Weddings traditionally include 'something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.' And the wedding of Princess Anne's son Peter Phillips next weekend will, unusually, be a throwback to his first wedding… as he has hired the same party planners who were on hand when he tied the knot in 2008.
On Saturday next week, Peter will marry NHS nurse Harriet Sperling in a private ceremony at All Saints Church in the Gloucestershire village of Kemble. Guests, who will include the King and Queen, will toast them afterwards at a reception hosted by the groom's family at Gatcombe Park.
Festivities are being overseen by Bentley's Entertainments, a blue-chip firm which oversaw David and Victoria Beckham's wedding, multiple parties for Sir Elton John, Princess Eugenie's Windsor wedding to Jack Brooksbank, and Peter Phillips' 2008 wedding to Autumn Kelly. The company has requested a number of road closures on the day but declined to comment on the event yesterday.
Bentley's was founded 35 years ago by event planner to the stars Peregrine Armstrong-Jones, the half brother of Anthony Armstrong-Jones who was married to Princess Margaret.
In 2008, when he married for the first time at Windsor, there was considerable controversy as Phillips sold the event to Hello! magazine for a reported £500,000. It led to his grandmother, HM The Queen, being pictured in its pages 'like a footballer's wife' as one commentator thundered. This time around, there is no magazine deal at all. Sources indicate that everyone wants to tread very carefully when it comes to being seen to commercially exploit Royal status, and that the landscape has changed particularly since Megxit and the money-spinning activities of Prince Harry and Meghan. 'A magazine deal is out of the question as the issue is now very sensitive,' says a source.
Prince Harry is understood not to have been invited as he and his cousin have not been close for some time. Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice, the daughters of Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, the former Prince Andrew, have however been invited and it is thought that they will attend. Their parents, whose links with the late paedophile Jeffrey Epstein have caused a crisis for the Royal family, are not invited.
Peter Phillips and Harriet Sperling have been together since May 2024. Mr Phillips, 48, nephew of King Charles and 19th in line to the throne, married Montreal-born Autumn Kelly in 2008. They had two daughters - Savannah, 15, and Isla, 13 - but split in 2019. Fellow divorcee Ms Sperling, 45, has a daughter, Georgina, 13, from her first marriage.
Mr Phillips popped the question last summer with a ring boasting a subtle tribute to his grandmother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, having been designed by the same jeweller behind her 1946 band. Ms Sperling has been warmly welcomed by the royals and was seen laughing with King Charles at Ascot last year after travelling in the official carriage procession.
Peter Phillips is not styled HRH after his mother, Princess Anne, declined the honour for himself and his sister Zara. Zara has previously done a number of deals with Hello! magazine and in 2020 Phillips made an advert for Jersey milk in which he was seen accepting a drink from a butler, apparently in a palace. Phillips has worked in corporate hospitality and sponsorship management and is also the landlord of a series of shops, small businesses, bars and restaurants in Bath. He is also a director of Maritime Passport Ltd, a business specialising in digitising shipping certifications. He has a degree in Sports Science from Exeter University.
