How Harriet Sperling’s Engagement Ring From Peter Phillips Channels Princess Anne’s “Quietly Radical” Sparkler

Rachel BurchfieldSun, May 31, 2026 at 3:47 PM UTC

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Princess Anne, Harriet Sperling, and Peter Phillips at Royal Ascot on June 17, 2025.
Credit: GettyThe Gist -

Peter Phillips and Harriet Sperling are set to marry in the royal wedding of the summer on June 6.

Sperling’s engagement ring not only includes a touching nod to Queen Elizabeth, but also channels the first engagement ring of Phillips’s mother, Princess Anne.

The Princess Royal’s engagement ring from Mark Phillips—whom she married in 1973—was “quietly radical,” jewelry Nilesh Rakholia tells InStyle.

This summer’s royal wedding is coming up in less than one week—and when choosing an engagement ring for his bride-to-be Harriet Sperling, Peter Phillips honored not just his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, but also his mother, Princess Anne.

The thoughtful piece of jewelry Phillips proposed with is a ring made by Pragnell, movingly the same jeweler behind Queen Elizabeth’s 1946 engagement ring—given to her by her future husband Prince Philip.

Peter Phillips and Harriet Sperling, with her engagement ring on display, on January 1, 2026.
Credit: Getty

But Sperling’s ring also bears similarities with the Princess Royal’s engagement ring, given to her by her first husband, Mark Phillips, in 1973. After welcoming two children, the couple divorced, and Anne married for a second time in 1992, to Timothy Laurence.

Anne’s ring from Mark was one of the more unconventional engagement rings of its era, and Sperling’s diamond trilogy engagement ring bears a striking resemblance in structure to Anne’s sapphire and diamond engagement ring, according to jeweler Nilesh Rakholia.

Princess Anne and Mark Phillips announcing their engagement in 1973.
Credit: Getty

“Princess Anne’s engagement ring from Captain Mark Phillips was quietly radical for 1973,” Rahholia, founder of Abelini, tells InStyle. “While the era favored oversized diamond solitaires in ornate yellow gold, Anne chose something altogether more considered—a sapphire trilogy ring from Garrard that felt personal rather than performative. It was understated in the best possible sense.”

Before Princess Diana’s—and now Kate Middleton’s—sapphire and diamond engagement ring became iconic, Anne’s engagement ring featured a central blue sapphire flanked by a diamond on either side.

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“What gives the ring its longevity is precisely its lack of excess,” Rakholia explains. “The proportions are beautifully balanced, the trilogy format creates an inherent elegance, and the sapphire brings color in a way that feels intentional rather than decorative. It doesn’t chase attention, and that’s exactly why it still holds it.”

Mark Phillips and Princess Anne on their November 14, 1973 wedding day.
Credit: Getty

Rakholia adds that the Princess Royal’s ring “laid the groundwork for what we now think of as the royal sapphire tradition.” Anne’s ring, Rakholia estimates, is currently valued at roughly $33,000 to $40,000, but “Its real worth lies in what it represented—one of the earliest modern royal departures from the diamond solitaire,” Rakholia says. He adds, “That distinction is increasingly rare and increasingly prized.”

Peter’s choice to give Sperling a ring in a trilogy format “has this enduring emotional logic,” Rakholia says. “Past, present, future. It’s a design that carries meaning without needing to announce itself.”

Harriet Sperling and Peter Phillips on July 12, 2024.
Credit: Getty

“The fact that Peter instinctively returned to that same architecture feels like more than a coincidence,” Rakholia continues. “It speaks to how deeply a piece of jewelry can embed itself in a family’s visual language.” Sperling’s ring is estimated to be valued upwards of $10,000.

Peter and Sperling announced their engagement in August 2025 after first being spotted together in May 2024. They will marry on June 6 in a private ceremony in Gloucestershire with a number of royals expected to be in attendance. This is the second marriage for both the bride and the groom, and together they share three teenage daughters, two from Peter’s marriage to Autumn Kelly and one from Sperling’s marriage to Antonio St. John Sperling.

Peter Phillips and Harriet Sperling on July 11, 2025.
Credit: Getty

Per Hello!, the newlyweds’ wedding reception on Saturday will take place at Gatcombe Park, the longtime home of Princess Anne. A friend of the couple told the outlet that “Peter and Harriet’s wedding is an intimate occasion with their close friends and immediate family around them in the Cotswolds. It’s an area where they grew up and is very special to them both.”

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