Sarah Ferguson has reportedly stunned friends by failing to attend the wedding of her beloved family member
Since the full extent of her ties to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein came to light earlier this year, Sarah Ferguson has been keeping an extremely low profile. Aside from the occasional sighting at exclusive health spas and ski resorts across the globe, the former Duchess of York has been virtually nowhere to be seen.
Her absence was particularly conspicuous at the wedding of her “golden niece”, Heidi Luedecke. Heidi, the daughter of Sarah’s elder sister Jane, tied the knot with art consultant Ben Collinson at All Saints Church in Dummer, near Dummer Down Farm, where Sarah grew up as a child.
Sarah had previously spoken to the Daily Mail’s Richard Eden about her affection for Heidi, saying: “She is my golden niece, whom I love so much. I’m devoted to lovely Ben and Heidi.”
Sarah’s daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, were also absent from Heidi’s big day, opting instead to attend the considerably more high-profile wedding of Peter Phillips and Harriet Sperling, alongside the King and Queen, the Princess Royal, and the Princess of Wales.
A family friend told Richard Eden there was no good reason for Sarah to have skipped the ceremony: “Sarah would have been surrounded by love had she turned up,” they confided. “She could have kept a low profile without too many problems.”
Sarah is most recently reported to have been renting a private chalet in the Austrian Alps, spending time at the Mayrlife Medical Health Resort, a clinic specialising in longevity treatments where a week-long stress-busting Leader’s Excellence course can set you back around £4,000.
While numerous experts have predicted that Sarah will, as she has on countless occasions before, find a way of bouncing back from her present scandals, it could take her considerable time.
She has been dropped by multiple charities since details of an email she sent in 2011 were published, an email which appears to have been sent after she publicly declared that she had cut all ties with him.
Ingrid Seward, the duchess’ biographer who has known Sarah and her family since the 1980s, does not rule out the prospect of a future comeback but acknowledges it will not be simple.
She told The i newspaper: “(Fergie) has come back so many times. This time she is probably going to have to do what she’s never done before and lie low for quite a while.”
The former Duchess of York’s fall from grace has been chiefly due to the alleged indiscretions of a husband she continued to live with for nearly 30 years following their divorce. Although Sarah did attempt to secure some degree of financial independence after separating from Andrew, capitalising on her royal connections to promote countless products in the US, she has perpetually grappled with debt.
Speaking on the Suddenly Single podcast, GB News presenter Andrew Pierce said: “She is a reckless spender. That’s her problem.”
He drew attention to the fact that, according to an entry in the so-called Epstein files, her debts had at one point reached approximately £45 million.
