Princess Anne's divorced son receives backing for church wedding

Dorothy Reddin
Wed, 01 Apr 2026 16:16:14 +0000

Peter Phillips's spokesman confirmed on Wednesday that Princess Anne's son will tie the knot with his fiancée, Harriet Sperling, in a church wedding this summer.

Some readers may question why Mr Phillips, a divorced man with two children, is being permitted to marry inside a church, given that several members of the Royal Family, including King Charles, had to remarry at the Windsor Guildhall.

In addition, when the Princess Royal remarried in 1992 after her divorce, she had to tie the knot in a Church of Scotland establishment.

Since 2002, the Church of England has officially allowed the remarriage of divorced people with a former spouse still living in "exceptional circumstances". The final decision rests entirely with the individual parish vicar, who may refuse on grounds of conscience.

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The vicar will conduct one or more confidential interviews to discuss the individual's past marriage, the reasons for its breakdown, and their understanding of Christian marriage.

During the interview process, a vicar will typically consider whether there has been sufficient healing from the previous relationship.

In addition, they will ascertain if the new relationship was a direct cause of the previous marriage's breakdown, whether existing responsibilities, such as care for children from the previous marriage, are being honoured, and whether the proposed marriage would cause public scandal.

Mr Phillips and Ms Sperling are marrying at the All Saints Church in Kemble on June 6, a Church of England establishment in the Diocese of Gloucester.

The marriage is being allowed because it complies with the 2002 Church of England guidelines on the remarriage of divorced persons.

The vicar of All Saints, Kemble, had the legal right to decide whether to perform the ceremony. Given Wednesday's announcement from Mr Phillips's spokesman, it is clear that the local clergy have met with the couple and agreed to conduct the service.

Unlike King Charles, Mr Phillips is not a working royal and does not hold a royal title. This significantly reduces the constitutional and "Supreme Governor" complexities that affected his uncle's wedding in 2005.

Several factors led to King Charles and Queen Camilla having to choose a civil ceremony at the Windsor Guildhall in 2005.

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As the heir to the throne, Charles was set to become the "Supreme Governor of the Church of England". At the time, it was considered more appropriate for him to avoid a potentially controversial church wedding, given that both he and Camilla were divorcees.

Given the high-profile nature of their past relationship and the enduring public affection for Diana, Princess of Wales, a low-key civil ceremony followed by a religious blessing was seen as a more respectful path. In addition, Queen Camilla's former husband, Andrew Parker Bowles, was still alive.

Queen Elizabeth II famously did not attend the civil ceremony to keep the event low-key, and to reflect her role as Head of the Church.

However, she did attend the subsequent Service of Prayer and Dedication, led by the Archbishop of Canterbury at St George's Chapel.

By the time of Meghan Markle's 2018 wedding, the 2002 ruling allowing divorcees to remarry in church was well-established and widely accepted.

Prince Harry was not the direct heir to the throne (unlike his father in 2005), which reduced the constitutional pressure regarding his role in the Church.

At the time, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, exercised his discretion to allow the wedding at St George's Chapel after conducting pastoral meetings with the couple.

The Duchess of Sussex was also baptised and confirmed into the Church of England in March 2018, two months before her nuptials.

Mr Phillips was previously married to Autumn Kelly, a Canadian woman who was raised Roman Catholic.

After converting to the Church of England, she exchanged wedding vows with Mr Phillips at St George's Chapel in 2008. They subsequently divorced in 2021 and share two daughters, Savannah, 15, and Isla, 14.

Mr Phillips's bride-to-be, Ms Sperling, is an NHS paediatric nurse and a single mother to a daughter, Georgia, who was born in 2012.

She was previously married to fitness instructor Antonio St John Sperling. The mother-of-one has spoken publicly about her decade-long journey as a single parent.