By most accounts, Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral could be Prince Andrew’s last hurrah, his last moment of royal life, of public life. King Charles III has never gotten along with Andrew, and it’s gotten much worse in the past decade, especially with Andrew repeatedly exploiting QEII’s goodwill and “favorite son” status. Charles is allowing his brother to participate in all of the funeral and remembrance stuff, but after that… well, we’ll see. One interesting thing is that while Andrew and his daughters are being allowed to participate in the public and private mourning period, Sarah Ferguson is in the wind. She’s keeping out of it, although she’ll reportedly attend the funeral on Monday.
Sarah Ferguson missed out on the Balmoral walkabout with her daughters and is not set to join the Queen’s funeral procession today – however she is ‘expected to attend the monarch’s funeral’ on Monday. The Duchess of York, who is also known as Fergie, was married to the Queen’s ‘favourite son’ Prince Andrew for 10 years before they split in 1992 and divorced in 1996.
She continued to live with the Duke in their home of the Royal Lodge in Windsor, and has spoken frequently of her regard for her former mother-in-law, the monarch, whom she called her ‘greatest mentor.’
According to The Telegraph, the mother-of–two is thought to have been invited to the funeral – however she has not been seen in the days following the Queen’s death. She was seen glued to her phone at Venice airport on Thursday ahead of the announcement of the royal’s death, however she has not been pictured joining the family at any events since.
The mother-of-two, who shares her two daughters Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie with Andrew, has sparked a raft of royal scandals over the years, and did not attend Prince Philip’s funeral or memorial service.
I mean, news at seven, of course Fergie hasn’t been invited to any of the family stuff. From what I’ve seen, no one has been checking for her nor has she made an ass out of herself, begging for attention. I wonder if she’ll even go to the state funeral or if King Charles will put a stop to that as well, especially given that seating will probably be pretty limited for extended family. I’m also curious about Andrew and Fergie’s living situation too – in recent years, Charles has let it be known that he thinks it’s entirely inappropriate that Fergie lives rent-free at Royal Lodge with Andrew. While Andrew has a very cushy “lease” on Royal Lodge, there are definitely questions about whether Andrew and Fergie will be able to remain there. Thank goodness Fergie already bizarrely bought a £5 million home in Mayfair a few months ago. No one knows how she could afford it, especially given that she and Andrew were too broke-ass to pay what they owed on their Swiss chalet. Just some stuff to keep in mind in the coming weeks/months. Charles will likely need to make some decisions about the Yorks and their dramas.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
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- The Duchess of York arrives at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle for the wedding of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry.,Image: 515241092, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR SEVEN DAYS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251 Madrid: +34 91 533 4289, Model Release: no, Credit line: – / Avalon
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- 138925, Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson arrive together at Royal Ascot. Day 4 of Royal Ascot. Picture by Ben Stevens / i-ImagesUK, FRANCE, AUS, NZ, CHINA, HONG KONG, TAIWAN, SPAIN & ITALY OUT Photograph: © i-Images, PacificCoastNews. Los Angeles Office: +1 310.822.0419 sales@pacificcoastnews.com FEE MUST BE AGREED PRIOR TO USAGE,Image: 533485865, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS, DIRECT SALES ONLY UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE IN CAPTION – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251 Madrid: +34 91 533 4289, Model Release: no, Credit line: i-Images, PacificCoastNews / Avalon
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- 138925, Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson arrive together at Royal Ascot. Ascot, United Kingdom – Friday June 19, 2015. UK, FRANCE, AUS, NZ, CHINA, HONG KONG, TAIWAN, SPAIN & ITALY OUT Photograph: © i-Images, PacificCoastNews. Los Angeles Office: +1 310.822.0419 sales@pacificcoastnews.com FEE MUST BE AGREED PRIOR TO USAGE,Image: 533485903, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS, DIRECT SALES ONLY UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE IN CAPTION – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251 Madrid: +34 91 533 4289, Model Release: no, Credit line: i-Images, PacificCoastNews / Avalon
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- The Duke of York, Sarah, Duchess of York and their daughter Princess Beatrice during the wedding of Princess Eugenie to Jack Brooksbank, at St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle.,Image: 534314437, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR SEVEN DAYS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251 Madrid: +34 91 533 4289, Model Release: no, Credit line: – / Avalon
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- Sarah Ferguson Duchess of York arrives at St George’s Chapel for the wedding between Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank, Windsor Castle, Berkshire, UK. 12/10/2018.,Image: 534315585, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251 Madrid: +34 91 533 4289, Model Release: no, Credit line: – / Avalon
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- Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, guest of Rai talk show Porta a Porta, presents her book ‘Her Heart for a Compass’.,Image: 647965766, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Maria Laura Antonelli / AGF Foto / Avalon
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- Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, guest of Rai talk show Porta a Porta, presents her book ‘Her Heart for a Compass’.,Image: 647965786, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Maria Laura Antonelli / AGF Foto / Avalon
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- Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, guest of Rai talk show Porta a Porta, presents her book ‘Her Heart for a Compass’.,Image: 647965811, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Maria Laura Antonelli / AGF Foto / Avalon
Why not? She certainly isn’t any more inappropriate than the rest of the royal family.
Right?! She fits right in.
If she is Andrew’s partner then why shouldn’t she live with him if that’s what they want? They are both adults. I’m not sure what is the big deal if them not coming out publicly that they are back together. If she stays as the ex wife then she shouldn’t be invited to family events.
I like to think Anne is all *absafuckinglutely not* whenever Andrew even thinks about trying to get Fergie involved in any this. She’ll carry that torch for her father until the day she dies.
Although, Andrew never rides publicly for Fergie like he does his daughters. He’s clearly advocating to have her live with him, go to weddings, and travel to Balmoral, but it’s all behind the scenes. If someone told Andrew “you can be a working royal again if you throw out Fergie and never see her again”, he’d do it in a HOT SECOND.
They’re ruining things for their daughters as well.
I know I shouldn’t feel sorry for her because she’s a grifter like Andrew. But it seems like they treat her like a stray dog that keeps coming around even though you chase it away. I think Charles might put a stop to her now seeing as he can’t stand her and he likes to hold grudges. She won’t have the kindness of the queen anymore.
Andrew and Fergie are before my time, but it’s so bizarre to me that they wound up getting divorced when they clearly have such an amicable relationship and she is still treated like a member of the family behind the scenes. Was she truly that embarrassing that Phillip forced them to get divorced so she’d be officially out of the family? Or since Charles and Anne were getting divorced around the same time, Fergie being the sole remaining in law was not a reality that could be tolerated, lol?
Granted, I was only in high school at the time (and in the U.S.) but from what I read she continually embarrassed everyone. I remember feeling vaguely sorry for her when she was reduced to doing commercials for Weight Watchers but it seemed like she drifted from scandal to scandal. If she’d been born in the family it would have been excused but I don’t think most of them ever liked her.
She’s that bad and worse. When she first came to the family they adored her, but the toe sucking incident with one of her young daughters at the pool did it for Prince Philip. Her father was also caught sneaking into a massage parlor so he’s hinky as well.
After the affair and the divorce she kept most of her bad behavior to grifting and stiffing other people.
I think they loved each other but had an open marriage. If memory serves, they had some issues but once she was papped getting her toes sucked by the Texan, they were ordered to divorce.
Photos of having your toes sucked by someone who is not your husband being splashed around the world was quite scandalous at that time. I always thought the divorce was forced to help Andrew save face. I’m assuming they had an “aristocratic” marriage and Andrew didn’t care about the affairs, but the embarrassment to the royal family was unforgivable.
Sarah said in an interview that they divorced so that she would be free to work/earn money.
She and her father both said at various points there wasn’t really any reason for them to divorce.
In other interviews she said she divorced because she didn’t want to live the royal life, being told what to do, and the lack of freedom.
It seemed to be more a case of her wanting to stop being royal rather than her not wanting to be with Prince Andrew.
Fergie was photographed with her toes in the mouth of her “financial advisor” – TOPLESS – in front of her toddlers. She was staying at Balmoral when those infamous photos were splashed on the front pages of EVERY. TABLOID. IN. BRITAIN.
When she came downstairs for breakfast, that’s what the queen was looking at and it was BRUTAL. Philip never wanted to be in a room with her for the rest of his life. And until he died she was frozen out.
Bingo. As a teen, I LOVED Fergie back in the day. I remember the whole thing. That balmoral trip was for a possible reconciliation and BAM the photos. Which had been stolen from a hotel room if I’m remembering right. But she stayed with the toe sucking guy for awhile. I was on my honeymoon in 92 when the Morton book on Diana came out. Diana, Fergie and the marriage breakups were everywhere.
The toe sucking affair was what killed it for Fergie. I don’t Andrew ever minded, we know now he had his share of fun too, but he never got caught red-handed by the tabloids back then like Fergie, Charles or Diana. In the grand scheme of things, Fergie was pretty dispensable.
The leading tabloid, News Of The World was so ***ruthless***… the Daily Mail is bad, but I don’t think it has that Murdoch-like scent for blood.
I remember she used to be ripped to pieces every week for her fashion sense and her weight (‘Duchess of Pork’). She dresses well now, but by 80s standards, she would have gone for shiny, puffy clothes that didn’t do anything for her.
Ahhh, being a fat red headed kid in the 80s was extra fun when all that Duchess of pork stuff started.
Fergie, married to Philip and Elizabeth’s son, had front page photos of her toes being sucked by a man who was not Andrew.
That did it.
And this was in the middle of Charles and Di’s War of the Wales (and Anne’s divorce, although that wasn’t as publicized.) So instead of acting as a diversion from Charles and Di, it acted as gasoline on top of the royal fire.
And yeah, Fergie had been a goofball before, but those photos elevated her to Unacceptable.
I see no royal mercy in her future.
Anyone else find it bizarre that Paedrew & Fergie still shack up 26 years after divorcing? I do wonder what kind of odd co-dependent or symbiotic relationship they have together
Yes, it’s very odd, especially since it still continues after this teenage girl stuff.
Poor Fergie, no matter how hard she tries, she always looks like she’s just gotten off the night shift at the local diner.
Why did they repeat “mother of two”? Like this is the sum and substance of her whole life – “mother of two” and “raft of royal scandals.”
At this present time, the only relevance she has to the royal family is being mother of two royal princesses.
That bothered me, too. She’s a grandmother now for God’s sake. Call her the grifter she is. She and Andrew stay around each other cuz they know each others dirty secrets. They con well together. Let’s not call it anything other than what it is
Apparently she and the queen remained close after the divorce, united in their love of corgis and horses. Supposedly they would take walks together with their dogs. She’s a hot mess, but I kinda dig that she still manages to stick around after all these years.
She’s a lifelong hustler, I’ll give her that. She’s definitely committed to the long-game.
The Queen had known her since she was a kid. She really had a soft spot for her. She bailed her out more than once but Fergie just can’t live within her means.
I have a feeling her days at Royal Lodge are numbered. Charles will figure a way to boot them both out of that place and banish him to some manse in the countryside, forever out of public sight. Good riddance.
Maybe a swap of Royal Lodge and Anmer Hall. I can see Andrew being parked at either Sandringham or Balmoral.
“Her questionable faux wife status is not determined by the lack of events she is invited to.”
I mean, why would she be invited? She is not married to Andrew, she is not a member of the RF in any official capacity. Andrew is on extremely thin ice to say the least. There is no way in hell that Fergie would ever be invited to any of these things, period.
I doubt she’s even invited to the funeral, tbh. The funeral is a state occasion, paid for and put on by the British govt for their deceased constitutional head of state. It’s not a private occasion. There is no way they will invite her when she’s not family, or a representative sent on behalf of a foreign country.
She was invited to the queen mothers funeral, and she was far closer to the queen…
The Queen Mother is not the Queen though. It’s like comparing apples to oranges. As I said, the Queen is the former head of state, who is getting a state funeral, paid for by the British govt, and they are the ones who will be in charge of deciding who is invited and who is not. Seating for the funeral in Westminster Abbey is limited, and there are much more important people who would likely be invited before Fergie is.
The Queen Mother was the queen consort, and her funeral was not a state funeral. And Andrew was not nearly as reviled as a public figure as he is today. The public also didn’t know that Jeffrey Epstein had paid off a portion of Fergie’s debts. The situations were simply not the same, and the sort of leeway that existed in 2002 does not exist for her now. I’d be very surprised if she turns up with Andrew to the funeral.
I image Sarah would be really busy working on one of the 80 books in her children’s book deal. I haven’t even seen one yet, so she needs to get writing! Maybe all of her fountain pens were leaky.
Good grief. They should just invite her. She is the mother of the two princesses. I hate exclusivity.
As much as Andrew is a disgrace,, he did appear to be very close to his mom. I’m sure Fergie will console him once he gets home.
After all these years, how could anyone not consider her family? She and Andrew seem.to have the best marriage out of all of them… I swear these people are just weird.
I read that it was Fergie’s daughters (Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie) who begged their father to allow their financially struggling mother to live at Royal Lodge with him because on her own, she could not afford an appropriate place to live. Fergie has said herself that she and Andrew live in “separate wings of the house,” he on one side and she on the other, and they “do their own thing” separately. Also, I believe that Fergie publicly talks highly of Andrew, and “stands by him,” saying things like “he is a great man of integrity,” only because, let’s face it — she will say anything in order to keep her free housing situation. I bet he makes her sing for her supper. It was reported that a visitor to the house witnessed Andrew rudely call her a “fat cow.” She is there because Andrew’s daughters begged him, not because he has any interest in marrying her.