It has been reported that Peter Phillips, the son of Princess Anne and the eldest grandson of Queen Elizabeth II, is separating from his wife Autumn Phillips.
According to The Sun, Peter is said to be “devastated” after his wife, Autumn, expressed her desire to separate.
The couple shares two daughters, Savannah, aged 9, and Isla, aged 7.
According to one of Peter’s friends, the split came as a “bolt out of the blue” for Peter, as he had always “thought he was happily married”.
The friend told The Sun: “Autumn is a wonderful wife and mother and a very intelligent woman but she’s been telling her friends for some time that there were issues. She is a favourite of the Queen and I’m sure Her Majesty will be very upset by this as well.
“It’s the last thing she needs after all her recent troubles and you get the feeling that the royal family is falling apart a little bit.”
Peter Phillips, Princess Anne’s son, first met Autumn in 2003 at the Formula One Grand Prix in her home city of Montreal, where they were both working. Autumn was working as a Budweiser girl at the time and had no idea about his royal connection until she saw him on TV six weeks later.
Peter proposed in 2007, and the couple got married at St George’s Chapel in Windsor in 2008. Autumn renounced her Catholic faith shortly before their wedding so that Peter would not have to give up his claim to the throne.
