Sarah Ferguson ‘didn’t understand the value of money’ and desperation for cash affected her judgement, say friends and royal observers
Sarah Ferguson is in such a “deep mess” that she will struggle to make any comeback in business, charity or high society, The i Paper has been told.
The former Duchess of York’s rich associates would have to be “stupid” to enter into any deals with her now, say friends and royal observers.
Ferguson is reportedly homeless and couch-surfing with friends in New York, after she and her ex-husband, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor left Windsor’s Royal Lodge last month.
Her social circle is said to have shrunk dramatically after the extent of her ties to Jeffrey Epstein emerged in US Department of Justice (DoJ) emails.
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The emails show her calling Epstein her “supreme friend” and contacting him while he was in jail for soliciting prostitution from a minor.
Multiple charities have dropped Ferguson as a patron. Eight of the companies of which she is listed as a director have been wound down in recent weeks.
Yet her difficulties with money do not appear to be over. One of her remaining companies is £363,000 in debt, according to official accounts.
Ferguson sought Epstein’s advice over £6m debt
Debt appears to be a recurring pattern in Ferguson’s life.
Emails have revealed that she asked Epstein for advice in dealing with a £6m debt pile in 2009, when the disgraced financier was still in jail. Her lifestyle company, Hartmoor, had also collapsed that year.
They appear to show Ferguson, Epstein and David Stern – an associate of Mountbatten-Windsor – preparing for the possibility of her personal bankruptcy, though it did not come to that.
In a July 2009 email, Ferguson appeared to discuss an offer from Phones4U founder John Caudwell to help her with debts in exchange for some of her ongoing income. “My debts stand at approximately £6m right now. What say you?”
A 2009 email from ‘Sarah’ to Epstein detailing a £6m debt (Photo: DoJ)
A spokesperson for Caudwell told The i Paper that he “ultimately decided not to go through” with any deal – adding that he had been “unaware that Sarah Ferguson was consulting Jeffrey Epstein or anyone else on this matter”.
Ferguson apologised in a 2011 interview after it emerged that she had accepted £15,000 from Epstein, saying she “deeply” regretted the connection.
However, it appears Ferguson then apologised to her “dear friend” Epstein in an email dated 27 April 2011 for publicly disowning him.
‘Millionaire’s lifestyle without millionaire’s income’
Ferguson’s “desperation for money” affected her judgement when it came to Epstein, according to royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams.
“She had no sense of money, the way she spent. She had a millionaire’s lifestyle but she didn’t have a millionaire’s income.”
Ferguson has reportedly stayed at a £13,000-a-day spa in Switzerland and a wellness retreat on the west coast of Ireland in recent months.
Her former financial adviser, John Bryan, claimed in his 1996 memoir that she had an annual expenditure of £860,000 – including £100,000 on clothes.
Liz Brewer, a friend of Ferguson who worked on charity fundraising events with her over several decades, told The i Paper she had found Ferguson “very charming”.
Brewer (right) said Ferguson would often throw herself into new ventures ‘without thinking’ carefully enough
The party planner and etiquette expert said Ferguson was always “very enthusiastic”, often throwing herself into new ventures “without thinking” carefully enough.
“She was someone who didn’t understand the value of money. If you’re flamboyant about spending money, it would explain how she had debts.
“She was desperate for money, and it seems to have led her to do things without enough thought,” she added.
Brewer, who has not seen Ferguson in recent years, believes the Epstein link has greatly diminished the ex-duchess’ circle of friends in recent months.
“So much has now come out, it is hard not to judge her for being so associated with this ghastly man [Epstein],” she said.
“It’s tragic. It’s such a deep mess, I doubt if there are many people who will [want to work with her]. I don’t know what she will do for money.”
Ferguson is believed to have struggled after entering the Royal Family, perhaps unprepared for life in the public eye while her then husband was away in the Royal Navy.
Commentators described her as “lonely” and “unhappy” early on in her marriage, which came to an end after 10 years. Ferguson later revealed she saw her former husband “40 days a year” and admitted she was at “rock bottom” following their divorce.
Ferguson ‘always looking for quick buck’
Andrew Lownie, author of Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York, said Ferguson had once forged some “good” business deals – such as her Budgie books for children and her Weightwatchers promotion deal.
“She thought it was too easy, and at times it was pretty easy,” Lownie said.
“She was always looking for the quick buck. Anyone who would provide money, she would go to and Epstein was a soft touch.”
The author said various business enterprises “could have done very well if they were better organised”, adding: “Her huge spending was the problem.”
Multiple charities have dropped Ferguson as a patron (Photo: Max Mumby/Getty)
Lownie’s book details various claims about her lavish lifestyle over the years. It claims that a former assistant was once sent to New York on Concorde at a cost of £5,000 to bring her some paperwork. He also claimed she racked up bills, including one worth £65,000 for a personal trainer on permanent standby, and spent as much as £51,000 at Selfridges.
Jennie Bond, the former BBC royal correspondent, said that she always believed Ferguson’s “hopeless” grasp of money would come back to haunt her.
Writing for The i Paper, Bond said her “lavish lifestyle and continually mounting debts” led to a “missing moral compass”.
It meant she was “drawn by money like a moth to the flame”, affecting her judgement when it came to Epstein and others.
Lifestyle brand has £363,000 in debt
Eight of Ferguson’s companies are in the process of being wound down, according to The i Paper’s analysis of Companies House records. Her charity, Sarah’s Trust, closed “for the foreseeable future” last month with just £28,000 in the bank.
However, she is still director of Ginger & Moss – a lifestyle brand set up to sell tea, jewellery and housewares. The active company is £363,000 in debt, according to the latest annual accounts.
Ferguson remains a director of lifestyle brand Ginger & Moss (Photo: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP)
Ferguson’s latest children’s book was pulled by New Frontier Publishing in November. HarperCollins, which published her romance novels, has declined to comment on whether it will work with her again.
Sources close to Ferguson recently told the Daily Mail that she has been “sofa-surfing on a global scale” but was planning a “comeback”. One source told the newspaper that she had told friends: “I need to get back to work.”
Ferguson could release ‘tell-all’ memoir
Lownie said some wealthy people overseas may still be willing to enter into business deals with Ferguson.
“There may be people who think she’s still a princess, and might give her some scraps,” said the biographer. “You have to remember, there are people who are sycophants and will do anything to be in proximity to what they see as royalty.”
The author said some publishers may still be interested in a new “tell-all” memoir.
But Fitzwilliams thinks she would be unable to stage another act in publishing or the charity world. “People would have to be very stupid [to enter into business with Ferguson],” he said.
Brewer thinks there will be relatively few people left willing to put her up in their home and is sceptical about the value of an autobiography.
“I’m not sure if she would make much money from a book, with so much said and written already,” she said.
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Ferguson’s representative did not reply to a request for comment. Stern did not reply to a request for comment.
In September 2025, after it emerged that she had carried on speaking to Epstein after her 2011 interview, her spokesperson told the Mail on Sunday: “The Duchess spoke of her regret about her association with Epstein many years ago, and as they have always been, her first thoughts are with his victims.
“Like many people, she was taken in by his lies.”