Peter Phillips and Harriet Sperling have announced that they will marry on Saturday 6th June 2026, and the guest list is already clear: Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, Sarah Ferguson and Prince Harry were not invited. The couple will hold a private ceremony at All Saints Church, Kemble, Cirencester, in the Cotswolds.
The announcement came in a statement from the couple’s spokesman, who said: “Mr Peter Phillips, the son of HRH The Princess Royal and Captain Mark Phillips and Ms Harriet Sperling, daughter of the late Mr Rupert Sanders and Mrs Mary Sanders of Gloucestershire, have today announced their wedding date.” He added: “The summer wedding will take place at All Saints Church, Kemble, Cirencester on Saturday 6th June 2026 in a private ceremony.”
A friend of the couple said the wedding is meant to stay small and personal. “Peter and Harriet's wedding is an intimate occasion with their close friends and immediate family around them in the Cotswolds,” the friend said, adding, “It’s an area where they grew up and is very special to them both.”
The friend also explained why Prince Harry will not be there. “Peter and Harry haven’t spoken for several years and have simply lost touch, so he hasn’t been invited,” the friend said. On Andrew and Sarah, the reason is more direct: their absence follows the fallout over revelations about their friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, a scandal that has already cost Andrew his royal titles and the couple their place at Royal Lodge, according to the background provided.
The family were told together by invitation, and the King and Queen and the Prince and Princess of Wales were informed of the announcement. That keeps the wedding inside the royal circle, but on Peter and Harriet’s terms. Peter, who is the son of the Princess Royal and Captain Mark Phillips, is close to the Prince and Princess of Wales, and the Edinburgh family is also expected to attend. Harriet, the daughter of the late Rupert Sanders and Mary Sanders of Gloucestershire, is joining a family gathering that is being kept deliberately tight.
The timing matters because the couple already had to secure special permission to marry in a church. That permission was confirmed last month, and today’s announcement turns the plan into something concrete: a date, a church and a ceremony that will not be opened up to a wider royal guest list. It also reflects how carefully the couple and their families are drawing the line between public interest and private celebration.
For Princess Beatrice, the significance is less about who was invited than who was not. The wedding of Phillips, 14th in line at one time to the throne and father of 2 daughters, Savannah, 13, and Isla, 14, now looks set to unfold as a family event in a place that matters to both bride and groom. The rest of the royal story around it is the absence: Harry, Andrew and Sarah are out, and the couple have made clear that this is their day, not the family’s public stage.
