King Charles and Queen Camilla set blended family example long before Peter Phillips and Harriet Sperling

When Peter Phillips and Harriet Sperling exchanged vows on Saturday, they didn’t just become husband and wife, the newlyweds also became stepparents. The bride and groom both have children from previous marriages. The Queen’s eldest grandchild shares two daughters, Savannah Phillips and Isla Phillips, with his former wife, Autumn Phillips, while Harriet has one daughter, Georgina, from her previous marriage to fitness trainer Antonio St John Sperling. 

A month after Harriet and Peter went public with their relationship in 2024, a source told HELLO! that they and their children had become “a tight unit, very quickly” and seemed to “be a bit of a family.” Two years later, they officially became a blended family of five.

Blended families are nothing new within the royal family, with King Charles and Queen Camilla, as well as Princess Beatrice, having welcomed stepchildren into their lives.

King Charles and Queen Camilla

Charles became a stepfather to Tom Parker Bowles and Laura Lopes upon his marriage to Camilla, and she became a stepmother to his and Princess Diana’s boys, Prince William and Prince Harry. The Queen welcomed her son and daughter during her first marriage to Andrew Parker Bowles. Tom, Laura, William and Harry were all present for their parents’ wedding in April 2005.

In the past, Harry has praised his stepmother, calling her a “wonderful woman.” “She’s always been very close to me and William, but no, she’s not the wicked stepmother – I’ll say that right now,” he said in September of 2005. “She’s a wonderful woman and she’s made our father very, very happy, which is the most important thing. William and I love her to bits.”

© Anwar Hussein Collection/ROTA/WireImage

Similarly, Tom spoken warmly of his stepfather. In 2012, Camilla’s son said: “I’ve always adored my stepfather and he’s always been a kind and good and lovely man.” Although he’s the royal’s stepson, Tom once revealed that he addresses Charles as “Sir”.  

“But it’s not any sort of obligation, it’s just a nickname really, like Bob or Jim,” he explained to The Telegraph in 2012. “When we were little, my mother would tell my sister and I that Sir was coming to visit, so the name stuck and to call him anything else would be very odd and unnatural.”

Princess Beatrice

The King’s niece, Princess Beatrice, also stepped into a stepparent role in 2020. The royal’s husband, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, has a son named Christopher “Wolfie” Woolf from his previous relationship with Dara Huang. Wolfie was on hand for his father and stepmother’s intimate wedding at The Royal Chapel of All Saints at Royal Lodge, serving as both the best man and pageboy. 

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Beatrice lovingly referred to her stepchild as her “bonus son” in a past interview for HELLO!. During the pandemic in 2021, Beatrice shared: “Homeschooling, that was definitely not my forte! Not going to lie. Sadly, I can’t blame that on dyslexia. But I’ve felt very lucky to have had the chance to work with my bonus son [Wolfie] over the course of the school closures. It was a huge learning curve for all of us.”

For Beatrice, becoming a stepmother was a “great honour.” In a piece for the Evening Standard, published in 2021, the Princess penned: “This year, I had the great honour to become a stepmother, and have had the most remarkable time going back over some of my most favourite stories at bedtime. Together, we had such a special time reading through all the entries for Oscars Book Prize 2020.”

Edo’s ex has said she feels “lucky to have such positive people” around her son who “really embrace” him “because it didn’t have to be so easy.” Dara told Harper’s Bazaar in 2024: “Wolfie has had two sets of parents trying to help him on both sides, and I just think, ‘The more, the merrier.'”

While Peter’s mother, Princess Anne, didn’t gain any stepchildren when she remarried in 1992, her second husband, Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, became a stepfather to her two children, Peter and Zara. Queen Elizabeth’s daughter was the first of the late monarch’s children to divorce. She and Captain Mark Phillips, who wed in 1973, finalized their divorce in 1992. In the ITV documentary The Princess Royal at 70, Peter spoke about his stepfather and mom, saying: “They both have an understanding of what being a part of the wider family means and what is required.”

Peter added: “He’s been a very strong support for her.”

Before Harriet, Peter was previously married to Autumn Kelly, whom he met in 2003. The couple wed in 2008 and split in 2019, though they did not announce their separation until 2020. In a statement confirming their split, it was noted that the former couple’s “first priority” would “remain the continued well being and upbringing of their wonderful daughters” Savannah and Isla, who were nine and seven, respectively, at the time. 

It was evident at the wedding on June 6 that Harriet has a bond with her new stepdaughters. Savannah, Isla and Georgina all served as bridesmaids on their parents’ big day. Harriet once wrote: “My daughter and I journeyed 10 years with only each other. I liken us to an island and it has often felt hard to imagine anyone joining that island.” 

Well, that island now has three new residents.