Captain’s cold Christmas?

Press, 18 December 1989, Page 1

Captain’s cold Christmas?

NZPA-AAP London Captain Mark Phillips seems to have been left out in the cold this Christmas — he is not spending it with the rest of the Royal Family at Sandringham, nor is he spending it with his father or at his home at Gatcombe Park, Gloucestershire. Captain Phillips and Princess Anne separated in late August, just two months before their sixteenth wedding anniversary in November. But as Christmas draws near, London tabloids have been speculating on where the captain will open his presents this year. Buckingham Palace said there had never been a question of Captain Phillips going to Sandringham for Christmas with his wife

and two children, Peter, aged 12, and Zara, aged eight “Apart from that we have no idea what his movements are,” the Palace spokesman said. His father, Major Peter Phillips, said his son had not made up his mind yet and could go to Canada, where he has a large circle of friends from equestrian business there. “I’ve spoken to him on the phone and he hasn’t made up his mind where he’ll be,” Major Phillips said. • . “All I can say definitely is that he won’t be spending it with us here.” A public relations consultant, Ms Kathy Birks, who has been romantically linked with the captain by the news media, lives in

Toronto. At the time of the marriage split both Captain Phillips and Ms Birks said rumours of an affair between them were “absolutely outrageous.” Friends reportedly told several newspapers Captain Phillips was not keen on the idea of remaining on the estate himself. A spokesman for Gatcombe Park refused to shgd any further light on the matter when approached by journalists. “You’re right, he obviously won’t be going to Sandringham. But anyway, why should everyone know where he spends Christmas?” he said. “He’s entitled to a private life.”