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After divorcing his wife Autumn Phillips in 2021, Princess Anne’s son, Peter Phillips, became the Royal Family’s most eligible bachelor. The 47-year-old businessman has been dating nurse Harriet Sperling since early 2024, and after a very significant move at Royal Ascot last week, it seems King Charles has fully welcomed his nephew’s new love into the family.

According to The King’s former butler Grant Harrold, allowing Sperling to ride in a carriage during the royal procession at Ascot is a sure sign that Phillips is extremely serious with his girlfriend. Speaking on behalf of Genting Casino, Harrold said the NHS nurse’s carriage appearance signals “complete acceptance, 100 percent” by The King and “shows she is an official girlfriend.”

“As soon you start seeing them at high-profile events like this, and Royal Ascot is a highlight of the royal calendar, it’s clear they have been approved and they are very much in the royal fold,” the butler said. While Sperling attended Royal Ascot with Phillips for the first time last summer, she did not ride in a carriage.

Sperling rode in a carriage with Peter Phillips on day one of Royal Ascot. | Credit: Getty Images

She curtsied to The King and Queen during her second Ascot appearance on June 19. | Credit: Getty Images

The King greeted Sperling warmly at the event. | Credit: Shutterstock

Explaining when the decision would have been made for Sperling to join the Royal Family in the procession, Harrold said, Phillips “would have discussed with his mother, Princess Anne, and then she would have either discussed it with her brother [The King] or she would have told Peter to discuss it.”

He added that King Charles “may have just gone up and invited her, or Peter would have somehow approached the subject with him, but it’d be very informal, it wouldn’t be like an official meeting where he goes to the palace, especially to get permission.”

Sperling joined the Royal Family on two days of Royal Ascot this year, wearing a cream Suzannah London jacket and skirt with a floral-trimmed hat on June 17 and a sunny yellow Beulah dress and matching veiled hat two days later.

The couple’s first public appearance was last May at the Badminton Horse Trials—where they were seen with Phillips’s daughters Savannah, 14, and Isla, 13—and they’ve since attended several other high-profile events including Wimbledon.