Sarah Ferguson has come under intense scrutiny over the last few weeks and is poised to leave her long-term home of Royal Lodge forcing her to come up with a Plan B
With no home, job or money, Sarah Ferguson has got some big decisions to make. In only a matter of weeks, her life has crumbled like a house of cards – and she’s said to be “panicking”. The former Duchess of York lost the use of her title after King Charles released a blistering statement about his younger brother, Andrew Mountbatten Windsor.
The King announced that he would be formally removing Andrew’s title, and therefore Sarah’s too after she held it through her former marriage to Andrew. Struck from the official roll of peerage, the couple will also be leaving their long-term home of Royal Lodge, which they shared even after their divorce.
Andrew held what was dubbed an “iron-clad” lease on the Grade II listed property near Windsor Castle, so the monarch could not force his brother to leave the home, but it was becoming an increasingly controvsersial matter for the public, after it was revealed that the King’s brother had barely paid any rent on the home in the two decades he lived there. Andrew will be, it is understood, moving to a property on Charles’s private Norfolk estate, Sandringham.
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Whilst the palace has not confirmed which of the 150 homes on the 20,000-acre estate Andrew will be occupying, it is understood that Fergie will not be making the move to Norfolk with her ex-husband. Instead, Fergie is tasked with once again reinventing herself amidst a major public scandal, and is reportedly “panicking” at the prospect.
According to royal insiders, Fergie and Andrew are spending little time together at Royal Lodge as they prepare to move out, with Sarah “fearful” at the prospect of being without royal security, and worrying about backlash regarding the couple’s ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. For his part, Andrew “rarely goes out and has been padding around the lodge and ranting and muttering,” a source told The Sun.
Whereas Sarah has been opting to spend her evenings in a “purpose-built bar” called The Doghouse next to the 30-room mansion, where she has been trying to “escape”, leaning on pals and begging staff to stay late with her so she can vent. The insider explained, “Andrew and Sarah are leading separate lives – at different ends and on different wings.
“But they come together quite often for lunch and dinner, and this is where they talk about their futures.” The source added that discussions between the pair have been “intense” and Sarah is not handling things well.
“They have been heard having some pretty intense conversations about what is going on. Sarah, in particular, is panicking about what comes next, and she is not in a good place… luckily, Sarah has quite a few staff left working for her who really like her, and she is really leaning on them for support.
“Sarah is spending quite a lot of evenings in The Doghouse, which is a purpose-built bar behind Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park. She drinks in there with friends and staff to escape from what is going on in her life generally. And while she is there, she takes advice on what to do next.”
Royal expert Phil Dampier claimed that Sarah is indeed struggling, on the “brink of a breakdown” amid the ongoing scrutiny over her ties to Epstein. Recent emails that emerged showed Sarah was in touch with the disgraced financier longer than she previously admitted, and one piece of correspondence saw a shocking allegation made that embroiled her daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, in the scandal too.
After Sarah gave an interview about Epstein, saying that she “abhors paedophilia” in 2011, she wrote to him apologising for her comments and calling him a “supreme friend”. In response, Epstein contacted his own legal team, writing that Sarah should say she was “misquoted” and alleging that the former duchess brought Beatrice and Eugenie to see him and “celebrate” his release from prison – neither Sarah nor her daughters remember this trip, a source has said.
Sarah’s biographer, Andrew Lownie, told the Mirror exclusively that Sarah is not “out of the woods” when it comes to her connection to Epstein, from whom she borrowed money. Sarah “was heavily involved in Epstein,” the expert explained, “and I think we do need a statement from her [about] exactly what her connections were with him.” Lownie added that Sarah should” offer to help the authorities and the victims’ lawyers.”
