The Prince of York and Sarah Ferguson got divorced more than two decades ago. The Queen pretty much ordered them to divorce, and I remember, at the time, believing that Andrew would have happily stayed married to Fergie if he had his way. Yes, she cheated on him, but he adored her and they had a more typical marital royal-arrangement: they both got to do whatever and whoever they wanted. Fergie’s issue was that she was incredibly indiscreet. Andrew still adored his ex-wife and even after the divorce, they still happily co-parented and spent loads of time together. Andrew slowly worked Fergie back into the royal fold too – the Queen is said to be still quite fond of Fergie, and the Queen apparently respects the fact that Fergie and Andrew have remained so close post-divorce. Fergie still gets invited to the occasional royal event, just as long as the Duke of Edinburgh isn’t around. Philip is the one who loathes Fergie and refuses to be in the same room or space as her.
There’s already been some gossip that Philip might actually skip his granddaughter’s wedding because of Fergie. Royal sources claimed last month that no one knows what Philip will do about Eugenie’s October wedding. Sources also claimed that Andrew and Fergie could really care less about Philip – Andrew is hoping that Eugenie’s wedding is Fergie’s final step towards her complete image-rehabilitation. But still, people are wondering if Philip will even bother. From the Daily Mail’s Talk of the Town gossip column:
It may not be on the scale of the Thomas Markle debacle, but I can reveal there will be family friction on the happy day in of Princess Eugenie’s October wedding, with two guests desperate to avoid each other, if their behaviour last week is anything to go by. I’m told that Prince Philip was at pains not to bump into the Duchess of York, 58, when she visited the Queen at Balmoral last week.
Fergie arrived with Prince Andrew and the couple’s eldest daughter Beatrice on Thursday on her annual visit to the Scottish retreat. But in what appears to be very careful planning, she left the estate at 10.30am on Sunday after waving Andrew and Bea off to church and headed for Aberdeen airport in a Range Rover, while the Duke of Edinburgh, 97, arrived at 11.15am, to be reunited with the Queen. A Balmoral source tells me: ‘Her Majesty often has the Duchess for a few days at Balmoral early in her annual summer holiday there, but Prince Philip does not like being in the same building as her. He just can’t bring himself to forgive her for some of the outrageous things she has done.’
While Buckingham Palace passed off Philip’s absence at Balmoral by claiming he had a ‘private engagement’, it will leave Royal watchers wondering what will happen when the pair come face to face with one another when Eugenie, 28, marries Jack Brooksbank, 32, on October 12. I pity the wedding organisers who will have to orchestrate the arrivals on the big day, though they will have been relieved to learn that there are three entrances to St George’s Chapel. While Fergie attended Harry and Meghan’s wedding in May, she was pointedly not invited to the private party thrown by Prince Charles in the evening. This time, however, it may be Prince Philip’s turn to head to bed early.
Does it strike anyone else as odd that a 97-year-old man in poor health has so many secretive “private engagements” that always seem to coincide with family stuff? He had a private engagement (or something) during Prince Lou’s christening too. Anyway, I am not surprised that Fergie’s trip to Balmoral was scheduled with military precision to avoid Philip. I am surprised that the Queen seems to be the one behind Fergie’s visit in the first place – it feels like the Queen has fewer f–ks to give about what her husband thinks these days. My guess is that when it comes to Eugenie’s wedding, the Queen will tell Philip to either suck it up and watch Eugenie get married or suck it up and stay home, and nothing in-between.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Avalon Red.
I’ll say this for Sarah — she’s still got the most glorious hair!
I thought the rumor was Andrew was closeted.
I think it still is.
The man is 97 years old, it is possible Eugenie will be the last grandchild he will see married in his lifetime. Would he really be so stubborn as to skip the wedding because of Fergie?
That is so sad
The questions is, does he hate Sarah more than he loves Eugenie? We’ll find out.
You’re very succinct! 🙂
I don’t think he cares about seeing them get married
He’s been to so many weddings I could see him not caring. He’s probably bored to tears by weddings at this point. That said, I think he’ll show up…just because.
If he is still alive and can walk, of course he will attend the wedding, no question about it.
If he doesnt’ show up , I don’t think it has anything to do with disliking or avoiding anyone. When you get to that age, people really dont’ care about things like this. He’s been there in their lives, what’s so earthshatteringly important for him to be at a wedding. I always find it interesting when people still expect someone that age to conform. Why? When my parents were in their 80’s and didn’t attend weddings, people got upset, but it’s difficult for someone that age to muster the energy or the interest to attend another social event.
There’s no need for any gossip about this. The man’s 97. There should be no expectations of anything from him at this point.. Emotional, physical or anything else.
I think private engagement is code for “ I’m 97. I’m sleeping in. F**k off.”
Yeah, I’m thinking it’s just a way to say that he can’t/doesn’t want to go.
I always get the feeling that there’s more to this story than “he still really hates her because she was indiscreet” stuff..it feels…more personal, somehow. Who knows.
It does seem very extreme. I agree there might be more to this..
Yes! Especially when you compare Sarah’s ‘sins’ to other bad behaviors of the other royals.
Well the rumour is that he slept with Fergie’s mother. Sarah Ferguson is fully aware that as far as the royal family goes she is in a powerful position because she knows ALL the secrets. This has enabled her to get away with a lot, and the Queen knows that it is safer to keep her inside the fold. Fergie acts as though she doesn’t know which day of the week it is but really it is all a ruse, she is nobody’s fool, much cleverer than Diana.
I kind of love Fergie and Andrew. They are complete idiots and their relationship is so unconventional… but they just keep doing their thing. I am not sure if they are delusional or if they just don’t care about normal conventions, but whatever it is.. it works for them.
You admire Pedo Andy and a thirst hungry no shame user?
I admire him not going to that wedding. just IMAGINE how insufferable Andrew and Sarah will be and all on the public purse. Taking welfare/benefits to pay for your daughter’s wedding. Tacky and gauche. It shows how deaf they are to the public. If it was a quiet family wedding, I am sure (a) most people still wouldn’t give a s**t and (b) it may have even generated some goodwill for Eugenie.
So you def had a problem with Peter Phillips wedding I take it? After all Autumn Kelly rode to St Georges chapel in the STATE Bentley and oh my…they actually rode in one of the Queen’s carriages after! And I am sure there were police and protection officers at that wedding also, so why does he get a pass for his wedding but not Eugenie?
Neither of them get a pass. This blog was about this wedding. This wedding is costing the peasants 2 million pounds plus for security for a non working blood princess (who does not contribute to the taxpayers supporting this wedding)
Non-working royal. Key words.
@louise ITA
Many people had a problem with Peter Phillips’ wedding. The focus was on selling pictures (including of the Queen) to Hello magazine, because that’s tacky as hell, but there was criticism of the security costs too.
Should Eugenie be forced to elope because she is a member of the royal family? All of the major and many of the minor royals will be in attendance, of course there needs to be security. And the police make those decisions, not the BRF. Since Eugenie has an actual job, she pays taxes just like everyone else.
She doesn’t have to elope. The security costs go way up because of the carriage ride and all of the external people invited. If there was no carriage ride, no ticketing and no public appearance, the costs would be significantly less.
@ MAC she made the decision to have 1200 fans and carriage ride. That decision wasn’t forced on her. This is where the additional security costs are incurring.
Nobody is denying her a nice wedding, it could be scaled back to a true reflection of who she is in regards to the BRF brand.
The UK government are the ones trotting out the royals as Brexit ambassadors across Continental Europe. While some of the people may not want to pay security, the government wants to keep showing off the royal family as something that sets the UK apart from other nations.
This wedding is another convenient shiny object.
The UK government has nothing to do with Eugenie (who has neither a “Brexit ambassador” nor any other royal role) ‘s wedding. The police will have been consulted on the level of security required, and that’s it.
They might not be planning the wedding, but they have no problem using the royals for what they want. Push comes to shove, they’ll approve the security bills for whatever pageant this family puts on.
There’s no official government approval required or asked for. The police will do what’s necessary to protect the royal family and the public. But we don’t have to like it, or what it costs, especially given that there are much cheaper alternatives available.
@tina was going to comment but couldn’t have said it any better than you!
The security is to protect the public as much as it is to protect the RF.
Eugenie could have her carriage ride and 1200 strangers… but she had her family should cover the security costs. Costs go up enormously with those two components and security in general is mooted at 94% of the total wedding expenditure. Eugenie is a non-working royal; no need for the public to be paying for what is essentially a private family occasion. Same with Peter Phillips.
Well there is that rumor from long ago that Philip used to sleep with Fergies mom, Susan, for a long time. Maybe Fergie knows and it’s all weird.
Whoa…never heard that one before. Yikes.
I am only recently well versed in the royal family because I finished binge watching the crown and googled every member of that family to death. Philip even supposedly got with his own cousin, princess Alexandria, and had a looooong drawn out affair with an actress (pat kitkwood) for years that the queen was aware of. Philip the philanderer.
My guess he’ll be at the wedding but not the receptions. The York sisters are very close to their grandparents, saw them most weekends at Windsor when they lived at Royal Lodge.
I agree with Nota. For the Wedding, they’ll probably put Fergie either up a row out of eyesight, or way down the row, so when he looks at Eug he doesn’t have her in his sight line.
He could beg off the reception, claiming health, tiredness, etc, and the couple could always go in to see him privately for his “toast” to them. But for sure, TQ will also not be at their evening party, just as she wasn’t for Harry’s.
Indiscreetly cheating on your royal spouse? Sounds like Phillip doesn’t like Fergie because they’re too much alike.
I think you have something there. I suspect that he hates Sarah precisely because she was not discreet. There have been rumours about Philip’s fidelity for the duration of their marriage, but no one has come up with anything concrete along the lines of the toe-sucking photos.
Yeah she just wasn’t a discreet enough cheater as he was…
Maybe but only if you don’t count all Philip’s paternity cases which were quite widely reported on
What paternity cases? There were rumours, but nothing ever happened in court.
The Balmoral trip with “military precision” happens every summer, this is not new.
He went to Harry’s wedding when she was there. She wasn’t sitting as close as she will be during Eugenie’s but she was still in the forward quadrant.
If he isn’t at the wedding it will be because of his health not b/c of Sarah.
That’s what I think too. Similar with “private engagement” he’s too proud to cite age or medical issues.
Fergie always goes to Balmoral before Philip arrives. It’s always been that way. He’s very close with the York girls, he’s not gonna miss Eugnenie’s wedding just cause of Sarah. They’ll be kept far away from each other. She’ll probably sit on the other side of the church, and kept away from him for the little bit of the afters that he attends.
Pretty rich having judgment come at you from #ThisGuy
He is a hateful petty racist POS. Fergie is lucky to be in his bad side.
I don’t know much about the divorce but it was forced by the Queen? Because of negative publicity or were they truly tired of 1 another?
Negative publicity. HM also ordered Charles and Diana to divorce when they both proved they couldn’t control their antics with the press.
Diana’s interview where she discuss Prince Charles being King was the last straw for The Queen.
From what I’ve read Diana and Sarah were suppose to leave at the same time.
Lol as if Philip himself is such a saint. Pretty sure he was unfaithful to the Queen quite a lot in his heyday. He was just lucky paparazzi/the Internet/social media wasn’t a thing back then. If he can’t get over setting aside his differences with Fergie for one day to see his granddaughter get married, I don’t think his absence will be that missed.
Fergie attended Harry’s wedding, no? They both survived it and he will survive this. It seems like a bunch of tabloid buzz for nothing.
Ha, he is probably thinking about posing for the wedding pictures. She will be right there on the RF side of the shot, as the mother of the bride, with him, the Queen, Andrew and Beatrice.
Prince Phillip is holding on just to spite Sarah by dying on the day of or the day before her birthday.
I agree that the Queen should tell him to either put on a smile or not go. What ridiculous behaviour for a 97yo grown man. He needs to grow up and behave as he should. How ridiculous for him to hold a grudge this long. As for HM, I think that she enjoys Fergie as they have had a relatively lovely relationship. Plus she knows that for the sake of the entire family, it’s best to get along so that everyone can be together.
I think if TQ was going to “order” PP to do anything re: his intolerance of Fergie it would have already happened. Years ago. I think if his health permits, PP will go to the ceremony but not the reception. He made the effort to go to Harry’s ceremony with very recently broken ribs (yikes, those hurt) and a fairly new hip! So given that the York sisters are reportedly very close to their grandparents, I doubt his dislike of Fergie will keep him away. Creative seating may be required and he may not be smiling the whole time— he’s 97 and likely has lots of aches and pains. But as I recall, at the last wedding all the royals weren’t smiling all the time either.
Phillip has been avoiding Sarah for years. He’ll be at the wedding. He loves Eugenie. He wouldn’t ruin her wedding day by being churlish with her mother.
The way Philip’s hate for Sarah is protrayed on the show “The Windsors” is hilarious 😂 In real life though, he needs to put his feelings aside for one day, out of respect and love for his grand-daughter.