![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/4_EXCLUSIVE-Something-Amusing-Maam-Sarah-Ferguson-the-Duchess-of-York-arrives-at-an-event-at-the.jpg\")
<\/p>\nIt’s been revealed that Sarah Ferguson has been staying at an exclusive \u00a32000 a night ski chalet, leading one expert to slam her as the ‘Queen of Freebies’<\/p>\n
Fergie has finally been found at an exclusive ski chalet after going into hiding for months(Image: TOPSTAR \/ BACKGRID)<\/p>\n
After going to ground for 213 days, Sarah Ferguson has finally been found.<\/p>\n
No one had seen hide nor hair of Fergie, 66, since last September when she was pictured with her ex-husband, Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, <\/a>and the rest of the Royal Family<\/a> at the Duchess of Kent’s funeral. Sarah, who has been no stranger to scandal over the decades she has lived in the public eye, has been in hiding since more revelations continued to emerge about her ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein<\/a>, with the controversy and outcry a long way from settling down. Fergie strenuously denies any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n Now known to have been hiding at a luxury ski chalet that costs \u00a32000 a night, in an Austrian village, Sarah was spotted trying to go incognito<\/a> – with her trademark red hair carefully tucked into a baseball cap and green glasses covering her eyes, as she stepped out of a blacked out car.<\/a> With her commercial prospects in tatters and evicted from her former home of Royal Lodge – a 30-room mansion she shared with Andrew until February – the question of how the former Duchess of York might have been paying for this luxury accommodation was immediately raised. One royal expert believes he has the answer: claiming she is nothing less than the ‘Queen of Freebies’.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Royal fans can peek into Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s new home on ‘safari’ tour<\/a>READ MORE: Andrew flung ‘disgusting’ insult at Fergie over her appearance at lunch<\/a><\/p>\n It was only days after the Duchess of Kent’s funeral, when Sarah had been visibly still inside the royal fold to some degree, that the carefully constructed house of cards she spent many years building began to collapse around her. An email emerged that she had sent to Epstein that saw her apologise for publicly disowning him in the press, and dub him a “supreme friend”. Crucially, it was sent after his conviction for child sex crimes, and after the point she had previously claimed she had cut all contact, and apologised for borrowing money from him.<\/p>\n Fergie at her last public engagement in September, the funeral of the Duchess of Kent(Image: UK Press via Getty Images)<\/p>\n Charities she had worked with for years dropped her, and her upcoming children’s book was quietly shelved – the publication date initially pushed back and author events cancelled, before it was reported that the title was being ‘pulped’. Things would only get worse from there. When the posthumous memoir of Andrew’s accuser, Virginia Giuffre, was poised to go on sale, Andrew released a statement – he would no longer be using the title of Duke of York in any capacity.<\/p>\n Andrew’s has vehemently and repeatedly denied all the allegations of sexual assault Virginia made against him or any wrongdoing in connection with Jeffrey Epstein. Shortly afterward, King Charles<\/a> and Queen Camilla<\/a> released their own statement, throwing their support entirely behind survivors of “any and all forms of abuse” and announcing that Andrew was to be formally stripped of his royal titles and styles, and would be giving up his lavish mansion of Royal Lodge, packing his bags and heading to a home provided to him by King Charles on the Sandringham Estate.<\/p>\n Author of Prince Harry<\/a>: the Inside Story, Duncan Larcombe, tells the Mirror<\/a>, that is should be no surprise that Fergie found such a luxurious place to keep her head down. “She’s just the queen of freebies,” the expert tells us. “She’s lived off the back of wealthy friends and donors including Jeffrey Epstein for the best part of her adult life and I’m not entirely surprised at all that she’s been photographed staying at \u00a32,000 a night chalet, once again being a freeloader.”<\/p>\n When it comes to which wealthy pal might be footing the bill this time and helping her stay under the radar for so long, royal expert Duncan Larcombe adds there is a ‘long list of people’ that could be willing to help her. “I’m sure that will come out next,” Duncan tells us, “She loves a ski resort and she has a long list of people that would be potentially helping her. But it’s incredible that she’s managed to stay hidden for seven months.”<\/p>\n Fergie and Andrew both featured heavily in the Epstein files (Image: POOL\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n Fergie’s love of a freebie is certainly well reported. Andrew Lownie in his bombshell book ‘Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York’ claimed that on one occasion she tried to get a \u00a340,000 kitchen and bathroom for free, and that she took countless luxury holidays over the years at no personal cost.<\/p>\n However, Larcombe points out that a major question remains that is in his view ‘interesting’ – why pals are sticking by Fergie, when it appears that Andrew is getting quite the opposite treatment. “It’s interesting because you have to think of her ex-husband, Andrew, who it looks like the world and his wife are distancing themselves from him. I think it’s quite interesting to see that she’s still got wealthy friends that are prepared to step into the breach and help her out and I think that’s what these pictures expose more than anything. She had links to Epstein. She took money off Epstein. But there are still huge question marks hanging over her head when it comes to her friendship with Epstein and yet once again she seems to be the freebie queen.”<\/p>\n The release of the Epstein files by the US Congress then saw a drip feed of revelations about Fergie and Andrew’s connection to Epstein, with correspondence from accounts that appear to belong to Sarah indicating the pair shared a pretty charged relationship to say the least. From pleas seemingly sent by Sarah begging Epstein to “marry me” and asking repeatedly to borrow money, all the way to furious messages accusing the sex offender of abandoning her and “using” her to get close to Andrew: the pair were in contact longer than she has ever admitted before.<\/p>\n The files also indicate that Fergie took her daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, 20 and 19 years old at the time, to visit Epstein after his release from prison. Appearing in the Epstein files is not necessarily a sign of wrongdoing. Going to ground and keeping out of sight as the storm of scandal raged, Sarah has also been urged to testify to Congress about the paedophile just weeks before her location was finally revealed.<\/p>\n Beatrice and Eugenie appear to have travelled with Sarah to see Epstein after his prison release(Image: @sarahferguson15\/Instagram)<\/p>\n A friend of Fergie’s has told the Mirror that she is afraid to come back to the UK amid the scandal – and revealed that she is relying on pals at the moment ‘to help her’ whilst the House of Windsor has cast her out into the cold, leaving her feeling ‘abandoned’.<\/p>\n “Sarah is living in fear right now. She’s not immune to everything that is happening. She realises how serious everything is, and she is not coping with it,” the friend said.<\/p>\n Where Sarah might go next now her hiding spot has been found also remains to be seen, but one thing appears to be certain, it won’t be the UK – or the US.<\/p>\n “She is definitely worried about returning home to the UK and is relying on the kindness of friends to help her through the situation. But she knows she can’t keep moving around forever. Sarah feels she has been abandoned by the royal family and has been treated very unfairly. She is at a complete loss over what to do,” a friend tells the Mirror.<\/p>\n The last few months has seen multiple reports about the former Duchess’s location, from a luxury ‘wellness clinic’ in Zurich that she was offered free – but normally costs \u00a313,000 a night – with other unconfirmed stays reported in Switzerland, Ireland, and the Middle East. Sources have also claimed that her sister Jane, who lives in Australia<\/a>, offered her a place to stay Down Under.<\/p>\n “She’s been laying false breadcrumbs to stop people following her trail, and very few people were allowed in on the secret. But she\u2019s seen Andrew arrested and read all the headlines about the Epstein investigations and knows it\u2019s a very grave situation,” a source has said.<\/p>\n A source has told us. “Sarah has made it clear to those around her she will never set foot in America again. She is deeply worried about the reaction she would face, whether from Epstein\u2019s victims or scrutiny from Congress.<\/p>\n “She feels it would be unbearable and does not want to be put in a position under oath where she would be asked not only about Epstein but also about Andrew. It has not been a difficult decision despite how deeply entrenched in America she once was.\u201d As a non-US citizen, Fergie is not compelled to appear before Congress or respond to their request she provides evidence.<\/p>\n Necker Island, the private Caribbean holiday spot of Richard Branson is not an option either. Though Fergie was reported to have visited the private island during another scandal back in 2011, when she was caught in a sting offering access to her ex-husband in exchange for \u00a3500,000 by undercover journalists from the now-defunct News of the World. However a Virgin Group spokesperson made it clear in February that there was no way that Fergie would be welcome there now, “Sir Richard has had no contact with Sarah Ferguson following the release of the Epstein files and, contrary to some media reports, can confirm she is not on Necker Island either.”<\/p>\n It is understood that Branson finds Epstein abhorrent, and throws his full support behind the survivors of the sex trafficker’s web.<\/p>\n Our source continued: “She feels it would be unbearable and does not want to be put in a position under oath where she would be asked not only about Epstein but also about Andrew. It has not been a difficult decision despite how deeply entrenched in America she once was.\u201d As a non-US citizen, Fergie is not compelled to appear before Congress or respond to their request she provides evidence.<\/p>\n Body language expert, Judi James tells the Mirror about the images snapped of Fergie in Austria is definitely keen not to be spotted, saying: “There are obvious signals of a desire to conceal and smother her visual identity here, with the signature long red hair stuffed up into a baseball cap and her dull, practical and almost masculine clothing a world<\/a> away from her usual love of garish, eye-catching colours and snug, figure-enhancing styles.”<\/p>\n “One thing is for certain, she is desperately short of cash,” another insider has pointed out. Sarah who has penned more than 70 books, including two memoirs, could poised to write another tell-all as she attempts to plug the gap in her finances, with it rumoured she has asked for over \u00a31million as a fee to do so.<\/p>\n Get the inside scoop on the monarchy with Mirror Royal<\/p>\n WHATSAPP GROUP: Be first to get the biggest royal bombshells and exclusives to your phone by joining our Royal WhatsApp here.<\/a><\/p>\n We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don\u2019t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you\u2019re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Fergie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2_The-Funeral-Of-The-Duchess-Of-Kent.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Fergie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/4_FILES-BRITAIN-ROYALS-POLITICS-ANDREW.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"York](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1_Screenshot-2021-08-02-at-143828.jpg\")
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