British Royal Wedding

In two months they will be man and wife, but already Peter Phillips’s fiancee Autumn Kelly has a taste of what life is going to be like inside the Royal Family.

In the absence of so many of the younger royals, the Canadian-born Autumn brought some much-needed glamour to the line-up of Easter bonnets on parade at St George’s Chapel in chilly Windsor yesterday.

Miss Kelly, 29, who marries the Queen’s grandson at the same chapel in May, has already become a popular figure among her future in-laws.

No doubt in part because she has not courted the attention of the paparazzi who are devoted to recording the love lives of Peter’s cousins William and Harry. However, the couple’s wedding will be anything but low key. Autumn has engaged Chelsea-based designer Sassi Holford to make her dress and the chapel will be filled with more than 350 guests. (via Daily Mail)

Spring seemed very much on Queen Elizabeth’s mind as she chose her outfit for the traditional Easter service at Windsor Castle this Sunday.

As sleet peppered the area, the Queen arrived at the chapel wearing an extremely spring-like light-pink two-piece with matching hat. Accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, the 81-year-old monarch led a host of royals to the service.

By his mother’s side was new dad Prince Edward and his wife, the Countess of Wessex. Wrapped up well against the weather, the Queen’s only daughter, the Princess Royal, was joined by her husband, Timothy Lawrence. Celebrating their last Easter as singletons were Princess Anne’s son, Peter Phillips, and his fiancée, Autumn Kelly. The couple are due to tie the knot on 17 May.
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When the Princess Royal’s son, Peter Phillips, marries his Canadian fiancee, Autumn Kelly, at St George’s chapel in Windsor in May, he will give up any hope of being crowned king of England, Mandrake (The Telegraph) can disclose.

“Peter will renounce his place in the line of succession,” says Canon Ivor Smith-Cameron, a former chaplain to the Queen. “Given that he has slipped down the line after the birth of Prince Edward’s son, I’m sure that he is happy to agree to this.”

Her Majesty’s eldest grandson, who is 11th in line to the throne, has been forced to make the decision because Autumn was baptised a Catholic. It is a provision of the 1701 Act of Settlement, which enshrined the Protestant ascendancy, that monarchs and their heirs are forbidden to become or even marry Catholics.

“My understanding is that although they are marrying in an Anglican church, Miss Kelly will have a Catholic priest present at the wedding,” says Canon Smith-Cameron. “This will ensure that the marriage is recognised by the Catholic Church. I don’t know of any precedents for this in the Royal Family, but there are plenty of precedents for this happening elsewhere, such as in the Guards’ chapel.”

After the couple’s engagement was announced last summer, Autumn’s mother, Kitty, a divorcee, authorised the Church to disclose that her 31-year-old daughter had been baptised a Catholic and was proud of her religion.

Peter, 30, whose father, Capt Mark Phillips, divorced Princess Anne in 1992, will be following the example of Prince Michael of Kent, who renounced his place in the line of succession when he married Marie-Christine von Reibnitz, a Catholic divorcee, in 1978. They married in an intimate civil ceremony in Vienna. (via The Telegraph)

Any wedding with Prince William as best man and Zara Phillips as a bridesmaid is unlikely to remain low-key for long.

So reports at the weekend that the Queen’s eldest grandson, Peter Phillips, and his Canadian bride, Autumn Kelly, below, had decided to wed in the tiny Crathie Kirk, near Balmoral Castle, surprised many. Now, a friend of the couple has set the record straight.

“They’re actually getting married in St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle,” says my source at a party for Glenmorangie whisky. “It can seat up to 800 people, so it’ll be quite a big do. Autumn’s certainly not thinking low key when it comes to the dress, either.

She’s having it made by the Fulham-based designer Sassi Holford, who is creating something completely original which will be called The Autumn.”

Buckingham Palace declined to comment, saying only: “He is a private individual and we don’t speak on his behalf.” (via The Telegraph)

As she contemplates marriage into Britain’s royal family, 31-year-old Autumn Kelly can rest easy on one score: her future in-laws already seem to regard her as one of their own.

Peter Phillips’ pretty Canadian fiancée certainly seemed at ease during a recent weekend spent at Sandringham, the Windsors’ much-loved Norfolk retreat, as the guest of Peter’s grandmother, the Queen.

Autumn, a management consultant, already looked the part of a member of “the firm” as she stepped out in a smart coat and matching hat to Sunday morning worship at the local church.

One topic guaranteed to have been up for discussion was the young couple’s forthcoming nuptials. No date for the big day has yet been announced, but it’s thought the service will be held at Crathie Kirk in Scotland. The tiny village church near the Queen’s summer home of Balmoral Castle is where Peter’s mother, Princess Anne wed her second husband, Timothy Laurence in 1992. (via Hello Magazine)

The Queen’s eldest grandson, Peter Phillips, has decided to hold his wedding to Canadian Autumn Kelly in Scotland, sources claimed yesterday.

He is said to have chosen the tiny Crathie Kirk, near Balmoral Castle. It is the village church where his mother Princess Anne married for the second time 16 years ago after her divorce from his father, Mark.

Some constitutional experts say that unless Peter’s fiancee, a staunch Catholic, renounces her faith, he will lose his place in the line of succession to the Throne - he is 11th although he holds no Royal titles. They claim the Act of Settlement of 1701 still bans the marriage to Catholics of all Royals.

Anne married Timothy Laurence at Crathie Kirk in 1992 after also facing an historical issue. Holding the wedding in the Church of Scotland allowed her to overcome the Church of England’s ban on divorcees remarrying.

The engagement between Peter, 30, and Miss Kelly, 31, a management consultant, was announced in July. However, no mention was made of her religion.
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Princess Anne’s son Peter Phillips will marry his Canadian fiancee Autumn Kelly on May 17 next year, the Sunday Express can exclusively reveal.

The Queen has given permission for her eldest grandchild to have the Saturday ceremony at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, followed by a reception at Windsor Castle.

Peter, 30, met his bride-to-be at the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal in June 2003, where he was working for Williams Formula 1.

Autumn, who turns 30 on May 3 next year, exactly two weeks before the wedding, moved to Britain soon afterwards.

The pair split their time between a cottage on Anne’s Gatcombe estate in Gloucestershire and a home in Edinburgh, where Peter works for the Royal Bank of Scotland.

Prince William, 25, who is extremely close to his cousin, may be best man while Peter’s sister Zara, 26, who is also very close to Autumn, is expected to be a bridesmaid. (via Sunday Express)

The Canadian-born fiancee of Peter Phillips has not just won the heart of Princess Anne’s son, she has also endeared herself to the Queen and Prince Philip with a down-to-earth and mature approach to her impending royal life…

In the official photograph taken at a Clarence House dinner to mark the Queen’s 60th wedding anniversary, there was one rather less familiar face among the generations of the monarch’s family gathered around her.

The tall, fresh-faced blonde was there again at the service of celebration the following day at Westminster Abbey. But while not many people may know that the woman is question is Autumn Kelly, that will soon change when she becomes the next royal bride.

Canadian-born Autumn is the fiancée of Peter Phillips, 29-year-old son of the Princess Royal from her first marriage to Captain Mark Phillips, and she has already made a good impression on the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, who have welcomed her into the royal fold.

That might have something to do with the ease and maturity that Autumn has displayed in dealing with the royal spotlight and its attendant circus. And perhaps also because she and Peter are determined to remain a low-profile couple – which has not always been the case with young royals and their partners.

Prince Harry was dubbed the “official Royal gooseberry” in front of family and friends – by his brother William.

Lovelorn Harry, who is trying to win back girlfriend Chelsy Davy, was the only one without a partner at a birthday bash for his cousin Peter Phillips.

Wills, 25, was joined by Kate Middleton, Peter by fiancée Autumn Kelly, Zara Phillips by rugby hunk Mike Tindall, and Princess Beatrice by Virgin hotshot Dave Clark. But Harry, 23, couldn’t persuade Zimbabwean Chelsy to attend the party on Saturday.

A source said: “Halfway through the evening William turned to Harry and said, ‘You’re now the official Royal gooseberry. The whole group fell about laughing, except Harry who gave his brother a dirty look before smiling.”
After the meal at trendy Cocoon restaurant in Regent Street, London, most of the Royals went to the posh Volstead club in Mayfair, while Beatrice and Dave joined a host of stars at actress Davinia Taylor’s birthday bash.

A witness said: “They looked happy. Everyone was with their partner, except Harry.”

Chelsy, 22, who is studying at Leeds University, had been in London since Thursday. She is still miffed at Harry for spending her birthday watching rugby. The source said: “Harry’s not out of the woods yet.” (via The Sun)

Prince William is set to be best man at the wedding of an Edinburgh-based member of the royal family.

Princess Anne’s son Peter Phillips, 29, is to marry his Canadian fiancee, Autumn Kelly, 31, at Windsor Castle next May.

Peter, who is tenth in line to the throne, works as a sponsorship manager at the Royal Bank of Scotland in the Capital. He met the management consultant four years ago at the Canadian Grand Prix.

The couple split their time between the Gatcombe Park estate in Gloucestershire and a home in Edinburgh.

William and his brother Harry have always been close to their older cousin, which would provide the prince with plenty of ammunition for his best man’s speech.

Peter was the first royal baby to be born a commoner in 500 years, after Anne and her then-husband Captain Mark Phillips asked that he be not given a title. (via The Scotsman)