Sarah Ferguson needs to make some major changes if she wants to return from exile, one royal expert has noted – but can she really change her pattern of past behaviours?
Sarah Ferguson may have vanished from public view, but she’s never one to give up a fight.
The former Duchess of York has gone to ground in recent months, and much has happened since her grand escape. Her ex-husband, Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in a public office and remains ‘under investigation’. He vehemently denies any wrongdoing.
Her daughters have faced intense scrutiny and agreed to step away from attending the royals’ Easter service. Her former home of Royal Lodge has been gutted. But still, not a peep from a woman renowned for reinventing herself in the public eye after scandal.
Recently dubbed the ‘most famous missing person in the UK’, Fergie is said to be on a ‘secret sofa-surfing world tour’ which has seen her moving from the home of one loyal and discreet friend to another.
One pal, describing Andrew’s ex-wife as ‘dishevelled’, said this week that Sarah “really is low”. They claimed that the duchess has been complaining she’s ‘broke, hasn’t been taking care of her roots or keeping up with her Botox, and continually rotates through three phones because she is afraid of being tracked.
Andrew, meanwhile, has finally moved into his permanent exile pad – Marsh Farm on the Sandringham Estate – after plenty of alleged grumbling over its size and “digging his heels in” over the relocation.
Since her disappearance, there’s been plenty of whispers about Sarah’s whereabouts – from lavish wellness retreats to the UAE. But perhaps even more telling is the suggestion that Sarah is doing everything in her power to save herself – even if it means throwing Andrew to the wolves. Here, we delve into everything we know about Sarah’s schemes behind the scenes – and how they could further humiliate the disgraced duke…
Book plans
Sarah has been no stranger to cashing in on her royal connections in the past, utilising her position to team up with Weight Watchers, write children’s books and romance novels, and release her own autobiography in 1996.
In February, it was reported that Ferguson could follow in the footsteps of her nephew, Prince Harry, by penning a candid memoir following her downfall. But publishers will seemingly only be interested if she addresses her relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and is able to own her past behaviour. And that’s unlikely, according to royal historian Marlene Koenig says.
She believes Sarah has shown “no moral accountability” nor has she ever accepted responsibility for her mistakes. Instead, she “just keeps repeating the cycle over and over and over again – she’s never learned”.
“Sarah is guilty of immorality, lack of moral clarity, of grifting, of not being able to understand that you have to be personally responsible for your life,” Marlene argues. “And she has failed abysmally all that.”
“The greed, the lack of moral clarity, lack of morals – neither [Sarah nor Andrew] have a backbone. It’s all about taking responsibility for your life, as opposed to wanting self gratification on many, many different levels.”
It’s been claimed that some US publishers have already turned the reported £1.5million book deal down. A source recently told the Sunday Express: “She ended up with a string of rejections and zero response in a few cases.”
But royal author Andrew Lownie, who wrote a blistering expose of the Yorks last year, believes Ferguson is not so easily defeated. “I suspect a publisher will commission it and I suspect for lots of money, and I suspect she will give a big sit-down interview and make lots of money. People won’t believe it, but they will still buy it,” he said.
The writer suggests, however, that the former duchess will likely do everything in her power to keep her daughter’s out of it. He noted: “If she does anything to really upset them [British Royal Family], then the daughters will lose their Christmas invitation to Sandringham, possibly their titles, etc., and that’s how they’re making their money now. Every time [a member of the York family] go to Sandringham, their value in the Middle East goes up.”
Leaning on ex-lovers
Among those believed to have helped Fergie keep her location under wraps are two former flames. According to the friend, the ex-royal is currently staying somewhere that is ‘like a castle’ and has an Italian count looking after her.
And the count in question is said to be Count Gaddo della Gherardesca, her boyfriend between late 1997 and early 1998 following her divorce from Andrew. The 86-year-old has an enormous home in Tuscany, as well as a ski lodge in Verbier.
Last month, it was reported that she was hiding at the Wiltshire home of another ex-boyfriend, 88-year-old Paddy McNall. She dated the former racing driver and motorsports executive for three years before marrying Andrew, and the pair have remained close. He also has properties in the Swiss ski resort Verbier and in St Tropez in the south of France.
News that Sarah is taking advantage of her wealthy connections comes as no surprise to Marlene. The royal historian notes that Sarah was not born into luxury – but she came from a family with connections, giving her a taste of the life she aspired to.
Her father, Major Ronald Ferguson, was a prominent polo manager who worked for both King Charles and Prince Philip for many years, and, as a result, Sarah grew up around the royal family, playing with Andrew at Windsor Castle as a child. While not royal herself yet, she was very much a part of the British country gentry with big aspirations for her lifestyle.
Her marriage to Andrew in 1986 seemed to signal Sarah’s arrival at the top of the tree, but, in Marlene’s view, her “attachment to greed” soon caused issues. Much has been made of Fergie’s exorbitant spending; it was her continual debt that eventually led her to make multiple requests for money to Jeffrey Epstein.
Now, it seems, all avenues for revenue have been shut down, with companies and charities falling over themselves to disassociate from the disgraced former Duchess in the wake of the Epstein files. It begs the question, how is Fergie funding her time in hiding?
“She must still retain some very good loyal friends, because she has managed to keep her head down,” Marlene told us. “But she’s also lost all of her business and commercial opportunities on the surface of things.”
Her spending habits have long been scrutinised after her debt troubles. She also has a habit of wanting to be given money without having to work for it, Marlene claims. “They’ve done this to themselves,” she says of the ex couple.
‘Running away’ from Andrew
Should Sarah attempt a public comeback, it will put a further strain on her relationship with ex-husband Andrew. In the past, she has been unwaveringly loyal to the former Prince – but the weight of their shared shame has apparently taken its toll.
Sarah famously once described her and Andrew as ‘the happiest divorced couple in the world’, and right up until the end of last year, the exes were still living together at Royal Lodge in Windsor.
She moved in with Andrew in 2008, following their 1996 divorce, and they continued to share a home. She previously opened up about the unusual arrangement, explaining that while they have separate bedrooms, they came together every day for afternoon tea “It’s a very important part of our lives,” she revealed.
But then it all came crashing down. Andrew was stripped of his titles and evicted from Royal Lodge. He was given a home on the Sandringham estate – Marsh Farm – but no such offer was extended to his ex-wife.
Sarah is said to be feeling “incredibly betrayed” by members of the royal family in the wake of the scandal. And a friend told the Mail that while she and Andrew are technically still on speaking terms they are “not talking that much”. They added: “It is almost as if they have run away from each other.”
It’s a marked difference for the former couple, who mutually benefitted from their continued association in the past. As royal biographer Tina Brown previously noted: “Whatever the undertow of their curious arrangement, the deal seems to be that he bails her out when she’s in trouble and she backs him up when he’s assailed by scandal. It is the symbiosis of sheer survival.”
