On the 82nd anniversary of D-Day, Peter Phillips and Harriet Sperling got married in the Cotswolds – I covered the photos on Sunday. It was a semi-private affair, but clearly, the press was welcome to take photos, and Harriet and Peter posed outside of the church, in the rain. Photographers also got photos of many in the Windsor clan making their soggy entrance into church, including King Charles, Consort Camilla, Prince William, Princess Kate, Princess Beatrice, Princess Eugenie and many more. So tell me why the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s absence from the wedding was front and center in all of the coverage?
The Times of London’s headline was “Royals turn out for wedding of king’s nephew, Harry & Meghan not invited.” The Times called it a “notable absence” even as they noted that “It is understood the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were not invited to the wedding.” Sky News’ headline was “Harry who?: Royals beam at wedding as estranged prince Harry left off guest list.” British outlets kept emphasizing how Peter “chose” Prince William over Harry too, underlining the fact that William clearly threw yet another tantrum about someone else’s wedding guest list. None of this is good news for William or for Peter, that so much of the coverage was centered on Harry’s absence, and that there was even more gossip about William and Kate behaving like sulky babies and trying to dictate other people’s weddings.
Meanwhile, Harry and Meghan didn’t issue any statements, nor did their spokesperson say anything about anything. They were quiet this weekend. As Ever sent out a promotional email and that was about it. I’m actually surprised that the Daily Mail didn’t pick up on that and suggest that Meghan “pulled focus from the royal wedding” by sending out an As Ever email (I shouldn’t give the Mail ideas, but there you go).
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
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- Peter Phillips, the Duchess of Sussex, the Duke of Sussex and Zara Tindall leave the National Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral, London, on day two of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations for Queen Elizabeth II. The National Service marks The Queen’s 70 years of service to the people of the United Kingdom, the Realms and the Commonwealth. Public service is at the heart of the event and over 400 recipients of Honours in the New Year or Birthday Honours lists have been invited in recognition of their contribution to public life. Drawn from all four nations of the United Kingdom, they include NHS and key workers, teaching staff, public servants, and representatives from the Armed Forces, charities, social enterprises and voluntary groups.,Image: 696653719, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: -, Model Release: no, Credit line: Kirsty O’Connor / Avalon
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- Nottingham, UK, 09 September 2025: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, visits the Community Recording Studio (CRS) in Nottingham.,Image: 1035538464, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Paul Grover/Avalon
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- Third Annual World Mental Health Day Gala hosted by Project Healthy Minds held at Spring Studios,Image: 1044459735, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Prince Harry and Meghan Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Credit line: Udo Salters/Wenn/Avalon
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- Prince Harry departs The Royal Courts Of Justice in London, England, UK on Tuesday 20 January, 2026 after attending a court case with the Associated Newspapers Ltd (ANL) over unlawful surveillance methods.,Image: 1067655259, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Please credit photographer and agency when publishing as Justin Ng/UPPA/Avalon., Model Release: no, Credit line: Justin Ng/Avalon
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- Prince Harry departs The Royal Courts Of Justice in London, England, UK on Wednesday 21 January, 2026 after attending a court case with the Associated Newspapers Ltd (ANL) over unlawful surveillance methods.,Image: 1068018822, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Please credit photographer and agency when publishing as Justin Ng/UPPA/Avalon., Model Release: no, Credit line: Justin Ng/Avalon
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- Peter Phillips and Harriet Sperling at their wedding at All Saints’ Church on June 6, 2026 in Kemble, England. Peter Phillips, the son of Princess Anne, Princess Royal and eldest grandchild of Queen Elizabeth II, will marry NHS Nurse and writer Harriet Sperling during a ceremony at All Saints’ Church in Kemble,Image: 1108332654, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no , Credit line: Jules Annan/Avalon
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- Royal wedding of Peter Phillips and Harriet Sperling at All Saints’ Church in Kemble, England Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales Where: Kemble, United Kingdom When: 06 Jun 2026 Credit: Cover Images
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- Royal wedding of Peter Phillips and Harriet Sperling at All Saints’ Church in Kemble, England Featuring: Peter Phillips, Harriet Sperling, Georgina Sperling, Savannah Phillips, Isla Phillips Where: Kemble, United Kingdom When: 06 Jun 2026 Credit: Cover Images
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- Royal wedding of Peter Phillips and Harriet Sperling at All Saints’ Church in Kemble, England Featuring: Peter Phillips, Harriet Sperling, Georgina Sperling, Savannah Phillips, Isla Phillips Where: Kemble, United Kingdom When: 06 Jun 2026 Credit: Cover Images
What a petty family may be scooter wanted Beatrice and Eugenie there to spite Harry and Meghan. Does peter have friends outside of the cousins.
I doubt harry and Meghan wanted to go. With keen behaving rudely to Meghan and playing up to harry. And scooter would behave badly.
All this says is that no one cared about that wedding even with the King and Queen, the Princess and Prince of Wales, and the ” missing ” blood royal princesses there. Because if they were getting clicks on their articles without the Sussexes attendance, Harry’s name wouldn’t be the lead in the headlines about someone else’s wedding that he didn’t even go to.
Now that they didn’t come, and no one cared all weekend about who was wearing what, they’ll spend the next month trying to convince everyone that everyone on both sides of the Atlantic hate Harry and Meghan, and how they are sad and desperate and lonely because they didn’t come/weren’t invited.
It’s all they have left. Harry and Meghan don’t attend an event that they fervently hope they would, so they spend the next month explaining why Harry and Meghan are on the outside looking in, instead of not being bothered.
They’ll do the same thing next month after Invictus one year to go, if Meghan doesn’t come. It’ll be all about how all of the UK hates her and she was afraid of being booed, and the Invictus community despises her, and nothing about the toxic environment created by the press, and their need for actual security.
I almost wish that Harry just never step foot in that country again. They’re going to be absolutely bonkers about his presence and yes I fear for his safety
That makes two of us.
I would love to see Harry consolidate this upcoming 1-year-to-go-Invictus with a moved-up Well Child Awards, he doesn’t have to return in September.
Once IG 2027 and Chuckles’ funeral are out of the way, Harry will face a lot less pressure to return to the UK.
They all but particularly William and Charles, just come across as so mean spirited and petty and stuck in 2020 with no clue how to get out and the longer they let this go on, the more people will focus on Harry and Meghan. I agree Meghan is better off out of it. The BM would have found 20,000 things she did wrong if she had been there.
This whole wedding was PR, proformative and managed to show the Windors are a solid family blah blah blah . Yet no one talks about Sophie having dinner with Epstein , l believe Charles did too, the York daughters allegedly receiving funds from across the pond with free accommodation over 20 years , Charles questionable friendships and affairs, William pictured over the years roaring aggressively into his wife’s face, ohhh yes what a lovely lovely family , they are a disgrace ….sick.of them , they seemed to get away with everything, no one seriously questions them.ever
LOL! They’re never beating the allegations that they are obsessed with H&M. Apparently, they wanted a live action version of Wedding Crashers. The whole thing was as boring as the Left Behinds.
If it wasn’t for Harry and Meghan would Peter and Harriet got any attention at all.
Nope they wouldn’t have..
They’ve lost their star power and they know it. The left behinds are just boring. This doesn’t have to do with age, or fashion (well maybe a little about fashion) – its about charisma and that “it” factor that cameras (and therefore the press) love. Diana had this. Harry has this. Meghan has this. The others just don’t. It’s not even a comment on their actual personalities – you can be perfectly nice and not have “it.” (I don’t think they’re all perfectly nice but whatever lol.) Its why E! loves to see someone like JLo or Julia Roberts or Zendaya on the red carpet as opposed to Laura Dern (that’s for Kaiser lol.) It’s not about age or even talent – its the “it” factor and no one left in the royals has it.
“So tell me why the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s absence from the wedding was front and center in all of the coverage?”
I would be *much* more interested in the admiral’s absence. Again. After being absent from so many other events recently, and not so recently.
Why don’t the British press manage to at least give some sort of… excuse, like “Sir Timothy gives his regards, but he’s ill” or “Admiral Laurence is out of the picture now that QEII isn’t around anymore”?
Nothing at all, despite always being curious about things that don’t concern the British media.
Instead we get speculations about Harry and Meghan. Again, just like every other day ending in -y.
Wow, was he really not there? That is very notable given its Anne’s son’s wedding.
It’s funny when Harry and Meghan’s absence overshadows events focused on Charles and Camilla or William and Kate. It just sucks to pull the same crap with the wedding of Peter and Harriet. They’re not overtly sucking up to the other Left-Behinds, or running their mouths like Zara’s husband does in a desperate bid for attention. They seem pretty low-key and inoffensive, as royals go. Just a couple of particularly well-connected 40-somethings raising teenaged daughters, who deserved to have a day that was just about them and their love. It’s like the Grosvenor wedding all over again. I’m sure the Sussexes don’t even expect invites at this point, but privately communicated their best wishes to the couple (perhaps with a handwritten note from Meghan, because she’s classy like that). These stories are tacky AF.
When selling Chinese milk fails to get you the front page, then what else is Peter the milkman supposed to do other than drag two people who are not bothering anyone into his wedding day to get attention. Too bad not Even then do the British media remember that it’s actually supposed to center you and your new bride on your wedding day . How sad and pathetic does that make Peter and the rest of that clan that they are nothing, nothing, nothing without Harry and Meghan.
Everybody was told to go to wedding to drown out the Harry talk but it didn’t work.
Centering Harry and Meghan is the only way a story about that drab RF can get any clicks.
How do they know? They haven’t written a RF story WithOut H&M since….well, 2016 pretty much. They include H&M in EveryThing. I haven’t seen/read One story about the BaRF w/o H&M so how do they know whether or not they would get clicks w/o mentioning them?
The press knows they have to include them because of huge click through and comment numbers. You can google how many web hits their names receive vs the others. It’s incredibly high numbers (global clicks too).
People Magazine was tagging the bottom of all their articles as MeghanMarkle and PrinceHarry but people were only reading those articles so they completely stopped using those tags and now only use “RoyalFamily” tag on H&M articles. The Sussexes were pulling their own entire audience who didn’t give a flip about the BRF. Simon Perry (a royalist at People) lobbied to drop the tags to get the left behinds some clicks. Everything is weighted in the BRF’s favor….but they are still losing the interest war. Couldn’t happen to nicer people.
That’s exactly what I said yesterday, that the whole wedding became about H and M not being there. Hence the focus on the wedding of the ‘year’ . It was obvious.
It’s June 8th. When are they releasing the decision about Harry’s security in the UK?
They are flailing without H&M. Flailing.