Sources close to the royal family say Harriet Sperling and her daughter Georgina are fitting right in with the royal family
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NEED TO KNOW
- New reports say Harriet Sperling and her daughter, Georgina, are fitting in with the royal family
- The Daily Mail reported that Princess Anne has welcomed the new additions to her family with “open arms”
- “She just wants to see her children happy,” a source close to the royal family said
The royal family welcomed new members earlier this summer.
Peter Phillips — the son of Princess Anne and her first husband, Mark Phillips, and eldest grandchild of the late Queen Elizabeth — married Harriet Sperling on June 6 in an intimate ceremony in the Cotswolds.
It is the second marriage for both the bride and groom. Peter, 48, was married to Autumn Kelly from 2008 to 2021, and the pair shares two daughters: Savannah, 15, and Isla, 14. Harriet, 45, was previously married to fitness instructor Antonio St. John Sperling, with whom she shares a 13-year-old daughter, Georgina.
The three young women were seen together while attending the Easter church service with the royal family in April, and new reporting from the Daily Mail says Georgina and her mom are fitting in well at Gatcombe Park, Princess Anne’s 700-acre Gloucestershire estate, where both Peter and his sister, Zara Tindall, live nearby with their own families.
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The outlet says the Princess Royal has welcomed her new daughter-in-law and step-granddaughter with “open arms,” describing Princess Anne as an “amazing mother and grandmother” with a natural talent for making people feel at ease, much like her late mother, Queen Elizabeth.
Princess Anne is often described as the “hardest-working royal,” despite the fact that her older brother, King Charles, beat her out for the most royal engagements of 2025. Even with a tightly packed schedule, royal experts say the Princess Royal likes having her family close by during her moments of downtime.
“She’s a pragmatist, a divorcee herself — and I think, like every parent, she just wants to see her children happy,” Ailsa Anderson, former communications secretary to Queen Elizabeth, recently told Hello! “She adores them, and it’s touching to see her with her grandchildren at horse trials, showing them things and looking relaxed in her jeans.”
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Despite her own commitment to the crown, Princess Anne chose not to give her children the same responsibility. When Peter and Zara were born, Anne opted not to give them royal titles, hoping to raise them without the expectation of royal obligation as much as possible.
“I think it was probably easier for them, and I think most people would argue that there are downsides to having titles,” Anne told Vanity Fair in 2020. “So I think that was probably the right thing to do.”
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