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Princess Anne and Family

Peter Phillips Told He Can’t Hold Horse Event Around Kensington Palace

Peter Phillips wanted to bring the Global Championship tour to Kensington Gardens for one stage of the event.

The Borough council refused planning permission for the showjumping event, which would have taken over part of the park for a month, because it would “fail to preserve or enhance the setting of Kensington Palace or the character or appearance of the Kensington Palace Conservation Area” where the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry have their London homes.

The local council received over 300 letters which objected to the idea and only 4 that supported it.

Mr Phillips, a 35-year-old ex-manager at the Royal Bank of Scotland, gave up his job last year so that he could set up a UK branch of an existing business.

Peter is married to management consultant, Autumn (nee Kelly) and has two children (Isla and Savannah), which are currently The Queen’s only great grandchildren. Peter Phillips is the eldest child and son of HRH Princess Anne and her now divorced husband, Mark Phillips.

A spokesman for the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea explained part of the reason permission was refused was because the park had taken longer than expected to recover from a temporary theatre being put up last year to stage The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, which was attended by the Duchess of Cambridge.

A spokesman said: “Kensington Gardens is an important and hugely popular park. The proposed event would take a large portion of it out of public use for much of the summer 2013.

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