Queen Elizabeth's Grandson Peter Phillips Splits from Wife Autumn After 12 Years of Marriage: Report
After a difficult start to 2020, Queen Elizabeth is now dealing with yet another blow.
The Queen’s grandson Peter Phillips is separating from his wife Autumn Phillips after 12 years of marriage, The Sun reports.
Buckingham Palace had no comment when reached by PEOPLE.
Princess Anne’s son, 42, and Autumn, 41, share two children — Savannah, 9, and Isla, 7.
Peter, a sports marketing consultant, met Autumn, a management consultant, in 2003 in her hometown of Montreal in Canada at the Formula One Grand Prix. They wed at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle in 2008.
The Queen, 93, is said to be close to her granddaughter-in-law. They were seen attending church together last September.
Autumn, who was raised in the Roman Catholic Church, was received into the Church of England before the couple’s wedding day. If she had been Roman Catholic at the time of the marriage, Peter would have lost his place in the line of succession. At the time of his birth, Peter was fifth in line to the throne. He is now 15th in the line of succession.
The couple’s two children are close to their cousins, Prince George and Princess Charlotte. They are often seen goofing off together at royal events. Savannah memorably covered George’s mouth while on the balcony of Buckingham Palace during Trooping the Colour in 2018.
Peter and his younger sister Zara Tindall, who is married to former rugby star Mike Tindall, were brought up without royal titles. The Queen extended a courtesy title to Anne’s children, which she declined. Peter and Zara are also not considered working royals and hold jobs outside of the royal family.
Their father, Captain Mark Phillips, was a commoner and also turned down a title that would have been given to him as a wedding gift from the Queen when he wed Princess Anne.
“I’m very lucky that both my parents decided to not use the title and we grew up and did all the things that gave us the opportunity to do,” Zara told The Times in 2015.
The news of their split comes one month after the royal family was rocked by the announcement that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are stepping down from their roles as senior working royals.
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The Queen has also been dealing with the fallout from her son Prince Andrew’s ties to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. He stepped down from his royal duties in November.
