Last week, we heard about Peter Phillips refusing to invite his uncle, Prince Andrew, to his wedding to Harriet Sperling. I noted that there seemed to be a weird lack of gossip and energy around the wedding entirely, especially given that Peter and Harriet are getting hitched in Cotswolds in less than three weeks. This will likely be the only “royal/adjacent” wedding for many years to come, unless Lady Louise and James, Earl of Wessex have much more game than we know. And all we were getting was some lukewarm gossip about how no one wants creepy Andrew skulking about a wedding. Well, finally, someone confirmed the gossip which was widely assumed: Peter did not invite his cousin Prince Harry to the wedding.
Prince Harry won’t be part of his cousin Peter Phillips’ wedding to Harriet Sperling.
The Duke of Sussex wasn’t invited to the nuptials, taking place next month on June 6, according to Hello! magazine. A friend of the couple told the outlet, “Peter and Harry haven’t spoken for several years and have simply lost touch, so he hasn’t been invited.”
Spokespeople for Prince Harry and Peter had no comment when reached by PEOPLE.
Prince Harry, 41, and Peter, 48, grew up attending many royal events together, from Trooping the Colour (the annual celebration of the monarch’s birthday) to the royals’ church outings for holidays such as Christmas and Easter.
After the Duke of Sussex and Meghan Markle stepped back from their royal roles and relocated to California in 2020, Harry has been seen with Peter during funeral events for their grandparents. Peter walked between Prince Harry and his estranged brother, Prince William, at the 2021 funeral for their grandfather, Prince Philip, and they similarly processed for funeral events honoring their grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, in September 2022.
Prince Harry attended Peter’s 2008 wedding to his first wife, Autumn, with his then-girlfriend Chelsy Davy.
My guess is that Prince William made his presence contingent on Peter NOT inviting Harry. It’s a little bit reminiscent of William putting his bald-demon stink all over Hugh Grosvenor’s 2024 wedding – William raged out and briefed the Times for months about how he forced Hugh into an awkward position of not inviting Harry. Then at some point, we learned that Hugh and Harry had spoken and Harry was basically like “I wouldn’t even be able to make it anyway, do what you need to do” (I’m paraphrasing). William likely ran the same play again. I kind of wonder if we’ll eventually learn that Peter and Harry spoke and Harry basically said that he wouldn’t be able to make it. All of this sounds so juvenile and middle-school, but hey, it’s a larger reflection of how the left-behinds operate, specifically William.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
