Peter Phillips and estranged wife, Autumn, head to court over divorce

Autumn and Peter Phillips - Adam Davy/PA Archive
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Peter Phillips and his estranged wife, Autumn, are heading to court for a financial settlement hearing over their divorce.

The couple, who have two daughters, announced last February that they were divorcing, after 12 years of marriage.

A High Court judge will next week hear from lawyers for each party as they seek to separate their finances and agree a settlement.

The pre-trial review hearing will be heard remotely before Mr Justice Peel in the Family Division.

Mr Phillips has retained Nicholas Yates QC, a leading divorce lawyer whose online profile says he handles “complex cases relating to significant assets and jurisdictional disputes” and also “leads negotiations in high-value postnuptial agreements”.

He worked alongside Ayesha Vardag last year, representing Bhanu Choudhrie, 41, an heir of one of India's richest families, in his divorce from Simrin Choudhrie, 38, an interior designer who appeared on the Channel 4 reality show The Secret Millionaire.

Mr Phillips, 43, the only son of the Princess Royal, has applied for reporting restrictions barring the disclosure of financial and other personal details.

Peter Phillips and Autumn Kelly leave St George's Chapel in Windsor after their marriage vows in May 2008 - SANG TAN/AFP
Peter Phillips and Autumn Kelly leave St George's Chapel in Windsor after their marriage vows in May 2008 - SANG TAN/AFP

As the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh’s eldest grandchild, Mr Phillips walked behind his grandfather’s coffin during his funeral procession last month, placed between warring brothers the Duke of Cambridge and the Duke of Sussex.

In March, he was accused of breaking lockdown restrictions by spending the night with female friend, Lindsay Wallace, 40, in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.

Police officers were said to have visited the pair at the property and “issued advice” but concluded that no breach of rules had taken place.

Mr Phillips, a marketing consultant, was reported to have been in Scotland on business “in connection with his work for XF Medical which operates in the Covid testing arena”.

Mr Phillips is listed on Companies House as event director of Festival of British Eventing Ltd. Accounts filed in October last year show the company made a loss of £26,412.

Both he and Mrs Phillips are directors of SEL UK, a sports and events firm which is a division of an Australian company set up in 2012 by a friend of his father, Captain Mark Phillips.

Latest accounts suggest the company's losses rose to more than £300,000 in 2019.

He is also listed as a director of City Racing Ltd and alternative energy firm Fish Pond Ring Ltd, which produces hydroelectricity at the Princess Royal’s Gatcombe estate in Gloucestershire, where he and his estranged wife are said to live in separate properties.

The estranged couple are joint directors of Pheasant and Partridge Enterprises Ltd, an events firm that sets up shoots and had net assets of £97,000 in 2020.