RICHARD KAY: She’s only been dating Peter Phillips but has already met the Queen. So will Harriet be the first NHS nurse to marry into the Royal Family?

You have to admire the chutzpah of the king’s romantic and busy nephew, Peter Phillips. Just weeks after splitting from her long-term partner, a former classmate of her sister Zara at Gordonstoun fee-paying school, Princess Anne’s son has wasted no time in finding an attractive replacement .

But if there was any fear on his part at the prospect of reappearing so soon in the circles of intelligent society, it was far from evident. Instead, as he walked around as an owner hand in hand with the incredibly attractive pediatric nurse Harriet Sperling, the question on everyone’s lips at the badminton horse trials was: How does he do it?

Even Queen Camilla, who found herself within unexpected distance of shaking his hand, seemed impressed by his introduction to the glamorous blonde and single mother.

It was only last month that friends confirmed that Peter’s three-year relationship with Scottish businesswoman Lindsay Wallace, who had accompanied him to the post-coronation concert at Windsor Castle last year, had come to an end. Many had thought they would get married.

Details of their romance emerged during the Covid lockdown – his car was parked outside Ms Wallace’s Aberdeen home – and not long after he revealed he had split from his Canadian-born wife, Autumn Kelly. and mother of his two daughters.

Now he has once again embarked on new paths. And what became abundantly clear in the two days the couple spent parading around the famous Gloucestershire equestrian course, where his sister was competing, was that Peter doesn’t care who knows.

For a man who – friends of both sexes insist – never boasts about his conquests, it was an extraordinary public gesture. Could it also be a clue that she holds the key to her future happiness?

But Peter Phillips, 46, has always had more than meets the eye. Although he was not conventionally attractive, he enjoyed a prodigiously active romantic life before marrying. From school on, he was rarely without a pretty blonde companion (they were almost always blondes) on his arm.

There’s something about Phillips’s languid charm that women find fascinating, even irresistible. For some, it’s the way she wears her royal heritage so lightly. Unburdened by a royal title (thanks to the prescience of her mother, the Princess Royal, who wanted her son and daughter to make their way in the world), but still, unmistakably, a Windsor.

Reassuring, calm and discreet, it is no wonder he was said to be the favorite grandson of the late Queen and Prince Philip.

His uncle the King is devoted to him, as are his cousins, Prince William and Prince Harry. Almost uniquely, he has managed to retain the affection of both warring brothers without having to take sides. But it’s his curiosity about the opposite sex that’s so intriguing. Although the backstory of his love interests has often been, well, predictable. Until now.

Not since the middle-class Middleton daughter caught the eye of Prince William at the University of St Andrews has a royal bride been so unusual. Because Harriet Sperling is a state-registered nurse who has spoken candidly about her years as a single mother.

She has described how she and her daughter, now 12, survived “against all odds” while “travelling for ten years together” while she juggled parenthood with work as a pediatric specialist.

It is understood that she and Phillips, 18th in line to the throne, met only a month ago but appeared confident and relaxed in each other’s company. There was certainly no attempt to hide their affection for each other. In fact, according to viewers, they seemed “in love.”

On Sunday, the couple watched the cross-country event from a sponsor’s tent before setting off along with Peter’s daughters, Savannah, 13, and Isla, 12. Says a friend: “This is a romance that progresses at a good pace, they feel so comfortable together that it seems they have known each other for years.

So who exactly is Harriet, 44, and why is Peter described by her friends as “looking around the world like the cat that got the cream” just weeks after they started dating? And could she become the first NHS nurse and single mother to marry into the Royal Family?

The lawyer’s daughter lives in Gloucestershire, not far from Peter’s home on her mother’s estate in Gatcombe Park. Like Phillips, she was also married.

A nurse by career, in 2010 she was a key member of a medical team that helped save seriously ill baby Phineas Cockerham after he was struck by a deadly virus that attacked his immune system when he was just three weeks old. She appeared in a unique photo tribute created by Phineas’s father, Michael Cockerham, which was published in the Daily Mail. Nurse Sperling was part of the team when Phineas was transferred from Darent Valley Hospital in Dartford, Kent, to the world-famous Children’s Hospital Evelina in central London.

Describing his response, he said: “Just 20 minutes after receiving the call to pick up Phineas, the recovery team was on the way in an intensive care ambulance.”

Thanks to top-notch care, the boy recovered. As a tribute, Mr Cockerham, a cameraman, took photographs of each member of the 63-person team, which were published in a book. He became a fundraising ambassador for the hospital.

In an article for the Christian magazine Woman Alive, Harriet spoke of the struggles and joys of her life as a single mother.

She wrote: ‘In the absence of material security, I discovered the strength and life that comes from true selfless love. A love that can be dedicated only to your child.’

Writing under her maiden name Harriet Sanders, she added: “There is a special kind of love that develops when you two are alone against the world.”

Judging by the smiles on display this weekend, a real love match may also be brewing.