Could nurse Harriet Sperling become the first single mum to marry into the Royal Family?

You have to admire the chutzpah of the King’s romantically busy nephew Peter Phillips. Just weeks after separating from his long-time partner – an ex-classmate of his sister Zara at fee-paying Gordonstoun School – Princess Anne’s son has wasted no time in finding a winsome replacement.

But if there was any trepidation on his part at reappearing so soon in smart society circles, it was far from evident. Instead, as he strolled proprietorially hand in hand with stunningly attractive paediatric 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 in unexpected hand-shaking distance, seemed impressed by her introduction to the glamorous blonde and single mother.

It was only last month that friends confirmed 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 marry.

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

Now he has moved on again to pastures new. And what was abundantly clear from 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. Might it also be a clue that she holds the key to his future happiness?

But then there has always been more to 46-year-old Peter Phillips than meets the eye. Not conventionally good-looking, he did, nonetheless, enjoy a prodigiously active romantic life before marriage. From school onwards he was rarely without a pretty blonde companion – they were almost always blonde – on his arm.

There is something about Phillips’ languid charm that women find fascinating, irresistible even. To some it is the way he wears his royal heritage so lightly. Unburdened by a royal title – thanks to the prescience of his mother, the Princess Royal, who wanted her son and daughter to make their own ways in the world – yet still unmistakeably a Windsor.

Reassuring, unflustered and low key, no wonder he was said to be the late Queen and Prince Philip’s favourite grandchild.

His uncle the King is devoted to him, so too 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 is his curiosity for the opposite sex which is so intriguing. Though the background of his love interests have often been, well, predictable. Until now.

Not since the daughter of the middle-class Middletons caught Prince William’s eye at St Andrews University has a royal girlfriend been quite so unusual. For Harriet Sperling is a state-registered nurse who has spoken candidly of her years as a single mother.

She has described how she and her daughter, now 12, survived “against the odds” as they “journeyed ten years with only each other” while she juggled parenting with working as a paediatric specialist.

It is understood that she and Phillips, 18th in line to the throne, met only a month ago, but they appeared confident and relaxed in each other’s company. There was certainly no attempt to hide their affection for one another. Indeed, according to onlookers, they seemed ‘smitten’.

On Sunday the couple watched the cross-country event from a sponsor’s tent before leaving together with Peter’s daughters Savannah, 13, and Isla, 12. Says a friend: ‘This a romance moving at pace, they are so comfortable together they look like they have known each other for ages.

So, who exactly is 44-year-old Harriet – and why are friends describing Peter as “looking for all the world like the cat who 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 solicitor’s daughter, lives in Gloucestershire, not far from Peter’s home on his mother’s Gatcombe Park estate. Like Phillips, she too has been married.

A career nurse, in 2010 she was a key member of a medical team which helped to save critically ill baby Phineas Cockerham after he was struck down by a deadly virus that attacked his immune system when he was just three weeks old. She featured in a unique photographic 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 Evelina Children’s Hospital in central London.

Describing her response, she said: ‘Just 20 minutes after receiving the call to collect Phineas, the retrieval team were on our way in an intensive care ambulance.’

Thanks to the world-class care, the boy recovered. As a tribute Mr Cockerham, a cameraman, took photos of every member of the 63-strong 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 parent.

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

Writing under her maiden name Harriet Sanders, she added: ‘There’s a special kind of love that develops when it’s just the two of you against the world.’

Judging by the smiles on show this weekend, a royal love match may also be developing.