How Peter Phillips fell for devout Christian nurse Harriet Sperling

Victoria WardFri, June 5, 2026 at 12:38 PM UTC

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Harriet Sperling and Peter Phillips will marry at All Saints Church in Kemble, Cirencester on Saturday - Max Mumby/Indigo

Whether sipping champagne at Ascot or attending a church service alongside the King, Harriet Sperling has glided effortlessly into royal life.

It has been just two years since the paediatric nurse, a devout Christian, made her public debut at the Badminton Horse Trials, hand in hand with her new beau, the Princess Royal's 48-year-old son Peter Phillips.

The pair had only recently met, through their daughters, at a local sports fixture in Gloucestershire, but it was immediately clear this was no fleeting romance.

Ms Sperling, 45, looked remarkably at ease in the large family group, which included Mr Phillips's two daughters, Savannah, 15, and Isla, 14, his sister Zara Tindall, who was competing, and the Queen, who presented trophies to the winning riders.

Harriet Sperling and Peter Phillips made their public debut at the Badminton Horse Trials last year - Shutterstock

At her side was her daughter, Georgina Sperling, now 13, from her first marriage to fitness instructor Antonio St John Sperling.

Georgina was sporting an identical plaited hairstyle to her future step sisters. The three girls play in the same local hockey team and have been good friends long before their parents caught each other's eye.

This then, is a relationship built on shared family experiences, the trials and tribulations of raising teenage girls and the difficulties that come with family separation.

Ms Sperling is believed to have split with her former husband when Georgina was just two.

But unlike Mr Phillips, who remains close to his ex-wife and mother of his daughters, Autumn Kelly, Ms Sperling has raised her daughter alone.

Mr Phillips with his ex-wife Autumn Phillips and their children Savannah and Isla in 2019 - Max Mumby/Indigo

Writing for Christian magazine Woman Alive in 2024, only shortly before she met Mr Phillips, she said: "Resources were scarce and the future was uncertain. Yet, in the absence of material security, I discovered the strength and life that comes from true, selfless love."

She added: "My daughter and I journeyed 10 years with only each other."

Some 15 years earlier, Ms Sperling had described how the breakdown of a seven-year relationship had marked a turning point in her life, propelling her towards the church.

Her late father, solicitor Rupert Sanders, was a long-standing churchwarden, while her mother, Mary Sanders, serves on the ministry team at her local church. But Ms Sperling said her faith had become "dormant" when she embarked on the life of a young 20-something in the capital.

The couple with the King and Queen at Royal Ascot in 2024 - Max Mumby/Indigo

"Somehow it didn't seem relevant to my life in London, going to famous nightclubs and spending a lot of time in Ibiza during the summer. I was a real party girl," she admitted in a newspaper interview about young people and religion.

"But the end of a seven-year relationship marked a turning point: I went to church as I felt there was something missing."

She added: "I pray not only on Sunday, but all the time, often just quietly to myself", noting that her job as an intensive care children's nurse at Guy's Hospital could be "quite stressful and emotionally engaging".

At Badminton in May 2024, Mr Phillips and Ms Sperling spent the weekend together, strolling hand in hand as they watched the various equestrian events and enjoyed the sunshine with their daughters.

Ms Sperling and Mr Phillips at the Guards Polo Club in Windsor in July 2024 - Max Mumby/Indigo

At the time, a friend told The Telegraph they had been "spending time together" but that it was still too early to be anything more.

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Indeed, it was only a month earlier that it had emerged Mr Phillips had separated from Lindsay Wallace, his girlfriend of four years and a close friend of his sister Zara.

Such caution may have been considered prudent in the circumstances, but behind the scenes the relationship was rapidly progressing.

In June 2024, the pair were photographed at the Beaufort Polo Club, again alongside their three girls.

This time, there was little point in trying to suggest they were anything other than wholly loved up. The couple cuddled and kissed as they sipped wine and larked about taking selfies and did not care who saw them. "They're a tight unit, very quickly, they seem to be a bit of a family," one onlooker was quoted as saying.

Later that month, the couple made their most high-profile outing to date at Royal Ascot, where Mr Phillips looked as proud as punch with his new love.

The couple at Royal Ascot in June 2024 - Shutterstock

As their relationship went from strength to strength, the couple attended the launch of a cookbook by the Queen's son, Tom Parker-Bowles, as well as the Burghley Horse Trials in Lincolnshire.

With each appearance, Ms Sperling won plaudits for her fashion choices and appeared unfazed by the sudden interest in her private life.

Ms Sperling won plaudits for her fashion choices - Kelvin Bruce

The next summer was described by Tatler magazine as the couple's "summer of love" and it was that August – barely 18 months since they met – that they announced their engagement, much to the delight of their families.

The couple were again seen at a string of society events, from Wimbledon to the Out-Sourcing Inc Royal Charity Polo Cup at the Guards Polo Club in Windsor Great Park, where they cheered on Mr Phillips's cousin Prince William.

Ms Sperling and Mr Phillips at Wimbledon with the Queen in July 2024 - Javier Garcia/Shutterstock

But it was Ms Sperling's invitation to join the King and his family in Balmoral that August that truly marked her acceptance into the royal fold.

Since then, there have been a succession of appearances alongside the monarch, including a New Year church service at Sandringham, followed by the Easter Matins service at St George's Chapel in Windsor, at which she was accompanied by her daughter Georgina.

The next big family outing is fast approaching. This time, Ms Sperling will take centre stage as she walks down the aisle before their closest family and friends.

The couple will say their vows on Saturday at All Saints Church in Kemble, Cirencester, a beautiful village church almost equidistant between Gatcombe Park, the sprawling estate that is home to the Princess Royal and her family, and the Sperling family's £1.5m, six-bedroom Edwardian home in the village of South Cerney.

Alongside the members of the Royal family seated proudly in the pews will be Ms Sperling's mother, Mary (her father died in 2023 just months before his daughter began dating Mr Phillips) and her three siblings.

Vice-Adml Sir Timothy Laurence, Harriet Sperling, Princess Anne and Peter Phillips attend Royal Ascot on June 19, 2025 - Max Mumby/Indigo

Mr Phillips will no doubt be supported by his mother, Princess Anne, her husband, Vice-Adml Sir Tim Laurence, and his own father, Capt Mark Phillips, as well as his half sister, Stephanie Phillips, whose mother is Capt Phillips's second wife, Sandy Pflueger.

As the King and Queen dash off to attend the Epsom Derby, the rest of the family will celebrate at a lavish party thrown at Gatcombe Park, curated by society party planner Peregrine Armstrong Jones of Bentleys Entertainment.

In that magazine article of 2024, Ms Sperling said that she often likened her and her daughter to an island, admitting that "it has often felt hard to imagine anyone joining that island".

Not so anymore, as mother and daughter are enveloped into the Royal family fold and the future is no longer so uncertain.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”