Autumn Phillips

Early life

Autumn, her twin brother Christopher "Chris", and her older brother Kevin were born in Montreal, Quebec, to Kathleen "Kitty" (née McCarthy) and Brian Kelly, an electricity company executive. She was baptised on 18 June 1978, at Saint John Fisher Parish Church, and raised in Cedar Park, Pointe-Claire, in the English speaking West Island region of Montreal. Her parents divorced when Autumn was eight years old, after which her mother married commercial pilot Ron Magas, and her father married Lynne, with whom he has two children, Jessica and Patrick. Autumn's family continued to live in the Pointe-Claire area, where she attended a Roman Catholic primary school, and then St. Thomas High School, a Roman Catholic foundation. It was reported in 2007 that St Thomas' was where Autumn had both excelled at sports and had also studied alongside fellow student and friend, actress Casey McKinnon. Autumn then attended McGill University, during which time she worked as a bartender, model, and actress, appearing in the 1996 film Rainbow, taking the non-speaking, though credited, role of Tigrette Number 3, and later in the television series Sirens. Autumn graduated from McGill in 2002, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in East Asian studies, whereupon she started a career as a management consultant.

Relationship with Peter Phillips

Autumn attended the 2003 Canadian Grand Prix, where she met Peter Phillips – who was, at the time, working for WilliamsF1 while interviewing with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service – though she did not know until six weeks later, when she saw him on television, that he was Queen Elizabeth II's grandson. She then moved to the United Kingdom, living with Phillips in a Kensington, London, apartment and a cottage on the Gatcombe Park estate, and, though before meeting Phillips she had accepted a job with an American computer firm in England, Autumn later worked as a personal assistant to broadcaster Sir Michael Parkinson, while also attending royal events, such as the dinner party at the Ritz Hotel for the Queen's 80th birthday.

Autumn's engagement to Peter Phillips was announced by Buckingham Palace on 28 July 2007, and the Queen subsequently gave her consent to the union, as required by the Royal Marriages Act 1772, in a meeting of her British Privy Council on 9 April of the following year. Prior to the marriage, Autumn converted from Roman Catholicism to Anglicanism; had she remained Catholic after her marriage, her husband would have lost his place in the line of succession to the throne, per the provisions of the Act of Settlement 1701. This scenario drew attention to the Act of Settlement's bar on Catholics ascending to the throne, and prompted calls in both Canada and the United Kingdom for the respective prime ministers to address the issue. Some reported unease was also caused in royal circles when Autumn and Phillips were interviewed and photographed by Hello! magazine, for an apparent fee of £500,000.

The couple married on 17 May 2008, at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle, the service conducted by David Conner, Dean of Windsor, and Autumn's dress designed by Sassi Holford. Her six bridesmaids included Zara Phillips, her husband's sister. In 2010 the couple returned to London after living in Hong Kong, where he has a job with the Royal Bank of Scotland, heading their sports sponsorship activities in the region, and in time for the Queen to see the birth of her first great-grandchild . Their first child, and the Queen's first great-grandchild, Savannah, was born on 29 December 2010 at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital. With dual citizenship, this child is the first Canadian citizen to be in the line of succession to the thrones of the Commonwealth realms. On Saturday, 23 April 2011, the baptism of Savannah took place at Holy Cross Church in Avening, Gloucestershire, near the Princess Royal's home, Gatcombe Park. Autumn and Peter announced in October 2011, that the couple were expecting their second child. On 29 March 2012, Autumn gave birth to another girl, Isla, who is 14th in line for the throne. On Sunday, 1 July 2012, the baptism of Isla took place at St. Nicholas' Church in Gloucestershire.