Without Harry and Meghan: King Charles’ nephew has remarried

Peter Phillips, the eldest son of Princess Anne, and grandson of Queen Elizabeth II, married his partner of the past two years, nurse Harriet Sparling, yesterday. The two got married in an intimate ceremony in the town of Campbell in southwest England.

The couple married in front of King Charles and Camilla, Prince William and Kate Middleton, Prince Edward and Sophie, and of course Phillips’ mother, Princess Anne, and her husband Sir Timothy Lawrence. Conspicuous by their absence were their cousin, Prince Harry, and his wife Meghan Markle – amid their continued estrangement from the family. Phillips’ uncle, Prince (former) Andrew, was also not invited, apparently due to his removal from public activity in the royal house following the affairs in which he became involved.

The commentator on royal affairs, Emily Nash, described Peter as someone who was very close to Prince Harry in the past, but explained his non-invitation: “Peter has not spoken to Harry in recent years. This is a kind of natural cooling in relations, and as a result he was not invited.” Nash added that Peter is a very loyal and protective person, who has served over the years as a confidant and advisor to his cousin, and concluded: “It makes perfect sense. I think that if the two Wales brothers (William and Harry) had been present, it would have cast a completely different shadow on the whole event.”

This is not Peter’s first wedding, as I remember he was previously married to Otto Phillips between 2008-2021 and the two have two daughters together. For Sperling, this is also chapter two, after she was previously married and had a 13-year-old daughter.