Princess Anne and Peter Phillips' close bond as family 'delighted' by engagement news

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Celebrations are in order for the Princess Royal and her family as her son, Peter Phillips, announced his engagement to Harriet Sperling on Friday, as revealed first by HELLO!.

Peter shares a close relationship with his mother, Princess Anne, and even lives on her Gatcombe Park estate in Gloucestershire.

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Since he started dating NHS nurse Harriet Sperling last spring, she has joined Peter at many high-profile royal events with his royal relatives, including various horse trials, Royal Ascot and Wimbledon.

And in a sign of their closeness, the official statement released on the couple's behalf even included their families: "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."

Anne as a grandmother

While the Princess Royal rarely talks about her family members publicly, Peter and his sister, Zara Tindall, featured in the 2020 ITV documentary, Anne: The Princess Royal at 70.

Peter shares daughters, Savannah, 14, and Isla, 13, with ex-wife Autumn, while Zara has three children with husband, Mike Tindall - Mia, 11, Lena, seven, and Lucas, four.

Speaking about his mother as a grandmother, Peter said: "She loves seeing them ride, she loves having them round for Sunday lunches and taking them for walks. Doing all the things that we would do as kids."

"We quite like leaving them on Sundays. We'll say, 'We'll pick them up later, bye.'" Zara joked.

No royal titles

Despite being born the grandchildren of a sitting monarch at the time, Queen Elizabeth II, Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips decided not to give Peter or Zara royal titles.

Zara has followed in her mother's footsteps with a successful equestrian career, while Peter is Head of Partner Acquisition, Motorsport at the Wasserman group.

Speaking about Anne's decision not to give him a royal title, Peter said in the documentary: "We were always brought up on the understanding that we were going to have to go to work. We were going to have to go out and earn our, earn our living. Regardless of the fact of who our grandmother was or who our mother was."

Zara added: "I think it made us fight harder as well, to try and be as successful as we could be. So we're very grateful to her for not giving us a title anyway."

Family business

As well as juggling his career and businesses with family life, Peter was also part of a project close to home.

He served as Event Director for the long-running Festival of British Eventing, an equestrian-based event held on the family's Gatcombe Park estate, of which Peter's father, Captain Mark Phillips, was also the event chairman.

Sadly, the event, which has been running since 1983 was called off in 2024, due to rising costs making the festival "unviable" to run.

In a statement at the time, Peter shared how much the festival had meant to his family, saying: "It is with a heavy heart that The Festival, which has played a significant part in the British Eventing calendar since 1983, cannot run this year. The event has also been a huge part of my family's lives and those of many others for 40 years."