As Sarah Ferguson’s dramatic fall from grace continues, the Mirror takes a look at the powerful enemy she made within the Royal Family, who regarded her as ‘simply beyond the pale’
Sarah Ferguson’s reputation has crumbled in recent weeks as her links to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein continues to spark outrage.
And this isn’t the first time she’s caused a storm for the Royal Family, with one senior member of The Firm having viewed her as “beyond the pale”.
Earlier this month, it was announced that the former Duke and Duchess of York would be relinquishing their titles, with Prince Andrew acknowledging that the “continued accusations” surrounding his association with Epstein “distract from the work of His Majesty and the Royal Family”.
This bombshell statement was made days before the publication of Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre’s posthumous memoir, Nobody’s Girl. In it, she claimed Andrew sexually assaulted her on three separate occasions when she was a teenager. Andrew has always strenuously denied these accusations.
Meanwhile, Sarah, who continues to live with her ex-husband at Windsor’s Royal Lodge, has shared in this most recent downfall, with revelations emerging about her own controversial correspondence with disgraced financier Epstein.
READ MORE: ‘Bored’ Prince Andrew weird days holed up in rent-free mansion ‘playing video games’
Sarah, who has long affectionately been known as Fergie, was recently dropped by various charities over a 2011 email, sent to Epstein after he was found guilty of procuring a child for prostitution in 2008. In this exchange, Sarah referred to the convicted ex-offender as her “supreme friend” and seemed to apologise over criticisms she’d made about him publicly. Sarah’s team insisted the email was sent through fear for her safety – and her family’s.
Although Sarah’s relatively down-to-earth public persona has long endeared her to many royal watchers, behind palace doors, those within the family’s inner circle have previously taken issue with her behaviour. This most notably includes the late Prince Philip, who decided to wash his hands of his daughter-in-law after the infamous toe-sucking scandal.
In March 1992, just six years after their supposedly fairytale wedding, Andrew and Sarah announced they would be separating. It was a year that the late Queen Elizabeth would go on to describe as her ‘annus horribilis’, and with good cause.
Just five months after her and Andrew’s split, photographs emerged of her having her toes and feet sucked by Texan billionaire John Bryan, as she relaxed at her St Tropez holiday villa.
Her straight-talking father-in-law, who’d previously shown support when she first joined the royal family, was reportedly appalled by the scandal, which he regarded as “simply beyond the pale”.
In an article for the Mail Online, broadcaster and writer Gyles Brandreth recalled a conversation he’d had with Prince Philip, in which the Duke made his thoughts on the matter crystal clear.
Brandreth remembered: “When I asked him [Prince Philip] why he wouldn’t see Sarah, he said: ‘I am not vindictive.’ Then, looking at me directly, he added emphatically: ‘I am not vindictive, but I don’t see the point’. That Andrew and Sarah appeared to remain friends after their separation — and that they shared a home even after their divorce — seemed to him ‘truly bizarre’.”
Although Sarah reportedly attempted to “mend bridges”, as the years went by, Philip’s ire towards her never cooled, and it was expected that she would be far away from the family’s annual Balmoral retreat by the time her ex-father-in-law arrived.
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