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Peter Phillips, 44, and his partner Lindsay Wallace arrived at the Royal Ascot today after the royals defied precedent by including Ms Wallace in the royal parade yesterday.
Unlike on Friday, when the couple had to contend with scorching heat and the Ascot’s classic dress code had to be modified, the couple will have to contend with rain and temperatures that have dropped by 10 degrees Celsius today.
The Royal Ascot’s final day of racing is today, and the couple is anticipated to return to the Royal Enclosure this afternoon.
The royal family and their wedded spouses are usually the only ones in the royal procession, therefore bringing a companion before marriage is unusual.
Ms Wallace, who attended Gordonstoun School in Scotland with Mr Phillips, made her public début at the Epsom Derby during the Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
Ms Wallace, who has now divorced her husband, attended Gordonstoun in the same year as Zara, which was also attended by Prince Charles.
She was a guest at the royal wedding of rugby player Mike Tindall in 2011.
The departure from custom indicates that their relationship is set to take a serious turn, yet even young royals Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie rode solo in the parade until they were married.
Rumors of their relationship first surfaced in March 2021, prompting questions about whether he had broken any lockdown regulations.
This was after he was photographed visiting Ms Wallace’s home in St Cyrus, Aberdeenshire – a 460-mile round trip from his Gloucestershire home.
The royal family said the trip to Scotland was made as a marketing consultant for company XF Medical, set up last June to provide rapid Covid and antibody tests for businesses, although sources said he was ‘besotted’ by Ms Wallace.
In January of this year he invited her as his plus-one to his nephew Lucas’s christening.
Ahead of the Royal Family event, the couple was photographed in a car together.
The older of Princess Anne and Mark Phillips’ two children, Peter, then took the historic step of introducing Ms Wallace, the daughter of an oil millionaire, to his grandmother, the Queen, who was believed to be ‘delighted.’
Ms Wallace met Her Majesty at a Windsor shooting party, and the encounter was characterized as ‘kind’ by a source.
Ms Wallace and Mr Phillips are said to have become close after spending time together following the breakup of their respective marriages.
Mr. Phillips and his wife Autumn divorced in June 2021, 16 months after they announced their separation.
Autumn Kelly, previously Phillips, met the prince in her home town of Quebec, Canada.
The couple share daughters Savannah, 11, and Isla, 10, and continue to live on Princess Anne’s Gatcombe Park estate, in Gloucestershire.