The engagement was announced 1 August 2025 between Mr Peter Mark Andrew Phillips (born 15 November, 1977), the only son of Capt Mark Anthony Peter Phillips (born 22 September, 1948), late the Queen’s Dragoon Guards, scion of that landed gentry family, and his first wife HRH The Princess Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise, Princess Royal, KG, &c (born 15 Aug, 1950), & Harriet Eleanor Sperling (born 1980), daughter of Rupert Hugh Sanders (1944-2023) and his wife the former Mary Elizabeth Hoskins (born 1950).
Peter Phillips, nephew of the King, the late Queen's eldest grandchild, was first seen on the arm of a new girlfriend a year ago. Harriet, described in the Sun newspaper as "a paediatric and specialist nurse and freelance writer in her 40s" was seen with Phillips at the Badminton Horse Trials where she was introduced to Queen Camilla.
Harriet wrote in March 2024 of the struggles, and joys, of her life as a single parent bringing up her young daughter, Georgina Isabella (born in 2012). She highlighted how while 'parenting solo can be tough' it 'can also be the most beautiful, precious relationship.' Harriet said: 'In the earlier years of my journey as a single mother to my daughter, resources were scarce, and the future was uncertain. 'Yet, in the absence of material security, I discovered the strength and life that comes from true selfless love. A love that is able to be solely devoted to your child.'
Harriet's first marriage was to Antonio St John Sperling (born with the surname Di Martino in Nov 1981), who was a son of Domenico Di Martino & of Sonia Anne Agnes Sperling (1952-2017), scion of that landed gentry family, of Lattenbury Hill, St Ives, Huntingdonshire, and descended from Admiral Sir Henry Loraine Baker, 2nd Baronet, CB.
Harriet's life as a struggling single parent belies her aristocratic and distinguished ancestry. The NHS nurse was born Harriet Eleanor Sanders, her birth registered at Swindon, in the first quarter of 1980, daughter of solicitor Rupert Hugh Sanders (1944-2023), and his wife the former Mary Elizabeth Hoskins (born 1950), daughter of Richard Samuel Hoskins (1912-78), of Park Corner, Cirencester, and his wife (nee Wakefield).
Harriet's mother featured in Tatler in 1971 on their 'Girls in Pearls' page following the announcement of her engagement to Rupert Sanders, whose ancestry is rich in the landed 'beerage' and stockbroking.
Harriet's grandfather Maj Geoffrey Thomas St John Sanders (1911-86), a High Sheriff of Gloucestershire, married Eleanor De Zoete (1910-78), of the Mill House, Radwell, scion of the De Zoete stockbroking dynasty, daughter of the Old Etonian stockbroker and famed England cricketer Herman Walter De Zoete (1877-1957).
Herman De Zoete was a right-handed batsman who bowled both slow left-arm orthodox and left-arm medium pace, and played for Cambridge University in the 1890s. He was part of the De Zoete & Bevan stockbroking family who were bought out by Barclays Bank in 1986. De Zoete married in Essex in 1903, Dorothy Courage (1877-1972), scion of the Courage landed gentry family, whose fortune was based on brewing from the 18th century.
Dorothy Courage was the tenth child of Edward Courage (1832-1904), of Shenfield Place, Brentwood, Essex, and Hanover Square, London, an old Harrovian, head of the Courage landed gentry family, by his wife the former Helen Rosa Marshall (1837-96), a scion of that landed gentry family of Hardres Court, Canterbury.
Harriet has siblings: Nicholas (born 1975), Louisa (born 1976), and Rebecca (born 1986).
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