On what would’ve been the royal couple’s 39th wedding anniversary, the Duchess of York has revealed the brutal reality of marrying into the Firm, and how it destroyed her marriage with Prince Andrew
On July 23rd 1986, Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson tied the knot in Westminster Palace – 39 years ago today. Despite announcing their separation in 1992 after six years of marriage, the couple are a perfect example of an amicable divorce, as they remain major presences in each others lives, publicly supporting each other through turbulent times.
The couple first met as when they were children, before being reunited as adults while attending Royal Ascot in 1985, with the meeting reportedly orchestrated by the late Princess Diana. Less than one year after they met, Prince Andrew proposed in Scotland on his 26th birthday.
Speaking to Good Morning America in 2021, Fergie once shared that their wedding day was “the best day of [her] life”. She explained: “He is a great man and [our wedding day] was the best day of my life,” adding: “I would do it all over again because he was a very good-looking sailor, but I fell in love with him and I think love conquers all.”
Shortly after marrying into the Royal Family, Sarah began to see the cracks in her relationship due to the overwhelming pressure and responsibilities put upon her husband.
Speaking to US TV host Ernie Manouse in 2010, the Duchess of York said: “My deal was that I was marrying my man, who happened to be a prince and a naval officer. But what I got was not the man, I got the palace and didn’t get him. For our marriage, I saw him 40 days a year.”
As well as his royal duties, Prince Andrew had a 22-year career in the Royal Navy and served as a helicopter pilot during the 1982 Falklands War, and also commanded the mine countermeasures vessel HMS Cottesmore.
After announcing their separation in 1992 and officially finalising their divorce in 1996, the couple co-parented their daughters Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice and aimed to keep their lives as normal as possible, often appearing together at major family events.
In a piece for the Sunday Times, the Duchess of York explained why she continues to stay at Royal Lodge in Windsor with her ex-husband: “I travel a lot and I’ve always been able to make wherever I am home.
“If I am staying in a hotel I have the same family photographs and scented candles around me. When I’m in the UK I’m lucky enough to stay at Royal Lodge. I wouldn’t call it my home as that would be presumptuous.”
Their set-up may appear strange to some people, but they have been dubbed “the happiest divorced couple in the world ” by their eldest daughter, Princess Beatrice, with Sarah echoing the sentiment in an interview, saying: “We always say we are the most contented divorced couple in the world. We’re divorced to each other, not from each other.”
Sarah has also stood by her ex-husband during his many controversies in recent years, as all Prince Andrew’s military appointments were suspended after he stepped back from public duties in 2019, following the controversial BBC Newsnight interview about his association with the late financier Jeffrey Epstein.
The late Virginia Giuffre sued the Duke of York for sexual abuse in August 2021, as she claimed stated Andrew had sex with her when she was 17 and had been trafficked by his friend, the billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. The duke has repeatedly denied the claims, and he has not been charged with any criminal offences.
