“Megxit” and Princess Beatrice‘s wedding plans affected the timing of the latest royal divorce announcements, according to an expert.
The Queen’s nephew, the Earl of Snowdon, and his wife Serena have become the second royal couple to announce they are divorcing in the past week.
The earl and countess have “amicably agreed” to split, a spokesperson for the couple told Insider.
Meanwhile, Her Majesty’s eldest grandson Peter Phillips and his wife Autumn Phillips last week announced they have been separated since last year.
The Phillips family weren’t initially going to make an announcement, their spokesperson told Insider. However, they felt they had to speak on the matter after it was leaked to the press.
Since these two major divorces were leaked and announced within just eight days of each other, it begs the question as to whether any external factors had an influence.
According to royal author Nigel Cawthorne, the couples might not have announced the sad news if it wasn’t for Princess Beatrice, who he says allowed the negative royal coverage that came with “Megxit” to die down when she announced details of her royal wedding earlier this month.
“It is complicated. Once ‘Megxit’ happened, the palace needed positive royal news and hence the announcement of Beatrice’s marriage,” Cawthorn, author of “I Know I Am Rude: Prince Philip on Prince Philip,” told Insider.
“This, in turn, created the space to flush out more bad news, but I don’t think that Phillips and Snowdon would have announced their divorces without Beatrice’s announcement or some other good news,” he added.
On February 7, Buckingham Palace announced that Beatrice will marry Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi on May 29 at St James’s Palace in London.
The news came just a month after Markle and Harry announced they will depart from the royal family in the spring.