I guess I’m the only one getting hyped for Peter Phillips’ upcoming wedding to Harriet Sperling. This week, Peter and Harriet finally announced their wedding date and location – they will marry on June 6th (D-Day, the Day of Days) in the Cotswolds. They’re having a “country wedding” because it’s close to Peter’s home at Gatcombe Park. Gatcombe is his mother Princess Anne’s estate, and both Peter and his sister Zara still live on the massive property in separate cottages with their families. Peter’s first wedding, to Autumn Kelly, was held at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor, and he was given the full “royal wedding” treatment. It’s different this time because both Peter and Harriet are divorced. Meaning, they had to get “special permission” to marry in a church.
The King’s nephew had to get special permission from his vicar for a church to hold his wedding with his NHS nurse fiancee — because the royal has been married before.
Peter Phillips, 48, will wed Harriet Sperling, 45, at a picturesque Cotswolds church on June 6 – which is also the 62nd anniversary of D-Day.
Sources close to the couple confirmed they needed the sign off from a local vicar to wed at All Saints Church, Kemble, near Cirencester, because both are divorcees.
It comes 21 years after a storm surrounded Charles and Camilla’s marriage when they had a civil ceremony at Windsor Guildhall due to opposition within the Anglican Church. The late Queen did not attend the ceremony but did appear late for a church blessing by the Archbishop of Canterbury. There is no automatic right for divorced couples to marry in a church but rules were relaxed in 2002.
But a source said: “They have the vicar’s permission.”
Peter who is Princess Anne’s son and counts the King as his uncle divorced Autumn Kelly in 2021 after 13 years of marriage. NHS nurse Harriet is divorced from her fitness instructor husband.
King Edward VIII abdicated in 1936 in order to marry twice-divorced American Wallis Simpson. Divorcee Meghan Markle was given a white wedding at Windsor Castle with the kate Queen in attendance when she and Harry shared vows in 2018 even though she had married before.
It’s so funny that these people are still clutching their pearls over “Harry married a divorcee!!” Your whole-ass Queen Side-chick is a divorcee. King Charles divorced his first wife. Princess Anne divorced her first husband and remarried as well. Not to mention Prince Andrew is divorced too. BUT MEGHAN!! BUT WALLIS!! Anyway, I wonder if Peter and Harriet were even offered the option of having a “royal wedding” in Windsor this time. They probably would have rejected that option if it had been offered, but I’d still like to know if it was offered.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
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- Zara Tindall, Mike Tindall, Harriet Sperling and Peter Phillips seen on day four of the 2026 Cheltenham Racing Festival at Prestbury Park in Cheltenham, England,Image: 1082607210, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Jules Annan/Avalon
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- Harriet Sperling and Peter Phillips seen on day four of the 2026 Cheltenham Racing Festival at Prestbury Park in Cheltenham, England,Image: 1086734093, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Jules Annan/Avalon
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- Harriet Sperling and Peter Phillips seen on day four of the 2026 Cheltenham Racing Festival at Prestbury Park in Cheltenham, England,Image: 1086734112, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Jules Annan/Avalon
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- Harriet Sperling and Peter Phillips attend the tenth day of the Wimbledon tennis championships held at the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club Featuring: Harriet Sperling, Peter Phillips Where: London, United Kingdom When: 10 Jul 2024 Credit: Ray Tang/Cover Images **STRICTLY EDITORIAL USE ONLY**
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- Harriet Sperling and Peter Phillips attend the tenth day of the Wimbledon tennis championships held at the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club Featuring: Harriet Sperling, Peter Phillips Where: London, United Kingdom When: 10 Jul 2024 Credit: Ray Tang/Cover Images **STRICTLY EDITORIAL USE ONLY**
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- Peter Phillips and Harriet Sperling during the Out-Sourcing Inc Royal Charity Polo Cup 2024 at Guards Polo Club in Windsor, Berkshire Featuring: Harriet Sperling, Peter Phillips Where: Windsor, United Kingdom When: 12 Jul 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Royal guests during day one of Royal Ascot at Ascot Racecourse Featuring: Harriet Sperling, Peter Phillips Where: Ascot, United Kingdom When: 17 Jun 2025 Credit: Cover Images
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- Royal guests during day one of Royal Ascot at Ascot Racecourse Featuring: Harriet Sperling, Peter Phillips Where: Ascot, United Kingdom When: 17 Jun 2025 Credit: Cover Images
Bunch of hypocrites in that family
Nope. I’m hyped too. I love a wedding. Time to talk about the dresses and the hats and whatever silly stories they come up with in the lead-up. I could do without the ones about the Sussexes but banal stuff like flowers and cake and food. I can get into that. I’m more curious to see if Kate will allow herself to be in photo frame of Harriet or even go. And sure bring in all the reminders of second marriages in that family. Nothing wrong with them unless you’re Meghan.
Count me in, too! I can’t wait to see what everyone wears and if this will be a tiara event. “Country wedding” like Pippa with her vast tent and the posh potties (remember the DM breathlessly recapping every detail in exchange for the Middletons getting everything for free? Good times)
Also, Harriet is a lovely woman but that grey dress does nothing for her and that hat is too twee, too young for a woman of 45. I truly hope we don’t end up with another twirly girly Kate and we get a married-in that looks and acts her age. I liked the yellow Ascot outfit better, she looked pretty as a buttercup.
And I’m calling it now: 45 isn’t too young for a child so within a year of the wedding she’s going to have a child with Peter for sure
Meghan’s first marriage was a civil wedding so she was entitled to marry in a church because it was her first wedding in the eyes of the Church of England. Only people who have previously been married in church have to get permission to have blessings in a church.
This is to reply to @Julia, that is the way the Catholic Church works, too, that is exactly why Queen Letizia of Spain was allowed to marry in church despite having had a civil marriage previously and having obtained a civil divorce. Continental countries, however, tend to take a more stringent view of the separation of Church & State, whereas in England, they have muddied the waters since Henry VIII.
It helped Letizia was not a member of the Catholic Church until she was baptized and confirmed right before the wedding.
Fascinating. I always enjoy reading the intricacies of logic used to circumvent a particular religion’s rules.
They didn’t circumvent the rules. Letizia didn’t have to become a member of the Catholic church, but given it is perceived as the official religion of the royal family? It was advisable.
Mary changed religion when she married, Charlene changed religion when she married. Maxima didn’t, she remained Catholic so Willem-Alexander lost his place in the UK line of succession until the law change in 2012/13.
Letizia’s first marriage was civil only, therefore it wasn’t a “real” marriage to the Catholic church. To them, she’d never been married.
In a country where a religious wedding also counts as a legal wedding? If you divorce in civil court? To the Catholic church you’d still be married to your spouse, because they do not recognize religious divorce. Unless you jump through hoops, pay the Church a lot, and get pregnant out of wedlock to force the Church to grant your annulment quickly (ie. Caroline of Monaco).
ex. Netherlands and Luxembourg. You have to have a civil wedding for it to be legal. If you want a religious wedding go right ahead but it won’t be considered legal. That’s why the royal couples in those countries have separate civil and religious ceremonies.
The obsession with Meghan is real. How is the Sun leaving out the fact that Peter Phillips’ mother Princess Anne is also divorced? I still question why this wedding was announced since he has no title and is not a working royal. Is the press going to be camped out photographing the guests?
Right? Anne is another one.
To hype up his attempts to sell the wedding photos like last time? To build up interest in this nothingburger wedding with speculation about which royals might attend? Which young royal cousins might be in the wedding party?
Same thing the Middletons did around Pippa’s wedding. They were taking freebies right and left, making sure every article had a will-she-won’t-she attend line about Meghan to drum up interest.
And Peter’s father Mark fathered a child outside his marriage. (in 1985, 7 years before Mark and Anne formally divorced).
Or leaving out Anne’s four year extramarital affair with her mum’s equerry (Tim Laurence)?
Anne had to get married in Scotland because of her divorce. The Church of England didn’t then allow remarriage after a divorce to take place in church. (Tim had never been married.) The Queen attended as it wasn’t in conflict with her position as Defender of the Faith.
The phrasing “counts the King as his uncle” seems so odd.
I am looking forward to some wedding posts too!
Geez, she looks just like Zara.
I thought the header pic WAS Zara till I scrolled down.
Whenever people are going on and on about how Zara and Peter don’t have titles so they are allowed to do whatever they want and how they don’t get certain perks, let’s never forget it is all BS because the queen made sure BOTH of them got full on royal wedding treatment. They both have ALWAYS gotten the same if not better royal treatment than many of their titled cousins.
Lady Marina Windsor is getting married two weeks later. June 20, last day of Ascot.
She’s a granddaughter of the Duke of Kent and the late Duchess of Kent.
@Kaiser. A wedding at Windsor could look like a repeat of his wedding to Autumn Kelly.
If she wears a tiara, she might borrow the Greek key from Zara (ie. not wear the same as Autumn)
Will William allow Bea and Eugenie to go to their cousin’s wedding?
William doesn’t get a say in who does or doesn’t attend a wedding
Will William be there? He didn’t attend Peter’s first wedding. He was too busy attending a Craig family wedding instead.
ETA
Harriet has written at least one article about her faith helping her as a single mother.
She may be too religious for William “Quiet Faith” Windsor to feel comfortable at her Church wedding.
FFS the Church of England was founded because a King wanted a divorce so all this pearl clutching is mind-boggling
I bet Peter and Zara:s cottages are bigger than my house
Completely off-topic: am I the only one appalled at how many published articles and even books have typos now?
Once upon a time, even the cheapest, most raggedy-ass tabloids employed copy editors to make sure the words were all spelled correctly even if the reporting was full of lies. Not so these days!
I did a double-take on today’s:
“…wedding at Windsor Castle with the
>>>>> kate Queen in attendance”
O RLY?? Can’t got herself an early promotion!!
You are not the only one!! It drives me bananas!!!! There seems to be zero editing any more, no proofreading of one’s own work any more.