All Saints Church in Kemble, Gloucestershire, sat beneath grey skies on Saturday as the King’s nephew, Peter Phillips, married NHS nurse Harriet Sperling in a private ceremony that drew nearly every senior royal to the tiny village – and drew sisters Beatrice and Eugenie back into the family fold for the first time since their father’s arrest.
King Charles III and Queen Camilla arrived alongside the Prince and Princess of Wales, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, and Princess Anne, who beamed through the rain to watch her only son tie the knot. The bride, a paediatric nurse, stunned in a lace gown by Emilia Wickstead, paired with the Pragnell family tiara. After the ceremony, the newlyweds posed briefly for photographers before being whisked to their wedding reception at Gatcombe Park.
“Peter Phillips marries NHS nurse Harriet Sperling in a rainy Gloucestershire wedding attended by King Charles and senior royals.”
But the day carried a more personal weight for Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie. It was the first large royal gathering they had attended since the arrest of their father, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. Former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond said the sisters were “brave to show up”, adding that “it can’t have been easy for them”. Bond noted they appeared to keep a “low profile”, “determined not to draw any of the limelight from the bride and groom.”
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle did not attend.
The venue, All Saints Church, held a particular significance: Sperling lived in the village of Kemble when the couple met. Phillips, the late Queen Elizabeth II’s eldest grandson, is 19th in line to the throne and works as a sports management executive. He does not undertake official royal duties. His first marriage, to Autumn Kelly, ended in divorce in 2021, and he shares custody of their two daughters, who served as bridesmaids in white dresses.
Sperling, an NHS nurse, represents a break from the titled backgrounds typical of royal brides. As rain fell on umbrellas and gowns, the couple were celebrated by a family that, for one day at least, put differences aside – and by two sisters who chose to show up.