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Peter Phillips' new love is a hard-working NHS intensive care nurse... but, as our society moles reveal, her family's almost as posh as his!
Among the top hats and finery of Royal Ascot this week, the absence of a certain elegantly attired princess was keenly felt.
But where one willowy, sophisticated guest was missing, another stepped forward with panache.
For while the Princess of Wales might have been notable by her absence,
Harriet Sperling joined boyfriend Peter Phillips for no fewer than two appearances at the Berkshire racecourse.
The first, and by far the most significant, was on Tuesday when she made her debut with senior Royals – including King Charles and Queen Camilla – in the traditional carriage procession to mark the start of Ascot.
Blonde hair tumbling in bouncy waves, the 45-year-old looked as if she'd been parading around in carriages for a lifetime as she smiled serenely under the blazing sun.
In fact, she is a paediatric intensive care nurse and probably more accustomed to scrubs than negotiating carriages – or paddocks – in towering heels.
There was also a decidedly royal flavour – and budget – to her ensemble. The heels were by Emmy London, a brand worn by the Princess of Wales, and the £395 clutch was from the same brand; the hat was a £945 number by Awon Golding Millinery, a brand once sported by Meghan Markle.
As for the balloon-sleeved jacket and midi skirt, these were by designer Suzannah London, a label favoured by Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh and – again – by Catherine, Princess of Wales.
At £3,720, her outfit was certainly something of a stretch on the average nurse's salary. But then, an invitation to join the royal procession, is a prestigious ticket.
The late Queen Elizabeth didn't include girlfriends in the procession unless they were engaged, so Harriet's presence has been viewed as something of an endorsement by the King.
No wonder, then, that all eyes were on Harriet when she returned to Ascot on Thursday. Gracefully attired in buttercup yellow, she dropped a well-rehearsed curtsey to the monarch and appeared at ease with both protocol and her 47-year-old beau's relatives.
Peter (Princess Anne's son and the late Queen's first and favourite grandson) and Harriet revealed their relationship last May when they were seen strolling hand-in-hand at Badminton Horse Trials in Gloucestershire.
And judging by the rapport between single mother Harriet and, well, just about all his family it would seem the pair are closer than ever.
Kisses and hat adjustments with Peter's sister Zara, smiling chatter with his mother, the Princess Royal, a kiss on the cheek from Prince Edward, animated laughter with Sophie and a very public smooch between the lovebirds. There might not be a ring on Harriet's finger but, as outings go, this was a statement.
And, as the Mail can exclusively reveal, it's a love match that has got the seal of approval from her family, too. For her background is more privileged than her NHS job might suggest.
Harriet Sperling and Peter Phillips smile as they attend day one of Royal Ascot at Ascot Racecourse on June 17
Harriet's mother, Mary Sanders, a youthful-looking 75, opened the door of the family's six-bedroom Edwardian home in the chocolate box Gloucestershire village of South Cerney on Wednesday and beamed with maternal pride when asked about her daughter, the third of four children (she has one son and three daughters).
Father-of-two Peter Phillips, it would seem, is just as at ease with his girlfriend's mother as she is with his, having spent Wednesday – the day in between those two Ascot outings – enjoying the outdoor pool in the landscaped back garden of the sprawling £1.5 million property.
'They've been here today, actually, for a swim,' said Mary, with a polite smile. 'But she'll be back at Ascot tomorrow. She's been to a lot of events so, of course, I know him very well.'
Discreet but proud, she added: 'I don't think there's much I can say apart from we have four children and she's my middle daughter. She's lovely. I'm very proud of her and she is very special.
'As to whether there might be any announcements brewing between the nurse and the 18th in line to the throne, she said: 'Well, it's not something I know anything about.'
But Mary, who serves on the ministry team of her local church (a Christian devotion that she shares with her daughter), is no stranger to society circles.
She appeared in a 1971 edition of Country Life magazine, gracing its 'Girls in Pearls' page – a slot in which society beauties would feature, along with a description of their engagement or marriage to a well-connected young man.
Mary, double pearl choker round her neck, looks uncannily like her daughter in the black and white image, above a caption announcing her impending marriage to Rupert Sanders, 'only son of Mr and Mrs Geoffrey Sanders, of Buckhorn House, Bisley, Gloucestershire'. Rupert, who died in 2023, was a well-known solicitor who ran his own firm in the Cotswold town of Cirencester.
His father Geoffrey, Harriet's late grandfather, served during the Second World War with the Royal Artillery and was a D-Day veteran – reaching the rank of major, going on to become High Sheriff of Gloucestershire and a long-standing church warden, as well as editor of the Stroud News and Journal for 20 years.
Well-heeled connections clearly run in the family. Harriet's paternal grandmother Eleanor was the daughter of Dorothy Courage, of the Courage brewing dynasty.
Dorothy's brother Raymond was Lord of the Manor of Edgcote, in Northamptonshire – an 18th century estate, once owned by Anne of Cleves (wife of Henry VIII).
Mary and Rupert raised their children in Gloucestershire, and Harriet attended Cheltenham's Dean Close School, a Christian boarding and day school, where she was a member of the tennis team.
Harriet trained as a nurse in London where, by her own admission, she was something of a 'party girl', going to nightclubs and spending her summers in Ibiza.
'My faith was always in me, but it was kind of dormant,' she revealed in an interview in 2009. 'Somehow it didn't seem relevant to my life in London . . . But the end of a seven-
year relationship was the turning point for me. I went to church as I felt there was something missing.'
Little is known of the nurse's path to becoming a single mother, but writing last year (under her maiden name Sanders) for the Christian magazine Woman Alive about the struggles and joys of life, she gave these insights.
'My daughter and I journeyed ten years with only each other. I liken us to an island and it has often felt hard to imagine anyone joining that island. But of course beauty comes from relationships, relationships with our maker and relationships with each other.
'It is often tough parenting alone, but although there is a stigma to endure, God is able to step in and turn it for good.'
The Mail has now discovered she was married to a private school- educated fitness instructor named Antonio St John Sperling, whose father was a barber and whose mother, Sonia, a glamorous member of a well-heeled Cambridgeshire farming family.
Harriet and Antonio had their daughter, Georgina, in 2012, making her the same age as Peter's younger daughter Isla, 13, and a year younger than his eldest Savannah, 14 – the children from his 12-year marriage to Canadian-born former wife Autumn Kelly.
Whether they are step-siblings in the making remains to be seen, but all three have been seen together at events over the past year.
As for Antonio, in the aftermath of the marriage breakdown, Dino – for short – set up a CrossFit business in Cambridge, but is now thought to be living in Cornwall.
His mother, Sonia, who raised him and his younger sister Eleanora as a single mother after her marriage to an Italian hair salon owner failed, died from cancer in 2016, aged 65.
In the village of Graveley in Cambridgeshire, where Sonia grew up and raised her own family, artist Mercedes Johnson, 61, told the Mail: 'Sonia was a glamorous, stylish woman who always had beautiful red nails. She brought up the children on her own and never re-married, as far as I know.'
Asked how she would compare Sonia in the mother-in-law stakes to Princess Anne, Mercedes replied: 'Not so very different. They are both feisty women, strong characters.'
A short distance down the road, Sonia's brother – Dino's uncle Henry Sperling – who lives on a large farm, spoke warmly of Harriet. 'When they were together they lived in Cambridge and she worked in the NHS, commuting into London. Harriet is a thoroughly good person, as is my nephew, but these things don't always work out.'
As for Harriet's current status, he said: 'I am very fond of the Royal Family, and if my sister's granddaughter is happy and Harriet is happy, then it's great. She looks as though she will fit in very well [with the Royal Family].
'Harriet is a very elegant lady. I'm delighted that she has a thoroughly decent person in her life and I hope they are both happy.'
Certainly, the couple appear a picture of happiness. They reportedly met at a sports event involving their respective daughters, only a short time before they went public with their love match.
Since then, Harriet has been at Peter's side at Wimbledon, at a charity polo match with their children, at Burghley Horse Trials (to watch his sister Zara compete) and in Bahrain for the Grand Prix (with his cousins Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie).
Harriet is believed to live near to her mother in Gloucestershire, while Peter has a home on his mother's Gatcombe Park estate, just 15 miles away.
Princess Anne rejected royal titles for her two children, meaning neither Peter nor Zara are 'working royals' and as such receive no state support and have to make their own way.
Peter left Gordonstoun and studied sports science at Exeter University, going on to work in the high octane and glamorous world of Formula One.
Like Zara, who married a commoner, ex-England rugby star Mike Tindall, Peter too sought love outside the ranks of the aristocracy when he married Autumn Kelly, a wholesome, bubbly blonde from Montreal.
That marriage reached an apparently amicable end (she was recently photographed with her former mother-in-law) when they announced their split in 2020 and were divorced the following year.
Peter, who has his own sports and entertainment company and recently entered the world of commercial property, then had a three-year relationship with Scottish divorcee Lindsay Wallace.
There were whispers of marriage', but then, as swiftly as that relationship ended, Harriet appeared.
And judging by their appearance in the carriages at Ascot this week, everything is going swimmingly.
