Sarah Ferguson learned that her marriage was over during a transatlantic telephone call with her husband Andrew – and it apparently led to some ‘hysterical behaviour’ in the first class compartment of her flight
Sarah Ferguson is said to have turned ‘hysterical’ after Andrew Mountbatten Windsor told her they were to divorce.
Over the years, the former couple – who split in 1996 – continued to be so inextricably linked that there was recurring speculation they would one day remarry – not least because they have lived together at Royal Lodge in Windsor since 2008.
But now it seems their once-close ties have been broken – for a second time. The former Duchess of York and her ex-husband have completely retreated from the public eye amid continuing outrage and disgust over their connections to Jeffrey Epstein. Sarah is said to be finally ready to ditch Andrew and considering a move abroad – possibly to Portugal where younger daughter Princess Eugenie lives on a part-time basis.
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It was no doubt a difficult decision to end her union with Andrew; Sarah was said to be distraught when their official marriage finally came to an end – despite the fact she had allegedly embarked on two affairs within that time.
Barely three years married and while pregnant with her second daughter, Sarah is said to have begun a romance with Texan businessman Steve Wyatt. It was later claimed that Steve, not Andrew, was the ‘love of her life’ and that she fell ‘head over heels’ in love with him. “Steve Wyatt was the main reason for the breakdown of her marriage,” claimed David Leigh, co-author of The Duchess of York uncensored.
“She met him at a time of her life when she was exceptionally low and felt Andrew wasn’t supporting her. She went to Texas and she met a very handsome and rich Texan who was very attentive and loving and they very quickly fell in love.
“Andrew may have been her best friend, and he probably still is now and probably always will be, but Steve Wyatt was the love of her life.”
She then had an alleged dalliance with Wyatt’s friend and cousin by marriage, John Bryan – and the subsequent scandal that followed was the final nail in the coffin for her marriage.
Sarah had already come under scrutiny when photographs showing her on holiday with Wyatt in Morocco were published, including images of the Texan cuddling Princess Beatrice in a fatherly way. But then came snapshots of John Bryan sucking her toes by the side of a swimming pool.
She faced widespread public ridicule, and was privately blacklisted by much of the Royal Family – mostly notably, Prince Philip and Princess Margaret, who reportedly told her in a letter: “You have done more to bring shame on the family than could ever have been imagined.”
As Dr Allan Starkie revealed in his memoir, Fergie – Her Secret Life: “The marriage to Andrew ended soon after with a transatlantic telephone call. Sarah was in the VIP suite at Miami airport when her husband told her that a decision had been made to end the marriage – it was not his decision.
“Sarah’s hysterical behaviour in the first class compartment on the return flight – throwing bread rolls and peanuts, cutting eyeholes in an airsick bag and wearing it on her head while making telephone noises – indicates the depth of her shock.”
According to Starkie, Andrew – unaware of his wife’s ongoing fling with Bryan – continued to share a bedroom with her at Sunninghill Park – the Windsor newbuild home that had been given to them as a gift by the Queen.
Bryan meanwhile, had set himself up as Sarah’s business advisor, seeking to maximise profits from her children’s book Budgie the Helicopter.
“When John Bryan came to stay at Sunninghill, he and Sarah would indulge in sex acts in Andrew’s study after the prince had gone to bed,” the author claimed. “She didn’t care. ‘Vulgar, vulgar, vulgar,’ stormed the Queen’s former private secretary, Lord Charteris.”
