Peter Mark Andrew Phillips

"Peter Phillips" redirects here. For other people called Peter Phillips, see Peter Phillips (disambiguation).

Peter Mark Andrew Phillips (born 15 November 1977) is the only son of The Princess Anne, The Princess Royal and her first husband, Captain Mark Phillips. He is the eldest grandson and first grandchild of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Peter Phillips holds no royal title or style and he is currently eleventh in the line of succession to the British Throne. Phillips keeps a low public profile, carrying out no royal duties, and currently works for the Royal Bank of Scotland in Edinburgh.^[1]

Early life

Peter Phillips was born at 10:46am on 15 November 1977 at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington in West London.^[1] He was the first child of Mark Phillips and The Princess Anne, who had married in 1973.^[1] His parents were said to have refused offers from The Queen that would have led to him being born in the Peerage. As such, Phillips was the first royal baby to be born a commoner, having not even a courtesy style, for more than 500 years.^[1] At birth he was fifth in line to the Throne, and remained so until Prince William's birth in 1982. At the time of his birth, there was a 41-gun salute from the Tower of London.^[1] He was baptised Peter Mark Andrew Phillips on 22 December 1977 by the then Archbishop of Canterbury Donald Coggan in the Music Room of Buckingham Palace.^[2] His godparents were his uncle, The Prince of Wales, the Rt. Rev. Geoffrey Tiarks, Captain Hamish Lochare, Lady Cecil Cameron of Lochiel and Mrs Timothy Holderness-Roddam.^[3] Princess Anne and Captain Phillips, who had a daughter Zara in 1981, tried to ensure that their children were kept out of the limelight.^[4] Peter Phillips went to Port Regis Prep School in Shaftesbury, Dorset before following other members of the Royal Family by attending Gordonstoun School in Moray, Scotland, where he was Head Boy.^[5][6] Then he went to the University of Exeter and graduated with a degree in sports science.^[7] A keen sportsman, Phillips played rugby for the Scottish Schools team.^[7] Following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, Peter Phillips was known to be very supportive of his cousin Prince William.^[8]

Post-university life

After his graduation in 2000, Phillips worked for Jaguar as corporate hospitality manager and then for WilliamsF1 racing team, where he was sponsorship accounts manager.^[9][7][5] In 2004 while working for WilliamF1, Phillips was in a van in China with three other employees when the van was hit by a car. Phillips was uninjured.^[10] He left WilliamsF1 in September 2005 and since then has worked for the Royal Bank of Scotland in Edinburgh.^[7] Unlike his sister, Peter Phillips' personal life is rarely publicised.^[5] He dated Elizabeth Lorio, an American cod liver oil heiress, for two years and in 2001 they lived together for eight months.^[8] Later, he had a four-month relationship with Tara Swain, an air stewardess.^[7]

Engagement

In 2003, he met Autumn Kelly, a Canadian management consultant, at the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal^[5], and they live together in a cottage on the Gatcombe Park estate in Gloucestershire.^[7] Their engagement was announced on 28 July 2007, although no date for the wedding has yet been announced.^[7] On 3 August 2007, the British press reported that Autumn Kelly was a Roman Catholic after The Tablet found evidence of her baptism.^[11] Unless Kelly renounces her Catholicism, Peter Phillips will lose his place in the line of the succession to the Throne upon marriage due to the Act of Settlement 1701.^[11]

Ancestry

References