The Queen’s eldest grandson Peter Phillips is to separate from his Canadian wife, Autumn, after 12 years of marriage.
According to The Sun newspaper, The Queen is “upset” that Princess Anne’s son is splitting up with Autumn, who both have always remained a steadfast presence in The Royal Family over the past decade.
A friend of Mr Phillips told The Sun: “Peter is absolutely devastated by this and just didn’t see it coming.
“He thought he was happily married and had the perfect family with two lovely daughters. But he is now in total shock.
“Autumn is a wonderful wife and mother and a very intelligent woman but she’s been telling her friends for some time that there were issues.
“She is a favourite of the Queen and I’m sure Her Majesty will be very upset by this as well.”
Peter was the first of The Queen’s grandchildren to marry.
After a period of living together, he and Autumn were engaged and later married at St George’s Chapel in Windsor on 17th May 2008.
Autumn Patricia Kelly was born the 3rd May 1978 in Montreal, Canada and has a twin brother, Chris and elder brother, Kevin. She grew up in a Catholic home and went to church schools until she went to McGill University; whilst at university, she also appeared in the film Rainbow and television series Sirens.
She graduated from McGill in 2002 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in East Asian studies and began work as a management consultant. Just a year later in 2003, she happened to be at the Canadian Grand Prix working as an event organiser for BMW, and she was in the Williams BMW Hospitality suite when she met Peter.
