{"id":365157,"date":"2026-03-25T23:06:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T23:06:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/365157\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T23:06:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T23:06:16","slug":"a-history-of-sarah-fergusons-scandals-through-the-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/365157\/","title":{"rendered":"A History of Sarah Ferguson’s Scandals Through the Years"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Estimated6 min read<\/p>\n

Timing really is everything. The appearance of Sarah Ferguson<\/a> (Natalie Dormer) in The Lady strikes a dark note. The four-part BritBox drama<\/a> is about Ferguson\u2019s former dresser Jane Andrews (Mia McKenna-Bruce), and the circumstances that led to Andrews killing a former boyfriend<\/a>, with Fergie present at the drama\u2019s outset as a sisterly boss swapping confidences with Andrews and complaining about her treatment by the tabloids.<\/p>\n

The focus and timeframe of the drama, which begins in the late 1980\u2019s, means that Jeffrey Epstein<\/a> features not at all\u2014and so the tidal wave of scandal and revelation around links to and relationships with Epstein that\u2019s presently plaguing both Ferguson<\/a> and ex-husband Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor<\/a> (formerly Prince Andrew), goes unmentioned.<\/p>\n

This past weekend, there were calls for Fergie to formally testify before the oversight committee investigating Epstein. Congressman Suhas Subramanyam told the Mail on Sunday<\/a>: \u201cIt is clear from the files we have that Sarah Ferguson and Jeffrey Epstein had a close relationship. She once called Epstein the \u2018brother I always wished for\u2019 and Epstein provided her with financial assistance. She should tell our committee what she knows about Epstein’s financial and sex trafficking enterprises. If she has nothing to hide then this shouldn’t be a problem. No one, not even former royalty, is above the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SarahJonathan Ford \u2013 Courtesy of BritBox<\/p>\n

Natalie Dormer as Sarah Ferguson and Mia McKenna-Bruce a Jane Andrews in The Lady, airing now on BritBox.<\/p>\n

The cascading Epstein-related headlines have affected The Lady, with Dormer telling Variety in September<\/a> that since completing the production \u201cnew information has come to light that makes it impossible for me to reconcile my values with Sarah Ferguson\u2019s behavior, which I believe is inexcusable. For that reason, I will not be taking part in the promotion of the project.\u201d<\/p>\n

While her relationship with Epstein is by far the most grave of a long line of scandals that have defined the former Duchess of York\u2019s public life, it\u2019s certainly not the only one. Just this last weekend, the Daily Mail<\/a> reported that Ferguson had been planning to \u201cclone\u201d two of Queen Elizabeth\u2019s late corgis she had taken care of since the monarch\u2019s death for a new reality TV show; a spokesperson subsequently told People<\/a> she had \u201cdeclined to participate\u201d in the project. (Ferguson has previously said how close she had been to the late queen, calling her \u201cobviously the biggest influence; it was the privilege of my life to have her as my mother-in-law.\u201d)<\/p>\n

After marrying Andrew in 1986, the first six years of \u201cFergie\u2019s\u201d royal life set the pace and tone of the rollercoaster to come. First hailed as a youthful and welcome breath of fresh air breaking old-school royal stuffiness\u2014alongside Princess Diana\u2014Fergie\u2019s looks and dress sense, compared to the widely lauded Diana\u2019s, and her exuberant manner soon became targets of tabloid mockery.<\/p>\n

\"SarahMax Mumby\/Indigo\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Sarah Ferguson, who was previously the Duchess of York, and the former Prince Andrew at Royal Ascot in 2019.<\/p>\n

In August 1992, five months after Fergie and Andrew had announced their separation after six years of marriage, Britain\u2019s Daily Mirror published<\/a> a front-page picture of her financial advisor, the Texan millionaire John Bryan, sucking Fergie\u2019s toes and \u201ckissing and frolicking\u201d with her at her holiday villa in St. Tropez. The headline was \u201cFergie\u2019s Stolen Kisses.\u201d Bryan later told royal reporter Richard Kay: \u201cI wasn\u2019t sucking her toes, I was kissing them!\u201d The story broke as Fergie was at Balmoral with the other royals at their annual summer sojourn. She later recalled royal family members reading the paper \u201ceyes wide and mouths ajar\u201d over breakfast, adding: \u201cIt would be accurate to report that the porridge was getting cold.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many of Ferguson\u2019s other scandals had to do less with romance than with money. In November 1995, according to author Andrew Lownie, she had amassed debuts of around \u00a33.7 million, and in 2010, the now-extinct British tabloid the News of the World, revealed via a sting operation that she was selling access to Andrew for \u00a3500,000. \u201cThat opens up everything you would ever wish for. I can open any door you want, and I will for you. Look after me and he\u2019ll look after you \u2026 you\u2019ll get it back tenfold,\u201d Fergie told an undercover reporter posing as a wealthy businessman. Fergie was also filmed taking a $40,000 cash down-payment. Later, Ferguson said: \u201cI very deeply regret the situation and the embarrassment caused. It is true that my financial situation is under stress, however, that is no excuse for a serious lapse in judgment and I am very sorry that this has happened.\u201d She also said that Andrew had not been involved with, or aware, of what she was doing.<\/p>\n

Still, nothing has been as difficult for the former Duchess of York to maneuver as her relationship with the late convicted sex offender Epstein. CNN recently detailed<\/a> how Ferguson had \u201ccontinually showered Epstein with praise, including after his 2008 conviction in Florida for soliciting prostitution from a minor.\u201d Emails excavated from the Epstein Files reveal Ferguson making plans to meet him with her daughters (then aged 20 and 19), and\u2014at a time when she was owing tens of thousands of pounds in rent\u2014asking Epstein to employ her. In different emails she accuses Epstein of only being friends with her to \u201cget to Andrew.\u201d In October it was revealed that in 2011 Ferguson had sent an email to Epstein calling him a \u201csupreme friend,\u201d weeks after publicly declaring that it had been a \u201cgigantic error of judgment\u201d to have dealings with him, and vowing to \u201chave nothing ever to do with Jeffrey Epstein ever again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DianaAnwar Hussein\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Sarah Ferguson and Diana Spencer at a polo match in 1981, before either married into Britain\u2019s royal family.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Ferguson said the mollifying email to Epstein had been to counter threats he had made to sue her for defamation, saying Epstein had made a \u201cchilling call\u201d to Ferguson threatening to destroy her family. In the wake of the Epstein revelations, seven charities Ferguson had been a patron or ambassador of have severed ties with her. Last month, it was announced that Ferguson\u2019s own charity, Sarah\u2019s Trust, was closing \u201cfor the foreseeable future.\u201d To date, Ferguson has not been accused of any crimes related to Epstein.<\/p>\n

While the scandal shows no signs of disappearing, the Daily Mail recently reported<\/a> that Ferguson has been staying with friends in the French Alps and the UAE, as she \u201cgets her head together.\u201d She has also been reportedly been spending time with youngest daughter Princess Eugenie as she plans her return to the U.K.<\/p>\n

The Mail quoted sources revealing that Ferguson had told friends: \u201cI need to get back to work. I need money,\u201d adding, \u201cWhen I come back I am going to have to put some distance between myself and Andrew.\u201d If she returns to the U.K., it would not be to live with him within the royals\u2019 Sandringham estate, the Mail reports, but in the Windsor area, where she plans to buy or rent a property herself. (Ferguson\u2019s last public appearance was in December 2025 at the christening of her granddaughter Athena, the second child of Princess Beatrice and her husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi.)<\/p>\n

\u201cIf she has nothing to hide then this shouldn’t be a problem. No one, not even former royalty, is above the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fergie may also be preparing to dish. After several on-screen interviews\u2014including telling Oprah Winfrey in 1996 of her marriage to Andrew, \u201cyou didn\u2019t marry the fairytale, you married the man\u201d\u2014it was recently reported<\/a> that Fergie was eyeing a six or seven-figure deal for another prime-time TV interview about Epstein and, who knows, perhaps airing more royal family secrets.<\/p>\n

How successful a future Ferguson can craft remains in question. One source told the Mail: \u201cI don\u2019t know whether Sarah is just deluded or desperate. She is 66 and has no home and no discernible income. The public is disgusted by what they have read. And how would she pay a new PR team to rescue her reputation? She is said to be looking to bounce back, in typical Fergie style. I\u2019m just not sure the public will buy it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Headshot<\/p>\n

Teeman is a\u00a0Senior Editor and Writer at The Daily Beast, and the author of In Bed With Gore Vidal: Hustlers, Hollywood and the Private World of an American Master.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"6 min read Timing really is everything. The appearance of Sarah Ferguson (Natalie Dormer) in The Lady strikes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":365158,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[144978,4959,164590,1107,93,61,60,1106,141362,164589,164591],"class_list":["post-365157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-collection-royal-family-news","tag-content-type-feature","tag-contentid-0805904d-b9e9-4239-bbf8-d2a4b8a7b292","tag-displaytype-standard-article","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-locale-us","tag-read_time-6","tag-shorttitle-a-history-of-sarah-fergusons-scandals","tag-subsection-money-power"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=365157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365157\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/365158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=365157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=365157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=365157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}