Harriet Sperling’s decision to speak to Hello! after marrying Peter Phillips has prompted an angry reaction from some supporters of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
The feature fills an extraordinary 17 pages of this week’s feel-good magazine and includes a photoshoot in which the former NHS nurse appears in six different outfits.
“Imagine the backlash if Meghan had given an interview like this!” some of Prince Harry and Meghan’s supporters have complained. They have also highlighted the criticism the Sussexes faced when their media appearances drew attention during major royal occasions.
Harriet’s interview was released as King Charles and Queen Camilla were undertaking an important tour of the Caribbean.
Buckingham Palace, however, has shown no sign of concern. Although Harriet’s husband is a non-working royal, as Harry is, Peter attracts considerably less public attention. He is 20th in the line of succession, while his cousin Harry is fifth.
“No one is remotely bothered by the interview,” a royal source tells me. “The couple are low-key, and the article is entirely positive, with the focus on Harriet’s charity work.”
Peter Phillips, 48, the late Queen Elizabeth’s eldest grandchild, lives with his new wife Harriet on a farm at the Gatcombe Park estate, which belongs to his mother, Princess Anne
In her Hello! interview, Harriet kept the focus on her first charitable role and spoke warmly about her new relatives
Unlike the Sussexes, who have frequently used interviews to discuss their complaints about the Royal Family and the Press, Harriet centred her conversation on her first role as a charity patron. She is supporting Home-Start Cotswolds, which helps new parents across an area covering six English counties.
Harriet, 45, and Peter, 48, live on a farm at the Gatcombe Park estate in Gloucestershire. The property is owned by Peter’s mother, Princess Anne, and Peter is the eldest grandchild of the late Queen Elizabeth.
Harriet, who has a 14-year-old daughter, Georgina, from a previous marriage, was welcomed by members of the Royal Family after meeting them at Royal Ascot in 2024. She and Peter, who has two daughters, Savannah, 15, and Isla, 14, from his first marriage to Autumn, wed at All Saints Church in Kemble, Gloucestershire, in June. King Charles and Queen Camilla attended, as did the Prince and Princess of Wales.
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Catherine has been especially warm towards the Royal Family’s glamorous new member. “I can look to Catherine for advice and guidance,” Harriet told Hello!. “She’s very open-hearted, and I would always feel comfortable asking her for advice if I needed it.”
Those remarks have inevitably drawn comparisons with the woman who most recently married into the senior ranks of the Royal Family.
Meghan appeared to adopt a markedly different approach after moving in with Prince Harry. Rather than taking time to learn from the Windsors, the former actress seemed, in the view of her critics, to act as though she was already above them.
Who could forget Meghan’s appearance with Catherine and William at the inaugural Royal Foundation Forum in London in February 2018? She had been engaged to Harry for only three months, yet she quickly became the dominant presence. The media dubbed the two couples the “Fab Four”, although Meghan appeared to some observers to view them less as The Beatles and more as Diana Ross and the Supremes.
Meghan’s appearance with Catherine and William at the first Royal Foundation Forum in 2018 remains memorable. Although she had been engaged to Harry for only three months, she took centre stage, writes Richard Eden
Rather than taking a modest approach and learning from the Windsors, the former actress, pictured in Nottingham last month, appeared to her critics to act as though she was already superior to them, writes Richard Eden
Catherine, who was heavily pregnant, was content to let William lead the discussion. Meghan, by contrast, took a prominent role and attracted headlines with passionate comments about the controversial #MeToo and Time’s Up movements.
Harriet Sperling may have joined the Royal Family only five months ago, but her conduct offers a lesson in tact and diplomacy, particularly for Meghan.
Where Harriet used her interview to speak warmly about her new relatives, Meghan has previously used media appearances to deliver pointed criticism of the Windsors.
The Sussexes’ most vocal supporters may object to Harriet’s Hello! feature, but the interview also offers the couple plenty of lessons about how to handle life in the public eye.
