Titleless, yes, but by no means without royal pedigree, Peter Phillips was welcomed into the world with a 41-gun salute from the Tower of London. At his baptism on 22 December, his godparents were named: his uncle, now King Charles III; his father’s cousin, Bishop Geoffrey Tiarks; Captain Hamish Lochore; champion equestrian Jane Holderness-Roddam; and Lady Cecil Cameron of Lochiel. At the time of his birth, Phillips was fifth in line to the throne, where he remained until the birth of Prince William in 1982. In 1981, Peter Phillips welcomed his younger sister, now Zara Tindall, and would go on to have two half-sisters, Felicity Wade (from his father’s affair with Heather Tonkin) and Stephanie Phillips (from his father’s second marriage to the equestrian Sandy Pfleuger).
And while the circumstances of his birth may have been historic, Phillips’ education was traditional for the family, following in the footsteps of his uncle Charles and grandfather, Prince Philip, and cutting his teeth at Gordonstoun School in Scotland. King Charles famously loathed his time at the boarding school, but Peter seems to have thrived in the austere Scottish landscape, becoming head boy of the institution before graduating.
It would be on his gap year, however, that Peter Phillips found his passion. Spending his months before university in Sydney, the royal worked at Sports Entertainment Limited as well as Jackie Stewart’s Formula One racing team. He would return to the former, and, clearly inspired by his time in the industry, went on to study Sports Science at the University of Exeter, where he played for the rugby league team before graduating in 2000.
Princess Anne and Queen Elizabeth with Phillips in 1979
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