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.

Born in 1977, Peter Phillips holds no royal title or style and is currently eleventh in the line of succession to the British Throne. After graduating from university in 2000, he worked for Jaguar followed by WilliamsF1. While working for WilliamsF1 in Canada in 2003, he met Autumn Kelly, whom he married in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle in 2008. Phillips keeps a low public profile, carrying out no royal duties, and currently works for the Royal Bank of Scotland in Hong Kong.

[edit] 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 his being born in the Peerage. Phillips was therefore the first legitimate grandchild of a monarch to be born a commoner, having not even a courtesy style, for more than 500 years.^[1] Before him the last born commoners were the children of Cecily of York, the daughter of Edward IV. 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'd. 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] Phillips has two half-sisters, Felicity Tonkin (born 1985), the daughter of Mark Phillips and his former mistress Heather Tonkin, and Stephanie Phillips (born 1997), the daughter of his father's second marriage to Sandy Pflueger.

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 his aunt Diana, Princess of Wales, Peter Phillips was known to be very supportive of his cousin Prince William.^[8]

[edit] 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 WilliamsF1, 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 Iorio, 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.^[11]

[edit] Marriage

In 2003, Phillips met Autumn Kelly, a Canadian management consultant, at the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal.^[5] Their engagement was announced on 28 July 2007.^[7] The Queen gave her consent to the marriage in a meeting of her Privy Council on 9 April 2008.^[12] Phillips is the first (and thus far only) of the Queen's grandchildren to marry.

Before her marriage, Autumn Kelly converted from Catholicism to Anglicanism. If she had been Roman Catholic at the time of the marriage, her husband would have lost his place in the line of the succession to the Throne, due to the Act of Settlement 1701.^[13][14] Shortly before their wedding, the couple caused some reported unease in royal circles when they were interviewed and photographed by Hello! magazine, and were reported to have been paid £500,000.^[15][16] They married on 17 May 2008 at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle.^[16] The service was conducted by David Conner, the Dean of Windsor.^[17]

Since August 2008, the Phillips have lived in Hong Kong after Peter moved jobs within the Royal Bank of Scotland to head their sponsorships activities in the region.^[18]

[edit] Arms

Arms of Peter Phillips Notes These arms were granted to Peter William Garside Phillips, the father of Mark Phillips and grandfather of Peter Mark Andrew Phillips, in October 1973. Mark used these arms differenced with a three point label until he inherited them from his father in 1998.:[19] His son used a five point label until that time.[20] Escutcheon Per chevron azure and Or, in chief a horse courant argent, and in base a sprig of forget-me-not flowerd, slipped and leaved proper.:[21]

[edit] Ancestry

[edit] References