Peter Phillips and Harriet Sperling will marry in a private church ceremony in the Cotswolds on Saturday 6th June 2026, but Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, Sarah Ferguson and Prince Harry will not be there. A friend of the couple said the wedding will be a close gathering of friends and immediate family, and that inviting the former Duke of York and the former Duchess of York would have been seen as a distraction.
The couple announced their wedding date in a statement issued by their spokesman, saying the service will take place at All Saints Church, Kemble, near Cirencester. Their families were told jointly by invitation, and The King and Queen and the Prince and Princess of Wales have also been informed. Peter Phillips, 47, is the son of Princess Anne and has two daughters, Savannah and Isla, from his former marriage.
The guest-list decision has put a fresh spotlight on the family around Phillips, the eldest grandchild of the late Queen, at a moment when the couple are preparing for a ceremony that is being kept deliberately small. The friend said the wedding is an intimate occasion in a part of the Cotswolds that is especially meaningful to both of them. Last month, it was confirmed that the pair had received the vicar’s permission to marry in a church after having to seek special approval for the service.
The exclusion of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Ferguson comes against the backdrop of intense scrutiny over their friendship with Jeffrey Epstein. The two were evicted from Royal Lodge after the release of the so-called Epstein Files in the United States and were stripped of their royal titles. In that setting, their presence at a low-key family wedding would have been hard to separate from the controversy that still follows them.
Harry’s absence is different. The friend said Phillips and the Duke of Sussex have not spoken for several years and have simply lost touch, so he was not invited. Phillips had attended Harry’s wedding to Meghan Markle, while Harry was a guest at Zara Tindall’s wedding to Mike Tindall, a reminder of how quickly once-close royal relationships have thinned out. Peter Phillips’s spokesman declined to comment.
For Phillips and Sperling, the date is now set and the guest list is narrowed to match the day they appear to want: private, local and firmly under control. The wedding will not be a full royal gathering, and that is the point.
