Harriet Sperling: The Nurse Marrying Peter Phillips

Harriet Sperling is a UK paediatric nurse marrying Peter Phillips, Princess Anne’s son, at All Saints Church, Kemble on 6 June 2026. She is 45, lives in Gloucestershire, and has worked in the NHS at Evelina London Children’s Hospital in London. Both Harriet and Peter have been married once before. Their engagement was announced on 1 August 2025 after they met through mutual friends in early 2024.

By Matt Ward, Editor at Weddings Hub. I have covered UK weddings since 2018, with a particular focus on royal and second-marriage church ceremonies. Sources for this profile include Hello!, ITV West Country, Tatler, Yahoo, the Cotswold Journal, Unofficial Royalty, and the Royal Watcher Blog. We will update this page as new details are confirmed.

Harriet Sperling is the NHS paediatric nurse about to marry into the Royal Family. On 6 June 2026 she walks into All Saints Church in Kemble to marry Peter Phillips, the eldest grandchild of the late Queen Elizabeth II. The wedding is private and the village is small. This profile sets out what is on the public record about her career, family, and how she came to be standing at the altar with Princess Anne’s son. It also flags what is not publicly disclosed, because a working nurse with a teenage daughter is entitled to her privacy.

Harriet Sperling’s career as a paediatric nurse

Harriet trained at St Mary’s University in Twickenham. She qualified as a registered nurse and went on to specialise in paediatric care. She has worked in the NHS at Evelina London Children’s Hospital, part of Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust on the South Bank in central London. Her clinical interest is reported to be in early brain development and care of critically ill infants.

Paediatric nursing is a distinct branch of the profession in the UK. Nurses train specifically in the care of babies, children, and young people up to the age of 18. The role covers everything from routine immunisations on a community ward to high-dependency care for premature babies and children recovering from major surgery. Specialist nurses on retrieval teams travel between hospitals to stabilise critically ill children for transfer to tertiary centres. It is highly skilled, emotionally demanding work that pays an NHS Band 6 or 7 salary, well below what most royal-adjacent partners earn.

Harriet has also written publicly about her work and her faith. In a 2023 essay for a UK Christian magazine she described her experience as a single mother and the role her Christian faith has played in her career and family life.

How Harriet and Peter Phillips met

Harriet and Peter met in early 2024 through mutual friends, at a sporting event involving their similarly aged children. Both have daughters in their early teens, and both move in the equestrian and Cotswolds country-set circles where Princess Anne’s family is well known.

Their first public outing came at the Badminton Horse Trials in May 2024. Royal-watchers noted them quietly together but did not name Harriet at the time. Through 2024 the couple were photographed at a handful of country events and at Royal Ascot in June 2025, where Harriet rode in the carriage procession. That carriage ride was widely read as the strongest signal yet that an engagement was imminent. The official announcement came on 1 August 2025 in a joint statement to Hello! magazine, with the wedding date and venue confirmed in early 2026.

The couple are understood to be based in Gloucestershire, where Harriet’s family home is in South Cerney and Peter has long lived on the Gatcombe Park estate. Their exact household arrangements are not publicly confirmed.

Both partners are previously divorced

This is a second marriage for both bride and groom, which is the reason the wedding required Church of England permission.

Peter Phillips married Canadian management consultant Autumn Kelly at St George’s Chapel, Windsor on 17 May 2008. They had two daughters: Savannah, born in 2010, and Isla, born in 2012. The couple separated in 2019 and their divorce was finalised in June 2021. The split was reported as amicable, and the daughters have continued to spend time with both parents and with their grandmother Princess Anne at Gatcombe.

Harriet was previously married to fitness instructor Antonio St John Sperling. She has one daughter, Georgia, born in 2012, from that marriage. The exact date of her divorce has not been publicly disclosed.

Under Church of England rules, a vicar is not obliged to remarry a divorced person whose former spouse is still living. Since 2002 the General Synod has allowed remarriage in exceptional circumstances, with the decision resting with the parish priest. The local clergy at All Saints, Kemble met the couple and agreed to conduct the service. For more on how this works for any couple, see our guide to second-marriage church weddings in the UK.

What Harriet’s role will look like

Harriet will not become a working royal. She is marrying a man with no royal title and no public role. After the wedding she will be Mrs Harriet Phillips. She will not be styled “Princess” or “Lady” because her husband holds no rank to pass on.

The decision to keep Peter untitled was made by his mother in 1977. Princess Anne and her first husband Captain Mark Phillips both rejected Queen Elizabeth II’s offer of an earldom for Mark, which would have made their children Lord Peter and Lady Zara. Anne later told Vanity Fair she thought a title in modern Britain was “more of a hindrance than an advantage” for children trying to make their own way. Zara Tindall publicly thanked her mother for the decision in a 2023 podcast interview, saying it had given them the freedom to live ordinary lives.

That freedom shaped how Peter’s first marriage worked, and it shapes Harriet’s situation too. Autumn Kelly continued working as a management consultant after marrying Peter in 2008. Harriet faces no formal requirement to leave nursing. Peter himself works in private business in events and sponsorship, not in royal duties. The couple are expected to continue living quietly in the Cotswolds, with Harriet’s daughter Georgia and Peter’s daughters Savannah and Isla as a blended family.

How royal “non-working” partners compare

Harriet joins a group of British royal in-laws who have married members of the family without taking on royal titles or public duties. The pattern is now well established.

Partner	Married into family	Year	Title	Day job
Autumn Kelly	Married Peter Phillips (divorced 2021)	2008	Mrs Phillips	Management consultant
Mike Tindall	Married Zara Phillips	2011	Mr Tindall	Former England rugby captain, podcaster
Jack Brooksbank	Married Princess Eugenie	2018	Mr Brooksbank	Drinks brand ambassador
Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi	Married Princess Beatrice	2020	Mr Mapelli Mozzi	Property developer
Harriet Sperling	Marries Peter Phillips	2026	Mrs Phillips	NHS paediatric nurse

The pattern is consistent. Spouses who marry into the wider royal family but not into the line of working royals keep their own surname or take their husband’s surname, hold no royal title, and continue working in their own fields. Harriet fits squarely inside that template.

Frequently asked questions

Who is Harriet Sperling?

Harriet Sperling is a paediatric nurse specialist who has worked in the NHS at Evelina London Children’s Hospital. She trained at St Mary’s University in Twickenham and is from Gloucestershire. She is 45 years old and has one daughter from her first marriage.

How did Harriet meet Peter Phillips?

The couple met through mutual friends at a sporting event involving their children in early 2024. Their first public appearance together was at the Badminton Horse Trials in May 2024, and they announced their engagement on 1 August 2025.

Has Harriet been married before?

Yes. Both Harriet Sperling and Peter Phillips have one previous marriage. This is why their wedding required Church of England permission, which was granted by the local vicar at All Saints, Kemble.

Will Harriet become a princess?

No. Peter Phillips holds no royal title because his mother chose for him to grow up untitled. Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips declined an earldom offered by the Queen in 1977. Harriet will simply be Mrs Phillips.

Will Harriet have to give up nursing?

No formal requirement exists. Peter Phillips works in private business and the couple are not working royals, so Harriet’s career is not constrained by royal protocol. Whether she chooses to continue full-time NHS work is a personal decision.

Who walks Harriet down the aisle?

This is not yet publicly confirmed. Harriet’s father Rupert Sanders died some years ago. The full wedding party has not been announced and we will update this article when it is.

Related articles

• Peter Phillips and Harriet Sperling wedding 2026: everything we know
• All Saints Church, Kemble: a guide to the Cotswolds royal wedding venue
• Second-marriage church weddings in the UK: the rules explained
• UK royal wedding history in the modern era
• Cotswolds celebrity weddings: Eve Jobs and beyond

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