Queen’s eldest grandson Peter Phillips ‘SPLITS from his wife Autumn after 12 years of marriage’ 

The Queen’s eldest grandson Peter Phillips and wife Autumn have separated following 12 years of marriage, the couple announced today. 

Peter, 42, and Autumn, 41, informed their families of their ‘amicable’ decision to divorce ‘at the end of last year’ after deciding it was ‘the best course of action for their two children and ongoing friendship’.

The pair, who have not been seen publicly together since September last year, have been separated for several months.

The statement, released by a spokesperson on behalf of the couple this morning, reveals the former couple have both remained in Gloucestershire to co-parent daughters Savannah, nine, and Isla, seven. However it does not address speculation that Autumn might now want to return to live in her native Canada with their children, who have dual citizenship. 

It has been suggested that Autumn might be in some way inspired by the departure of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who are now living in Canada with son Archie after quitting their roles as senior royals. 

It is the latest in a string of explosive developments within the Royal Family, following Prince Andrew’s decision to step down from duties amid the Jeffrey Epstein scandal and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s departure last month.

The breakdown of Autumn and Peter’s marriage will be particularly painful for the Queen, 93, who enjoys a close relationship with her grandson’s wife. The monarch returned to London today following her winter break.

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Today an unnamed friend of the couple told the Sun: ‘Autumn is a favourite of the Queen and I’m sure Her Majesty will be very upset by this as well. It’s the last thing she needs after all her recent troubles and you get the feeling that the Royal Family is falling apart a little bit.’

The Buckingham Palace statement reads: ‘After informing HM The Queen and members of both families last year, Peter and Autumn jointly agreed to separate.

‘They had reached the conclusion that this was the best course of action for their two children and ongoing friendship. The decision to divorce and share custody came about after many months of discussions and although sad, is an amicable one. 

‘The couple’s first priority will remain the continued well being and upbringing of their wonderful daughters Savannah and Isla.

‘Both families were naturally sad at the announcement, but fully supportive of Peter and Autumn in the joint decision to co-parent their children.

‘Both Peter and Autumn have remained in Gloucestershire to bring up their two children where they have been settled for a number of years. Peter and Autumn have requested privacy and compassion for their children while the family continues to adapt to these changes.’ 

Another friend told the Sun there are fears Autumn might want to return home in the wake of the split. 

‘What worries some of us is that Autumn may want to go back to Canada,’ the source said. ‘Maybe she has been influenced by Harry and Meghan’s departure. Perhaps she thought if that can happen then I can leave as well? That might be unfair on her but you have to consider it.’

The news comes weeks after it emerged Mr Phillips, who has no royal title and receives no taxpayer money as a ‘non-working’ royal, had appeared in a Chinese TV advertising campaign for milk. 

In the television advert for Bright Dairies, shown only on Dragon TV in China, Peter is seen being brought a glass of milk by a butler. ‘This is what I drink,’ he says as the tagline reads: ‘British royal family member, Peter Phillips.’

Peter and Autumn, who stay largely out of the media spotlight, were last seen publicly together when they joined the Queen and Prince Charles at the annual Highland Games Gathering at Braemar in September last year.

They did not join the royal family for the Christmas Day church service at Sandringham. Peter Phillips was seen without his wife as he arrived at church on the Norfolk estate during a stay last month.   

Peter has enjoyed a decidedly more low-key life than his cousins Prince William and Prince Harry that started with his mother Princess Anne’s decision not to give him and his younger sister Zara, 38, now married to Mike Tindall, a royal titles.

It means Peter and Zara were granted a level of freedom not afforded to titled members of the royal family like William and Harry, and, to a lesser extent, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie. 

After graduating from the University of Exeter with a degree in sports science, Peter worked for Jaguar as a corporate hospitality manager before taking a position at the Williams Grand Prix Engineering team.

It was on a business trip at the 2003 Montreal Grand Prix where he met Autumn, a former personal assistant who was working as a Budweiser girl at the event.

Not realising he was the Queen’s grandson, the pair embarked on a relationship and Mr Phillips popped the question after a few years of dating. 

Autumn was born and brought up a Roman Catholic but renounced her faith shortly before their wedding so her husband-to-be did not have to give up his claim to the throne. 

The couple tied the knot at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, in 2008, in a service attended by senior royals including the Queen, Prince Charles, the Duchess of Cornwall, Prince Andrew and Prince Harry. 

The newlyweds faced public scrutiny when their wedding photos were sold to Hello! magazine for a reported £500,000 fee. The episode provoked claims the couple had exploited their royal connections and was branded a ‘serious error of judgement’ by then Lib Dem MP Sir Norman Peter Lamb. 

Photos of the couple on honeymoon on safari in South Africa were also released to the press, prompting speculation they had received the £1,000-a-night accommodation for free – or at least at a knock-down rate – in return for their co-operation in publicising the stay.

Peter spent the first 11 years of his career in Formula One, before heading to Williams where he spent three years as a senior account manager looking after the team’s main sponsors.

In 2005, Peter took up a position at the Royal Bank of Scotland, where for over seven years he designed their first ever global Formula One sponsorship programme.

The Phillipses lived in Hong Kong after Peter moved jobs within the Royal Bank of Scotland to head their sponsorships activities in the region.

In June 2012, he set up Sports & Entertainment UK Ltd [Sel] in London, where he remains director today. The company focus on increasing the ‘commercial value for both sports and entertainment rights holders in the UK,’ according to their website.

They also stage events, and Peter has the Queen on his client list, after putting on her 90th birthday party. 

End of the fairytale for former Budweiser girl who fell for her Prince Charming BEFORE realising he was a royal – after year that saw him slammed for advertising MILK on Chinese TV 

By Stephanie Linning for MailOnline 

The separation of Peter and Autumn Phillips brings to an end a 17-year royal romance that reads like a real-life fairytale, taking Autumn from a personal assistant to a respected – and much-loved – member of the royal family. 

Autumn’s early years are a world apart from the grand royal residences and media glare of her former husband’s – and start’s with a modest cottage in Cedar Park, Pointe-Claire, in the English speaking West Island region of Montreal.

Autumn was one of three children born to Kathleen and Brian Kelly. Her twin brother, Chris, is a bricklayer and roofer, and their other brother, Kevin, works as a chef.

Autumn’s parents divorced when she was eight and both later remarried. Kathleen, known as ‘Kitty’, to pilot Ron Magos and Brian, an executive at an electricity company, to a woman named Lynne, with whom he had two more children. 

Kathleen and Brian sent their daughter to a Roman Catholic primary school and St. Thomas High School, part of a church foundation, where she reportedly excelled in sports. 

During her teenage years Autumn landed small roles in a Bob Hoskins film and a TV series but ultimately decided to pursue East Asian studies at the city’s McGill University. 

After juggling her academics with part-time work as a barmaid and model, Autumn graduated from McGill in 2002. 

She is said to have landed a management consultancy job but by June the following year Autumn was working in an events role at the Montreal Grand Prix. It is here she met her future husband, Peter Phillips. 

At the time Peter was working in a marketing capacity for the Williams Formula One team and had travelled to Canada for the high-profile event. There is disagreement over where Autumn was working, with conflicting reports suggesting the BMW hospitality tent and as a ‘Budweiser girl’, but one thing is agreed: there was an immediate attraction between the pair.

Peter kept his family connections under wraps but Autumn was still charmed by the Englishman. They started a long-distance relationship, speaking on the phone every day, and Autumn travelled to the UK to visit Peter just weeks after meeting. The loved-up Canadian even accepted a job that would take her to England. 

However she only discovered her new beau was the Queen’s grandson when she was watching a TV show about Prince William’s 21st birthday and a photo of Peter flashed up on screen. Her mother, who was sitting by her side, reportedly said to her daughter ‘What have you gotten yourself into?’  

Despite the shock, Autumn decided to pursue the relationship and took up a position as a personal assistant to Sir Michael Parkinson. 

Unlike some other royal couples, the early days of Autumn and Peter conducted the early days of their relationship largely out of the public eye, thanks largely to Peter’s role as a ‘non-working’ royal and lack of royal title. 

This commitment to a ‘normal’ life remains to this day, with the couple previously saying they are normal people who ‘work full time, enjoy our weekends and get on with our lives like anybody else’. 

After four years together, Peter popped the question and their engagement was announced on 28 July 2007. A date was set for the following year. 

Autumn was born and brought up a Roman Catholic but renounced her faith shortly before their wedding so her husband-to-be did not have to give up his claim to the throne. 

The couple tied the knot at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, on 17 May 2008 in front of 300 guests, including the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, Princess Anne and Prince Harry.

Autumn looked resplendent in a gown by Sassi Halford and the Festoon Tiara, which was lent to the bride by Princess Anne. She finished her look with a necklace and earrings gifted to her by her husband. Among her six bridesmaids was her new sister-in-law, Zara Phillips. 

The women have gone on to form a close relationship. Both enjoy country pursuits and lived on 600-acre Aston Farm, which adjoins Princess Anne’s country estate of Gatcombe Park, Gloucestershire. It is not known where Peter and Autumn are now living. 

Mr and Mrs Phillips attracted media attention when they sold their wedding photos to Hello! magazine in May 2008 for a reported £500,000. The episode provoked claims the couple had exploited their Royal status. 

Photos of the couple on honeymoon on safari in South Africa were also released to the press, prompting speculation they had received the £1,000-a-night accommodation for free – or at least at a knock-down rate – in return for their co-operation in publicising the stay.

In 2010, the couple returned to London after living in Hong Kong, where Peter had a job with the Royal Bank of Scotland, heading their sports sponsorship activities in the region. 

Autumn gave birth to their first child, a daughter named Savannah, in December 2010. Savannah was the Queen’s first great-granddaughter.  In October 2011 the couple announced they were expecting their second child. Isla was born in March 2012.

The couple raised their daughters in Gloucestershire and were regulars at the traditional 17th-century stone-built pub, the Ragged Cot Inn in Minchinhampton — which was also the favourite drinking hole of Peter’s parents decades ago. 

Autumn’s immaculate blonde hair is done at top salon Michaeljohn in Mayfair, and her wardrobe filled with dresses by the Marylebone-based designer Savannah — prices start at £1,000.

She is a director of the business SCGB — the initials stand for Super Cars Great Britain — which offers guided driving holidays for supercar owners.

Set up with friend Rachael Thomson, their last jaunt in June 2018 took the super-wealthy from Split in Croatia to Venice. The entrance fee is £8,500, with additional expenses on top. Peter’s friend, Johnny Hon, also took part.

Autumn and Ms Thomson are described in the company literature as ‘elite events professionals with more than ten years’ experience with High Net Worth Individual events’.

Sadly, the figures are far from impressive. Micro accounts filed in June 2019 state that the company has net assets of just £1,670 and owes £63,000.

Autumn is also the director of two other businesses. First, APP Consultancy Limited, so-called because of her initials (her middle name is Patricia), which was set up in September 2014 and is run from the farm. 

The couple have chosen to keep their daughters largely out of the spotlight, although they have joined their parents at high-profile royal events like Trooping the Colour. The girls have also been seen at the Christmas Day church service at Sandringham and on family days out to the Gatcombe Horse Trials.  

Friends fear Autumn Phillips could take daughters Savannah and Isla to live in Canada after split in echoes of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle with Archie

Friends fear that Autumn Phillips could take her daughters to live in Canada following her split from husband Peter in echoes of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle with Archie. 

Autumn and Peter Phillips, who wed in 2008 after five years together, announced today that they separated several months ago but remain ‘amicable’ and will continue to co-parent their daughters, Savannah, nine, and Isla, seven.

It remains to be seen where the pair will live in the long-term but there has been speculation Autumn will seek to move back to her native Canada with her daughters, Savannah and Isla, who have dual citizenship.  

Today an unnamed friend told The Sun: ‘What worries some of us is that Autumn may want to go back to Canada. ‘Maybe she has been influenced by Harry and Meghan’s departure.

‘Perhaps she thought if that can happen then I can leave as well? That might be unfair on her but you have to consider it.’

The statement, released by a spokesperson on behalf of the couple this morning, reveals the former couple have both remained in Gloucestershire but does not address future plans. 

It comes a month after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex relocated to Canada with son Archie following their decision to step back as senior royals.  

Queen’s ‘bumpy’ 12 months: Peter Phillips’s love-split comes after Megxit turmoil and Prince Andrew’s forced ‘retirement’ over Jeffrey Epstein scandal 

The divorce of grandson Peter Phillips from his much-loved wife Autumn is yet another blow in what has been a tumultuous 12 months for the Queen. 

The monarch, 93, was seen returning to London today following her winter break at Sandringham. However it is far from a peaceful homecoming for Her Majesty. 

Once again the Queen is facing more unrest within the Firm as the Royal Family adapts to Peter and Autumn’s split. This is thought to be particularly painful for the monarch as she enjoys a close relationship with her grandson’s wife.

It comes just weeks after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced they were stepping down as senior royals and relocating to Canada with son Archie and months after the Queen’s son, the Duke of York, stepped back amid ongoing scandal surrounding his friendship with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.  

Today an unnamed friend of the couple told the Sun: ‘Autumn is a favourite of the Queen and I’m sure Her Majesty will be very upset by this as well. It’s the last thing she needs after all her recent troubles and you get the feeling that the Royal Family is falling apart a little bit.’ 

The Queen is thought to share a particularly good relationship with Autumn. She has previously invited Mrs Phillips to join her in her car to church, which is seen as a show of favour from Her Majesty. 

Mrs Phillips joined the Queen at church in September last year and at the Braemar Highland Games in Scotland earlier that month. 

During the outing, thought to be the last time the Phillips were seen publicly together, Autumn was seen sharing a joke with Prince Charles and appeared particularly at ease with the Queen.

The couple’s divorce will be a huge personal loss to Her Majesty and have led some to think the Royal Family could be facing another difficult year, following what was dubbed the Queen’s ‘annus horribilis’.

The year saw Prince Philip face a police probe over a car crash in Norfolk, Prince Harry acknowledge tensions in his relationship with his elder brother William, and Harry’s wife Meghan admit she was struggling with her new life as a royal.

But the biggest setback faced by the Royal Family was the fallout from the Duke of York’s disastrous Newsnight interview about his relationship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

The scandal surrounding Prince Andrew’s friendship with Epstein intensified in December after a second woman who was allegedly abused by billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein claimed she had sex with the duke.

This came after the prince denied sleeping with 17-year-old Virginia Roberts at the Belgravia home of Ghislaine Maxwell – who is accused of trafficking in young women for Epstein.

When the monarch’s second son quit royal duties, he said he was willing to help any appropriate law enforcement agency however he has since faced criticisms that he has not cooperated fully with US officials. 

This year got off to a stressful start for the Queen when the Duke and Duchess of Sussex made the bombshell announcement that they would be stepping down from their duties as senior royals. 

The Queen assembled a team to help find a solution to satisfy the Sussexes, with Prince Harry remaining in the UK for the negotiations while Meghan Markle flew to Canada to reunite with son Archie. 

The Queen later issued a statement in support of the couple and outlined how their future roles would take shape.  

From the spring Harry and Meghan will stop using their HRH titles and withdraw from royal duties, including official military appointments. However the couple will be allowed to maintain their private patronages and associations.