Calgarians wild about Harry, Cherie
Private dining room booked -- manager
Jamie Komarnicki and Peter Green
CanWest News Service
Sunday, June 10, 2007
CREDIT: Calgary Herald, CanWest News Service & Reuters, File
Calgary bartender (Cherie Cymbalisty), gave an account of her meeting with Prince Harry, to British tabloid the News of the World.
cherie cymbaliste - canada's HOTTEST bartender ?
what's granma going to say when she puts her glasses on ?
CALGARY - The hunt for Harry continues.
Prince Harry and Calgary bartender Cherie Cymbalisty had a reservation for a private room at a local restaurant Saturday, said the establishment's manager. But it wasn't clear if the pair appeared.
"At this point he has a private area (reserved) in the Geisha room," Wild Ginger manager Steve Tokos said.
"It's a closed, completely reserved area. I want to keep his privacy as best as possible."
Cymbalisty made the reservation earlier this week, he said.
Contacted later Saturday evening, Tokos said he was asked to not comment any further on the prince, and wouldn't confirm if the pair showed up at the downtown Calgary eatery.
The reservation comes on the heels of a racy story published by an British tabloid about the young bartender's visit with the prince in Calgary earlier this week.
The lengthy story, which slams the prince for partying while British soldiers are dying in Iraq, appeared online on the News of the World's website. The report includes numerous pictures of the prince posing with, and kissing, women at Cowboys, a popular Calgary nightspot.
Cymbalisty described her initial meeting with the son of Prince Charles and the late Diana, Princess of Wales.
"I told him, 'You look like someone.' He laughed and said, 'Really, who do I look like?' It was then I realized he was Prince Harry -- but he joked his name was Gary," Cymbalisty told the News of the World. "He was obsessed about my outfit.
"He said there were so many beautiful women in Cowboys," Cymbalisty told the News of the World. "But for the most part, he kept looking at me, shaking his head and going, 'Wow!' I started to get embarrassed."
The pair were supposed to attend a party together afterward, but the story says Cymbalisty was too tired and went home.
Previous reports said the prince arrived with friends late and stayed until closing, marvelling at the lack of media scrutiny.
Many Cowboys staff didn't recognize the prince at first, including the bouncers, who checked the prince's passport to make sure he was old enough to enter.
Cowboys manager Doug Donald said the British tabloid greatly exaggerated the entire encounter.
"They're sure mean to that kid," Donald said Saturday. "He was a gentleman the whole time. He wasn't slobbering over girls -- that's pretty unfair.
"I would just absolutely hate to have to live in that fishbowl that I'm sure he does," he said.
The Cowboys visit is the only confirmed Calgary sighting of Harry.
Penny Lane Entertainment Group lawyer Christopher Chan claimed the prince visited Tantra nightclub the day before, and Barb Taks thought she saw the prince riding a bike on Highway 22 near Cochrane on Friday.
Harry's visit to Alberta has attracted international attention, feeding a growing frenzy for any information about his whereabouts while participating in British army exercises at CFB Suffield, 250 kilometres southeast of Calgary.
Recent reports out of England have said Harry's training in Alberta is a precursor to deployment in Afghanistan.
The Times of London reported that army officials are hoping Harry can make a quiet transfer to Afghanistan possible.
The prince was recently prevented from serving with British units in Iraq due to the increased risk his presence would have brought.
