Ever since Peter Phillips and Autumn Phillips’ divorce was finalized, Peter has been looking for the next Mrs. Phillips. Some men are just like that – always looking for a long-term relationship, if not marriage. Peter spent several years dating two women in succession, and both of those ladies got pretty serious “girlfriend rollouts” in the British press. In the spring of 2024, he began dating Harriet Sperling, a nurse and single mother in her 40s. Harriet also got a big “girlfriend rollout,” the biggest of which happened in June of this year, when Harriet was Peter’s plus-one at several major events. It felt different, like everyone was sizing her up as a would-be princess. And yes, I know Peter doesn’t have a title, but he’s still part of the royal family, and these people are in desperate need of photogenic princesses. Well, good news: Peter proposed and Harriet said yes! They gave/sold the exclusive engagement photos to Hello.
Peter Phillips and Harriet Sperling have confirmed their engagement after a year of dating. The couple shared their news on Friday exclusively with HELLO! and released two photos which showed off Harriet’s stunning engagement ring.
A statement issued for the couple by Gerard Franklin, read: “Mr Peter Phillips, the son of HRH The Princess Royal and Captain Mark Phillips and Ms Harriet Sperling, daughter of the late Mr Rupert Sanders and Mrs Mary Sanders of Gloucestershire, have today confirmed their official engagement.
“Both families were informed jointly of the announcement and were delighted with the wonderful news of their engagement. Their Majesties The King and Queen, The Prince and Princess of Wales have been informed of the announcement. No date has been officially set for the wedding.”
Harriet looked gorgeous in the photo, wearing a frilly white top and skirt, while her diamond ring sparkled as she proudly showed it off. She gazed lovingly at her husband-to-be, who wore a plaid top for the occasion.
HELLO’s royal editor, Emily Nash, said: “This is wonderful news for Peter and Harriet, but also the wider royal family. Peter is close to the King and to his cousins and Harriet seems to have been warmly welcomed into the fold.”
Meanwhile, royal photographer James Whatling, who has photographed Peter and Harriet several times, tells HELLO!: “We were waiting for this news. You can’t watch this couple for too long without noticing how close they are, they’re so tactile and they’re clearly so in love. It was only a matter of time.”
Congrats to them, honestly. I’ve enjoyed Peter’s post-divorce vibe – he’s dated age-appropriate women, and I like that he’s engaged to a single mom with an actual job (nurse). They seem to be really happy. I’ll cover some of the extra stuff separately, because there’s already a fair amount of chatter about when they’ll schedule the wedding and whether or not Prince Harry will be invited, lmao. I mean, part of that discussion is the fact that the left-behinds and the British media are obsessed with the Sussexes and all of them manage to find amazing ways to turn every story into “but what about Harry and Meghan??” It’s also a tad funny that Peter seems to have selected an engagement ring which looks a lot like the ring Harry designed for Meghan.
There’s another aspect to this too – around King Charles’s 2023 coronation, many royalists were lamenting the fact that it would be a good fifteen to twenty years before the Windsors had any big, happy events – weddings, christenings, coronations. Which means that Peter’s second wedding will be pushed as a big “royal” event, because they’re desperate for those, and they’re desperate to have an event which they can say “Harry must be invited, but he’s desperate to come and he hasn’t been invited, what if he turns down the invitation,” etc.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images.
