A job with Fred the Shred, selling milk to the Chinese

Release time：2024-05-01 08:22:01 Source：Earthly Echo news portal

Peter Phillips - who has split from his girlfriend Lindsay Wallace after three years together - has enjoyed a decidedly more low-key life than his cousins.

Peter is not a 'working royal' and receives no state support after his mother Princess Anne's decision not to give him or his younger sister Zara any royal titles.

While Zara has followed Anne in making a name for herself as an equestrian, Peter has immersed himself in various business ventures - with the occasional controversy.

Among the most famous of these was in 2020 when Peter deployed his royal status to sell Jersey-produced milk in China in a famously cringeworthy advert.

In a television commercial for Bright Dairies, shown on the country's Dragon TV, Peter was seen being brought a glass of milk by a butler.

Peter Phillips and Lindsay Wallace are pictured together at Epsom Racecourse in June 2022

Peter deployed his royal status to sell Jersey-produced milk in China in an advert back in 2020

'This is what I drink,' he said against a tagline reading: 'British royal family member, Peter Phillips.' 

READ MORE Late Queen's 'favourite grandson' Peter Phillips, 46, splits from 'rock solid' girlfriend Lindsay Wallace after three years: Friends say Princess Anne's 'incredibly busy' son was 'travelling all over the world' for work

However, such overt exploitation of his royal status raised eyebrows. 

Labour MP Sir Chris Bryant said at the time: 'This is enough to curdle the cream on your breakfast cereal. They're demeaning the very essence of the monarchy.'

Decades earlier, disgraced banker Fred 'The Shred' Goodwin - stripped of his knighthood after his role in Royal Bank of Scotland's downfall in 2008 - is the man Peter has to thank for his early career.

After studying sports science at Exeter, Peter went into corporate entertainment with his company Tailor Made Hospitality Limited.

Set up in 2001, its last filed accounts were in 2003, when it was horribly in the red, with net liabilities of £140,000 after just 18 months in business.

Peter walked away from the disaster and started to work in corporate entertainment on the Williams Formula 1 motor racing team.

He had done work experience in F1 via family friend, Sir Jackie Stewart. Goodwin then hired Peter in 2005 to run the bank's sponsorship of Williams F1 team.

(From left) Fred Goodwin and Mark Fisher of RBS with Peter Phillips and Jackie Stewart in 2006

In author Ian Fraser's account of Goodwin's downfall, 'Shredded: Inside RBS, The Bank That Broke Britain', it was observed that Peter was a part of an exceptionally lavish set-up.

READ MORE How Lindsay Wallace will remain in the royal inner circle after split from Peter Phillips: Oil tycoon's daughter was pals with his sister Zara Tindall at school and 'met the late Queen after a shooting party at Windsor'

Large sums were spent on RBS 'ambassadors' and phenomenal sums were spent on hospitality for guests during races. Up to £200million in total was spent on sponsoring events.

Goodwin was becoming ever more influential in royal circles at the time, having taken over as chairman of the Prince's Trust in Scotland in 2000, then the Prince's Trust in 2003, before getting a knighthood in 2004.

Ian Fraser said: 'Charles (then Prince of Wales) regularly sang Fred Goodwin's praises and Goodwin seemed to make it his business to ingratiate himself with the Royal Family. He hired Zara, then Peter, arguably to do a favour for the royals.'

Peter has recently returned to F1 as head of partner acquisition for the sports and entertainment rights agency CSM Sport & Entertainment. 

But back in 2012, four years after the RBS downfall had hit the headlines, Peter had become a shareholder in SEL UK limited, a sports and events firm which is a division of an Australian company.

On paper, it organises events including the Gatcombe Festival of British Eventing, which Peter has run since 2017, but it has otherwise failed to set the world alight.

Peter played a leading role organising The Patron's Lunch event for the late Queen's 90th birthday. Guests are pictured attending the celebrations on The Mall in London in June 2016 

In 2016, the company attracted controversy when it emerged that a payment it had received to organise a 'charity' Patron's Lunch in honour of the late Queen's 90th birthday was only a few thousand less than the sums raised and given to Elizabeth II's favoured charities: the latter received a total of marginally over £762,000, while SEL had received a set fee of £750,000 to cover costs.

READ MORE Is Peter Phillips the most unlucky in love royal? Princess Anne's son, 46, splits from girlfriend of three years Lindsay Wallace after divorcing Autumn Kelly 

Nor had a contract to organise the lunch been put out to tender.

Two years later, accounts for the year ending June 2018, showed that the firm was £26,000 in the red, and the following year Companies House recorded a move to strike the firm from the register — although this was rescinded weeks later.

Today, it was revealed Peter had split from his 'rock solid' girlfriend Lindsay after three years together.

The pair have now gone their separate ways after the relationship 'ran its course', a source told the Sun. 

They are still amicable, with no one else believed to be involved.

Peter and his old friend Lindsay, 43, an oil tycoon's daughter, started dating following his divorce from Autumn Kelly , 45, in 2021.

The former husband and wife share two daughters, Savannah, 13, and Isla, 12.

Peter and Autumn with daughters Savannah, 13, and Isla, 12, at Buckingham Palace in 2019

Peter and Autumn Phillips on their wedding day in Windsor in May 2008. They later separated

The couple sold pictures of their 2008 wedding to Hello! magazine for £500,000.

A friend of the couple told Hello! magazine that Peter's work commitments meant he had been travelling 'non-stop'. 

'Peter and Lindsay made the difficult decision to separate as they were spending less time together with work and family commitments. Peter's business commitments and work in F1 meant he has been away and travelling non stop,' the source said.

'It obviously came as a shock as most people thought they were absolutely rock solid, it's very sad. Peter has been travelling all over the world and has been incredibly busy and Lindsay is based up in Scotland, so it's been hard for them to see each other.'

Related articles