The Royal Family Faces Its First Divorce in a Decade

In mid-January, one of the royal grandchildren was in the news for a strange reason. Peter Phillips, the son of Princess Anne and her first husband, Mark Phillips, appeared in a milk commercial that aired in China. He was identified as a member of the British royal family, and spoke of his love for the milk from the Windsor’s jersey cows at Longleat House. The appearance drew criticism and a bit of skepticism that he had even tasted too much of the milk. Just a few weeks later, Peter is back on the front page with what, in decades past, has been a more familiar story for the royal family: he and his wife Autumn Phillips are separating after 11 years of marriage.

The couple announced the move through their spokesperson Gerald Franklin. “They had reached the conclusion that this was the best course of action for their two children and ongoing friendship,” a statement read. “The decision to divorce and share custody came about after many months of discussions and although sad, is an amicable one.” Though Autumn is Canadian, the Daily Mail reports that she intends to stay in England to raise the couple’s daughters Savannah and Isla. Peter and Autumn will be the first grandchildren of Queen Elizabeth to get a divorce.

According to the Sun, the separation came as a surprise to Peter. “Peter is absolutely devastated by this and just didn’t see it coming,” a source told the newspaper. “He thought he was happily married and had the perfect family with two lovely daughters. But he is now in total shock.” The couple hadn’t made a public appearance together since September and skipped Christmas at Sandringham in December, though Peter did visit later in January.

When Anne gave birth to Peter, she declined a courtesy title from the queen, and he became the first legitimate grandchild of a monarch to be born without one in 500 years. But Peter and his sister Zara Tindall still got much of the same royal treatment as their cousins who do have titles. When he married Autumn in 2008, the couple had a blowout wedding at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor, where Prince Harry and Princess Eugenie were also wed. They reportedly sold photographs of their wedding to Hello! for £500,000.

The couple met in Canada in 2003, while Peter, then an executive at Jaguar, was on a business trip at the Montreal Grand Prix and Autumn was working at the Budweiser hospitality tent. According to the Daily Mail, Peter kept his royal connections under wraps for months as the two embarked on a long-distance relationship.

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