Another divorce in the royal family has officially been announced

Last year was a hard year for the royals, from the highly publicised royal feud to the controversial Prince Andrew scandal. After just a couple of months however, 2020 looks set to be even worse.

The year started with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stepping down from their roles as senior royal family members and losing their HRH status. And just a month later, the sad news continues, with it reported this week that the Queen’s grandson Peter Phillips and his wife Autumn will be divorcing after 12 years of marriage.

‘After informing HM The Queen and members of both families last year, Peter and Autumn jointly agreed to separate,’ an announcement stated on behalf of the former couple. ‘They had reached the conclusion that this was the best course of action for their two children and ongoing friendship.’

The statement continued: ‘The decision to divorce and share custody came about after many months of discussions and although sad, is an amicable one.

‘The couple's first priority will remain the continued well being and upbringing of their wonderful daughters Savannah (nine) and Isla (seven). Both families were naturally sad at the announcement, but fully supportive of Peter and Autumn in the joint decision to co-parent their children.

‘Both Peter and Autumn have remained in Gloucestershire to bring up their two children where they have been settled for a number of years.’

Peter will be the first of the Queen’s grandchildren to legally divorce, something that has reportedly left the Queen upset.

‘Peter is absolutely devastated by this and just didn’t see it coming,’ one of Peter’s friends told The Sun of the news. ‘He thought he was happily married and had the perfect family with two lovely daughters. But he is now in total shock.

‘Autumn is a wonderful wife and mother and a very intelligent woman but she’s been telling her friends for some time that there were issues.’

The source continued: ‘She is a favourite of the Queen and I’m sure Her Majesty will be very upset by this as well. It’s the last thing she needs after all her recent troubles and you get the feeling that the Royal Family is falling apart a little bit.’

Our thoughts are with the royal family.