It is not the first time the Phillips sisters have put on a united front with their future stepsister. Arriving for the Easter Matins service at Windsor Castle in April, Savannah and Isla flanked Georgina as she made her debut at a royal family event, providing a physical buffer as she made her way past the waiting photographers. The teens even appeared to coordinate their outfits (a sophisticated blend of neutrals and navy) as if to underline the message that they should be taken as a trio.
Read More
There was never a dull day with my mother, Lady Pamela Hicks
Lady Pamela Hicks, who died on 5th June, led an extraordinary life. Nobody knows this better than her daughter, India Hicks, who shared stories from comically timed fainting to domestic disasters with Prince Philip in a feature first published in 2024
The sisters have something much deeper in common than their love of hockey. All three have witnessed the breakdown of their parents’ first marriages. But while Autumn and Peter remain amicable after their 2019 split, it is understood Harriet has raised Georgina as a single mother for more than a decade after parting ways with her ex-husband when their daughter was two years old.
Peter Phillips’ daughters Isla (left) and Savannah Phillips (right) leave St George’s Chapel, Windsor, alongside Harriet Sperling’s daughter Georgina (centre) following the Easter Matins service
Aaron Chown – PA Images/Getty Images
‘Resources were scarce and the future was uncertain,’ Harriet wrote of the experience in an essay for Woman Alive, a Christian magazine, in 2024 ‘Yet, in the absence of material security, I discovered the strength and life that comes from true, selfless love.’
She has also written movingly of the close bond she formed with her daughter. ‘My daughter and I journeyed 10 years with only each other,’ she penned. ‘I liken us to an island, and it has often felt hard to imagine anyone joining that island… The unique relationship between a single mother and her child is forged in the fires of struggles and victories. It’s a bond characterised by love and survival against the odds.’
Now, however, Harriet has let someone else onto the island, Peter Phillips, who has his own experience of forging his way within a blended family. He and his sister Zara Tindall enjoy a close relationship with their own half-sister, Stephanie Phillips, who is expected to be among the guests at the royal wedding.