hear. Sure, there had been whispers, but up until we found her, we couldn't be sure."
Those first pictures of Bella, looking shocked as she is accosted coming out of her office, made their way to the other Nordic countries. Amusingly, close to the same time Bella was outed, Prince Frederik's girlfriend, Mary Donaldson, was also outed by the press. Prince Frederik had met Mary at the same pub and the same night Prince Edward met Bella. Such similarities between the two couples would continue for months to come. News spread of the royal romances and papers mentioning anything of the romances sold out.
Edward called Bella the morning after the papers ran the story. "He was concerned that all the attention would have a negative effect on their relationship," a friend close to the couple quips. "But the news hadn't even broke in America and Bella was left rather clueless."
The news didn't stay quiet in America for very long. Not long after, tabloids and magazines began to hound Bella.
"It must have been shocking, you know, to go from this quiet life to one of being hounded. I think in her own way, Bella was considering whether it was all worth it in respect to her relationship with Edward."
By December 2001, after no comments from either Bella or Edward, the media frenzy began to settle. A small camp of photographers camped out near her property for over a month, but with no sign of Edward, and Edward keeping up appearances in Jutland, the press got tired. By January of 2002, the press was completely gone and by the end of January, so was Bella.
Quietly and with no notice to anyone other than her close family and friends, Bella moved to Denmark. A country close to Edward, but far enough from the prying eyes of the Jutland press.
"The decision was made right after the press found out about her. The cat was out of the bag so to speak. A decision had to be made. You know, where was their relationship going. Obviously, they couldn't continue the long distance thing. Since Bella had the most flexibility, she choose to make the move," Julia Swan tells. "She didn't quit The Foundation. To this day, she is still with The Foundation. She had already endowed it with 400 million dollars, which left her with about 35 million. She could very easily work with The Foundation from any telephone and computer in the world."
"I think, at the beginning of 2002, they both knew they would probably get married. But 2002 would be very much the testing grounds for them. She wouldn't have made the move if there wasn't some plan for the whole thing to go further on," her Aunt Julia goes on to say.
Taking an apartment in Copenhagen, Bella began the task of learning Juts. Juts is a hard language to master for a foreigner. It is a Germanic language and Danish, Swedish and Norwegian are all cousins of Juts, but it is very much its own language. 3 hours a day, 3 days a week, an advisor from the Royal family would come to her apartment. There she would be immersed in learning the difficult language, the customs of Jutland and those of the Royal Family.
"Up until 2002, Edward and I only communicated in English. It was the language we began with and all of our correspondences had been in English. I had never studied another language, so it was all very new to me." The Crown Princess of Jutland, Isabella, as stated in her engagement interview.
The whole thing must have been very daunting for her. For a period of six months, no one knew where she was. It was amazing. When Edward would come to visit her at her apartment, he would enter through a back door. For awhile it seemed like they would continue their relationship in a secret manor. But it wasn't to be. By July 2002, Victoria Ond had once again sniffed the couple out.
"It was rather charming. A great pile of photographers would be waiting outside her front door. Isabella would leave, alone. The photographers would follow her and Edward would slip out the back door unnoticed. They kept this charade up even when Edward wasn't in Denmark, to keep up appearances. Isabella would leave, photographers would follow her, and at the same time in Jutland, Prince Edward would be photographed at some other event. People began to say they weren't together. But I always asked the question, if they weren't together, then why was Isabella in Denmark?"
But eventually, the couple was spotted out together. It happened one late August day. Pictures from a birthday party for Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway, show the couple leaving together. After that, a small trickle of photographs showing the couple began to sprout up. Leaving a restaurant, riding bikes in a park, attending parties with friends. By October 2002, Bella was splitting her time between Denmark and Jutland.
Things were, it seemed, in full bloom for the couple. Not even a patch of rough tabloid news could keep them down. Victoria ran a story in Nyheder i Dag about Bella's middle class life. It made her out to sound like a country bumpkin. Adding in her story of winning the lottery, and the trashy tabloid thought it had a winner. "Not Fit For OUR Prince" was the cover. Inside, the tabloid stated that Bella was a brash woman who only had her eyes set on one thing, and that was snagging a prince. They called her a gold-digger, which given her wealth, was quite ironic. They tore her family upside down. Her father was a lowly public servant, while her mother was made out to be some sort of artistic loon.
"They thoroughly trashed her and her family. It was awful. I felt so bad for her, to have a paper say all these cruel things about her," Bella's friend from high school, Angela Weber says. "A sweet girl, who happened to find love. It didn't matter to her that her love was royal. It wouldn't have mattered. The whole article reeked of jealous ramblings from a bitter woman. Bella was simply at the right time at the right place. She fell in love with Edward the man. Not Edward the prince."
"Perhaps the thing that hurt her most was that they called her useless. Here was a woman who had just spent the last few years of her life, trying to make a difference and sharing her wealth to make the world a better place and she was, she was making a huge difference and here was this magazine saying she wasn't good enough, or smart enough or of proper background for Edward. It was heartbreaking for her." Angela continues, "But she kept her chin up. Bella isn't one to give up."
It can't be easy for a commoner, not used to everything that goes with royal life, but Bella did keep on. "She had her Edward and she had her job, and I think, for her, that's all she needed in life." Angela states.
By January 2003, with their relationship in the open, Bella undertook a 17 day trip to Africa. She went to assess needs for sustainable fresh water supplies through her foundation. And after that trip, she flew directly to Australia, to see the fruits of The Foundations work 3 years after it began there. She was surprised at the end of her week long journey to Australia by Prince Edward. The couple spent an extra weekend in Sydney where they met, before making the 24 plus hour trip back to Jutland.
"She was really shocked when he showed up in Australia. It had been three weeks since they last saw each other and she had just undertaken this huge trip to Africa and was really despondent over the lack of fresh water there. She takes a lot of the weight of the world on her shoulders, she wants to make things better right then and she was feeling rather discouraged by Africa. But when Edward showed up, she just lit up. He was exactly what she needed after that trip." Angela Weber.
On February 14th, Valentine's Day, 2003, Edward made his first official statement about Bella. Leaving a meeting on climate control, the prince was asked about Bella. "I think she is a very special woman. Very smart and dedicated." he replied with a crooked smile on his face. Later that evening, the couple was spotted having a romantic dinner and in the early dawn, Prince Edward was spotted leaving from the back of her apartment building.
On March 15th, Bella accompanied Edward on their very first, very public outing. She accompanied him to the wedding of a friend from University. Bella, looking lovely in a sapphire blue gown, held tight to a black tuxedo dressed Edward's hand as he led her through the crowd of wedding guests and photographers lined up on the side. Bella smiled at the photographers and made small talk with the guests. The press knew next to nothing about her, about this mysterious woman from America, but they liked the pretty woman at Edwards side and she sold papers. They ran constant stories of an impending wedding announcement. But Edward and Bella were ones to do things on their own time. And besides, Bella hadn't passed the most important test of all. She had yet to met Edward's mother and father, Their Royal Highnesses, The King and Queen of Jutland.