Peter Phillips, the Queen’s eldest grandson, will not have to give up his place in the succession to the throne when he marries next month after his fiancée renounced her Roman Catholic faith. Autumn Kelly, 31, has been accepted into the Church of England before the couple’s wedding on May 17.
The 1701 Act of Settlement, which bars monarchs and their heirs from becoming or marrying Catholics, would have forced Mr Phillips to surrender his place in line if Ms Kelly had not converted. Mr Phillips, 30, is currently eleventh in line to the throne and is to become the Queen’s first married grandchild.
It is understood that Ms Kelly had been advised for several months in Windsor before deciding to convert. Buckingham Palace confirmed her conversion yesterday.
“She was not asked to do this; she did it of her own accord.”
Ms Kelly, a management consultant from Canada, met Mr Phillips at the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal in 2003 and moved to the UK to be with him shortly afterwards. Their engagement was announced last July.
The couple live together in a cottage in Gatcombe Park, the Gloucester-shire estate owned by his mother, the Princess Royal.
Ms Kelly’s parents are reported to be thrilled at their daughter’s engagement. “I’ve met him a few times and he’s a great guy, a really nice person,” her mother, Kathleen, said.
She said that she did not think that there would be a problem with her daughter being a “foreigner”.
“I think attitudes to things like that have changed,” she said. “Autumn is a very serious and intelligent young woman. She may be young, but she knows the world. And he’s a great guy. Isn’t that what counts?”
Mr Phillips does not have a royal title and tends to avoid the limelight that his younger sister, Zara, attracts. He works for the Royal Bank of Scotland, while Ms Kelly now works for an American computer distributor.
It is not known if Ms Kelly was a practising Catholic, but she was educated at Catholic schools. Despite this, the Royal Family have appeared to welcome their future member into the fold.
She has been invited on the family’s traditional summer cruise around the Hebrides and was present at the Queen’s 80th birthday celebrations at the Ritz in Central London.
Last year Ms Kelly was a guest of the Queen at Ladies’ Day at Royal Ascot.
The wedding will take place at St George’s Chapel in Windsor.
Prince William, Mr Phillip’s cousin, will serve as best man.
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