Sarah Ferguson

**Sarah, Duchess of York** (Sarah Margaret Ferguson "Fergie", born October 15, 1959) is a british author, television personality and former member of british royal family.

In 1986, Sarah was made *Duchess of York* upon her marriage to Prince Andrew, the son of Queen Elizabeth II. They have two daughters: Princess Beatrice (b.1988) and Princess Eugenie (b.1990) who are 9th and 11th in Line of succession. They separated in 1992 and they divorced in 1996.

## Early life

Ferguson was born on 15 October 1959 at London Welbeck Hospital in London. She is the second daughter of Major Ronald Ferguson (1931–2003) and Susan Barrantes (née Wright; 1937–1998). She has one older full sister, Jane. After Ferguson's parents divorced in 1974, her mother married polo player Héctor Barrantes in 1975 and moved to Trenque Lauquen in the Argentine pampas. Sarah stayed at the 480-acre (1.9 km2) Dummer Down Farm at Dummer, Hampshire, her father's home since age 8. Major Ferguson married Susan Deptford in 1976 and had three more children: Andrew, Alice, and Elizabeth. Sarah later mentioned that at the age of 12, when her parents' marriage started to fall apart, she developed an eating disorder and "turned to overeating for comfort".

Known informally as "Fergie", she once described her family as "country gentry with a bit of old money". She is a descendant of King Charles II of England via three of his illegitimate children: Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond; James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth; and Anne Lennard, Countess of Sussex. She has aristocratic ancestry, being the great-great-granddaughter of the 6th Duke of Buccleuch, a great-granddaughter of the 8th Viscount Powerscourt, and a descendant of the 1st Duke of Abercorn and the 4th Duke of Devonshire. Ferguson is distantly related to Prince Andrew, as they are both descended from the Duke of Devonshire as well as King James VI and I.

## Education

Ferguson attended Daneshill School, Stratfield Turgis. The staff of the school described her as a "courageous, bubbly and outgoing little girl". She then attended Hurst Lodge School in Ascot. She did not shine academically but showed talent in swimming and tennis. At a young age, she developed an interest in skiing and later briefly worked as a chalet girl. In her teenage years, she worked both as a cleaner and waitress.

After finishing a course at Queen's Secretarial College at the age of eighteen, Ferguson went to work for an art gallery. Later she worked in two public relations firms in London, and then for a publishing company. Prior to marriage, she dated Kim Smith-Bingham, a stockbroker, and Paddy McNally, a motor racing manager more than 20 years her senior.

## Personal life

On 19 March 1986, Prince Andrew (fourth in line to the throne at the time) and Sarah Ferguson announced their engagement. Prince Andrew had known Ferguson since childhood, and they had met occasionally at polo matches and became reacquainted with each other at Royal Ascot in 1985. Also prior to their engagement, Ferguson had accompanied Diana, Princess of Wales, during her official tour of Andrew's ship HMS *Brazen*. Prince Andrew designed the engagement ring himself. It consisted of ten diamonds surrounding a Burmese ruby. He chose the Burmese ruby to complement Sarah's red hair. With her fun spirit and friendly approach, she was considered to be a good addition to the royal family.

After securing the Queen's consent (which at that time was required by the Royal Marriages Act 1772 for all descendants of King George III), Andrew and Sarah were married in Westminster Abbey on 23 July 1986. The Queen bestowed the title Duke of York upon Prince Andrew, and, as his new wife, Sarah automatically assumed her husband's royal and ducal status and became *Her Royal Highness The Duchess of York*. As Duchess of York, Sarah joined her husband in carrying out royal engagements, including official overseas visits.

In 1987, the Duke and Duchess of York undertook a 25-day tour of Canada. In February 1987, Sarah got a private pilot's licence and, after passing a 40-hour training course that was paid for by Lord Hanson as a wedding gift, was presented with her wings at RAF Benson in December. On 22 January 1988, during the trip to New York to attend a fundraising event, Sarah was attacked by a young man at the entrance of her hotel. The man, who was screaming "murderers 3/8" and had the Irish Republican Army flag in his hands when he rushed at Sarah, was "charged with attempted assault on the Duchess and assault on a federal agent". Later, a State Department press officer stated that "she was unharmed in the incident". In March 1988, the Duke and Duchess of York visited California. The trip was described by two British newspapers as a "brash, vulgar, excessive, weak-humored exhibition by two royals". The couple was defended by city officials of Los Angeles who stated that the criticism was "awful" and offensive, and observers described the Duke and his wife's behaviour as friendly and said that they fulfilled their duties. In May 1989, Sarah went on an official solo trip to Berlin.

The couple became parents on 8 August 1988, with the birth of their daughter Beatrice. Sarah suffered from high blood pressure and excessive water retention during her pregnancy. In September, Sarah joined her husband in Australia for an official visit. The decision to leave her newborn daughter at home in the UK while she was touring the country brought her criticism from the press and media. Their second child, another daughter, Eugenie, was born on 23 March 1990 by caesarean section. During her marriage, the tabloid press ridiculed the Duchess of York for her weight (which climbed to 15 stone 10 pounds (100 kg) (220 lbs) during her first pregnancy), labelling her the "Duchess of Pork" and "Fat Fergie". She vowed to lose weight after the birth of her first daughter. In 1989 Sarah was credited with kickstarting the UK popularity of exercise regime Callanetics after it was widely reported that founder Callan Pinckney had given her private tuition. Sarah received praise for her weight loss and some criticism for not gaining enough weight during her second pregnancy. Sarah later discussed the negative effect of the press stories about her weight on her self-esteem and added that they made her eating disorder worse

Biographer Sarah Bradford described how Andrew's duties as a naval officer required him to stay away from home for long periods. According to Sarah's account, the couple saw each other 40 days a year in the first five years of their marriage. By 1991, the marriage was in trouble, as Sarah was finding life as a member of the royal family increasingly difficult. Her friendship with Texan multimillionaire Steve Wyatt (son of Lynn Wyatt) gained much publicity when photographs, including one of Wyatt with Sarah's toddler daughter, appeared in newspapers in January 1992. The Duke and Duchess of York announced their separation on 19 March 1992. Following the separation, the palace announced that Sarah would no longer carry out public engagements on behalf of the Queen. Furthermore, the Queen announced in a statement that she would not take responsibility for Sarah's debts. Sarah separated her residence from her husband and moved to Romenda Lodge on the Wentworth Estate, Surrey, in 1992

In August 1992, the British tabloid *Daily Mirror* published surreptitiously taken photographs of John Bryan, an American financial manager, sucking on Sarah's toes as she sunbathed topless. Sarah endured widespread public ridicule, contributing to her further estrangement from the British royal family. French magazine *Paris Match* was ordered to pay £84,000 in damages for publishing the photographs, though the original amount sought was £1.32 million. On 28 March 1993, it was announced that the formal separation agreement between the Duke and Duchess had been settled, despite months of speculation that the couple might be reconciling. In 1995, Prince Andrew's aunt Princess Margaret, who had received a bouquet of flowers sent by Sarah, reportedly wrote in a letter to Sarah: "You have done more to bring shame on the family than could ever have been imagined".

Reports and speculation about the couple reuniting continued into late 1995, ending when the Duke and Duchess announced their mutual decision to divorce in April 1996. In the years after her divorce, Sarah claimed that she had received £15,000 a year as a divorce settlement and cited her deal as a spokeswoman with Weight Watchers as her main "source of income". However, subsequent information given by senior officials to *The Sunday Telegraph* revealed that Sarah had received £350,000 in cash, £500,000 from the Queen to buy a new house for her and the children, and a monthly allowance that was estimated to have reached £500,000 in total by 2010. The couple shared custody of their children. In November 1996, Sarah published her autobiography *My Story* and embarked on a promotional tour to support it. On a US chat show she implied she and Andrew had had an open relationship, and that throughout the marriage and separation "He always knew exactly what was going on", she said. "It's not a one-way street. We respect each other's space." In a 2007 interview, as to why they finalised their divorce she said, "I wanted to work; it's not right for a princess of the royal house to be commercial, so Andrew and I decided to make the divorce official so I could go off and get a job."

The decree nisi was granted on 17 April 1996 and the divorce was finalised on 30 May 1996, after which she legally retained the style *Her Royal Highness* with the style of other divorced peeresses. However, it was announced in April that Sarah had chosen not to use the style *Her Royal Highness* and would relinquish it under the divorce terms. In accordance with letters patent issued in August 1996 regulating post-divorce royal titles, Sarah formally ceased being a *Royal Highness* and was re-styled Sarah, Duchess of York.

Since her divorce, Sarah has attended some functions with her daughters, such as the investitures of the Duke of York into the Royal Victorian Order and the Order of the Garter, and Royal Ascot, and on those occasions, she is afforded the courtesy of treatment as a member of the royal family. Sarah hinted at the idea of remarrying Andrew in several interviews. In August 2013, she was invited to stay at Balmoral Castle with Prince Andrew and their daughters as guests of the Queen, and in September 2013, in response to a question about the possibility of remarrying Andrew, Sarah said, "He's still my handsome prince, he'll always be my handsome prince."

She was not invited to the 1999 wedding of Prince Edward and Sophie Rhys-Jones or the 2011 wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, but she attended the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in 2018. However, she did not receive an invitation to the evening reception at Frogmore House hosted by Prince Charles, and was reportedly "deeply upset" by her exclusion.

The Lord Chamberlain's Office has listed Sarah as a member of the royal family, along with other extended family members such as Daniel Chatto and Mike Tindall. As of June 2023 she is not, however, listed on a section of the royal family's website titled "Members of the Royal Family". She attended the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022, and was seated by her daughters' side, but she was not invited to the coronation of King Charles III in May 2023.

## Titles

* October 15, 1959 - July 23, 1986: *Miss Sarah Margaret Ferguson*
* July 23, 1986 - May 30, 1996: *Her Royal Highness The Duchess of York*
* May 30, 1996 - present: *The Duchess of York*

During her marriage Sarah was styled "Her Royal Highness The Duchess of York". On 21 August 1996, letters patent declared that former wives of British princes, other than widows who did not remarry, were not entitled to the style of Her Royal Highness. Meanwhile, divorced peeresses (such as duchesses) cannot "claim the privileges or status of Peeresses which they derived from their husbands", but may continue to use the peeress title. The Royal Household refers to Sarah as "Sarah, Duchess of York", but on at least two occasions (the announcements of the engagements of her daughters), she has been referred to together with her former husband as "The Duke and Duchess of York".

## Issue

1988 (age 35)
1990 (age 33)