Why the late Queen’s absence will be felt

When Peter Phillips and Harriet Sperling exchange vows on June 6 in the Cotswolds, the absence of one particular family member will no doubt be felt. The groom’s maternal grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, died nearly three years before he and Harriet got engaged. 

While the upcoming wedding will be a joyous occasion for the royal family, it will also mark the first time one of the late monarch’s grandchildren has married without her there to witness the special occasion.

The late Queen was present when Peter married his first wife, Autumn Phillips, at St. George’s Chapel in May 2008. The monarch looked every inch the proud grandmother as her eldest grandchild tied the knot that spring day. 

Peter was the first of the Queen’s grandchildren to marry. In the years that followed, the monarch attended the weddings of her younger grandchildren Prince William, Zara Tindall, Prince Harry, Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice. Beatrice’s intimate nuptials during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 was the last of the Queen’s grandchildren’s weddings she would witness before her death. Peter and Harriet’s wedding will likely not be the last, as Queen Elizabeth has two younger, unmarried grandchildren: Lady Louise Windsor, 22, and James, Earl of Wessex, 18.

Peter, the son of Princess Anne and her first husband Captain Mark Phillips, has long been described as Queen Elizabeth’s “favourite grandson.” His birth on November 15, 1977 made the monarch a grandmother for the first time. The Queen is said to have even broken the news of her grandchild’s arrival after she arrived late to an investiture at Buckingham Palace.

“I apologize for being late,” she is quoted as saying, smiling. “But I have just had a message from the hospital. My daughter has just given birth to a son.”

Days later, the new grandmother sent a telegram to parliament, thanking the speaker and members of the House of Commons “most sincerely” for their “kind congratulations on the birth” of her grandson.

Peter later made the Queen a great-grandmother in 2010 with the birth of his and his ex-wife Autumn’s eldest daughter, Savannah Phillips. His second daughter and the Queen’s second great-grandchild, Isla Phillips, arrived in 2012.

“They’re exceptionally lucky to have had two great-grandparents who have lived as long as they have,” Peter said of his girls during a 2021 interview with the BBC. “My children certainly appreciate that and know that it’s something special.”

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The father of two and his late grandmother shared a “close” bond. “I’ve always been very close to my grandmother, and we speak often,” Peter told The Telegraph in 2016. “She has been an inspirational person throughout my life.”

He appeared alongside his grandmother at an event to celebrate her 90th birthday in 2016. At the Patron’s Lunch, which Peter organised, the Queen sat between her grandsons Prince William and Peter, who was also seated beside his grandfather, Prince Philip.

Peter has previously said that having the Queen as his “grandmother and a role model was unique,” and called her “remarkable in so many ways.” During an interview with Sky News Australia in 2024, the Queen’s eldest grandson recalled having a “quiet moment” to say goodbye to her in Scotland, where she passed away on September 8, 2022.

“I was lucky to be in Scotland before she passed and actually having those few days with her, just in Scotland, just as a family, before she left Balmoral, that was really nice,” he shared.

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After her death, Peter, along with his sister Zara and their younger royal cousins, held a vigil beside their grandmother’s coffin at Westminster Hall. Princess Anne’s son also walked in the procession behind the Queen’s coffin after her funeral service at Westminster Abbey.

For Peter, having the Queen as his granny was admittedly a “little strange,” but it’s all he ever knew. During an appearance on ITV’s Good Morning Britain in 2016, he confessed: “I guess it’s a little strange but if you’re growing up with that sort of thing, there’s never really that moment when you go, ‘Oh wow.'”

Looking back on his childhood, Peter reflected on the “fun” he had growing up with his grandmother. “We had great fun growing up on our holidays, going to stay with her at Sandringham, Balmoral and Windsor and we were incredibly lucky to be able to share a lot of our childhood time with her,” he said. “She’s such an inspiration, not only to the country but to us as a family.”

Peter continued: “You know, her work ethic and her dedication is something that, I think, the whole family has always [aspired] to, at least get somewhere near.”