An unprecedented decision made by Peter Phillips and Autumn Kelly on their wedding day on May 18, 2008, led to the late Queen Elizabeth II enforcing a strict rule.
The late Queen’s favourite grandson caused a headache for the Royal Family when he sold the photographic rights of his wedding to Hello! magazine for a tidy sum thought to be around £500,000.
Access to St George’s chapel and proceeding events had been given to Hello! Magazine and the publication ran a 100-page special, with 59 pages of photographs from the wedding, including 10 of the late Queen.
In Channel 5’s 2020 documentary ‘Meghan: Where Did It All Go Wrong?’, royal expert Simon Vigar offered an insight into the wedding of Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips’ only son.
He said: “Generally what happens in the private do’s, there are no cameras there, or none of our camera’s there.”
Peter first met Autumn at the 2003 Canadian Grand Prix, where Autumn was working for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.
Speaking about the events of their wedding day, Simon explained: “So what happened at Peter and Autumn’s wedding is controversial and unusual. It went down like a lead balloon with many members of the Royal Family.”
The Telegraph reported at the time that Queen Elizabeth had not been consulted about the magazine deal. A royal source told the newspaper: “It will never happen again. In hindsight it should never have happened in the first place.”
Unaware of the presence of four credited photographers and a reporter, friends and family happily posed for photos. Some 300 guests were in attendance for the nuptials at St George’s – including Her Majesty and the late Duke of Edinburgh. Autumn’s family also flew in from Canada for the event.
Susie Boniface, columnist for The Mirror, told Channel 5: “They thought this was just photographers at a wedding and happily posed and grinned away, and then were quite amazed a couple of weeks afterwards to see a Hello! Supplement dedicated entirely to things they thought were private family shots.”
Photos included formal snaps of the bride and groom and pictures of Chelsy Davy, Prince Harry’s then-girlfriend, and Princess Kate.
Labour MP at the time, Ian Gibson spoke of the matter: “The British public would expect the Queen to rise above being pictured in the pages of Hello! She is the Queen, not a footballer’s wife.”
Her Majesty has since banned senior members of the Firm from featuring in celebrity magazine photograph deals, the Telegraph said.
The couple, however, announced their split in February 2020 and were officially divorced on June 14, 2021. They continue to co-parent their two daughters, Savannah, who was born on December 20, 2010 and her younger sister Isla, who was born on March 29, 2012.
