{"id":178236,"date":"2026-03-28T14:55:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T14:55:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/178236\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T14:55:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T14:55:14","slug":"fergies-most-outrageous-money-making-schemes-her-plot-to-clone-the-queens-corgis-for-reality-tv-a-1-a-bed-nursing-home-deal-and-a-tile-manufacturer-gig","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/178236\/","title":{"rendered":"Fergie’s most outrageous money-making schemes: Her plot to clone the Queen’s corgis for reality TV, a \u00a31 a bed nursing home deal and a tile manufacturer gig"},"content":{"rendered":"

The news last week, exclusively revealed by the Daily Mail, that Sarah Ferguson<\/a> had once entertained bizarre conversations about cloning the late Queen’s beloved corgis to boost her ailing finances, is likely to have shocked – but not surprised – many royal fans.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Revelations that Fergie, 66, was involved in talks with reality TV<\/a> show producers in May 2023 – eight months after the Queen’s death – about\u00a0creating genetic replications of corgis Muick and Sandy is just the latest tawdry example of how the ex-duchess has leveraged her royal connections for financial gain.<\/p>\n

It’s alleged that Fergie’s head had been turned because, although highly contentious, pet cloning is extremely lucrative – carbon copy dogs can sell for up to \u00a375,000 in the US, where the practice is legal.<\/p>\n

While the vulgar money-making scheme eventually came to nothing, that such an outlandish idea ever got to the discussion stage offers insight into how far Fergie – who once declared she was ‘continually on the verge of bankruptcy’ – has been prepared to go when it comes to exploiting her links to the monarchy.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Andrew Lownie’s bestselling book, Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York, published last year, documents some of the lesser known – but just as dubious – deals the former Duchess of York has been associated with, stretching as far back as 30 years ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n

From a \u00a31 a bed nursing home deal to a \u00a3250,000 Hello! Magazine shoot featuring pictures of baby Princess Beatrice<\/a> in the bath, Fergie’s insatiable quest for cash was achieved through a series of questionable business ventures.<\/p>\n

These included interviewing the rich and famous for Paris Match magazine, while a tile manufacturer even paid her $500,000 to give just five pre-written talks about her life transformation in 2007.<\/p>\n

Writing in Entitled, Mr Lownie highlighted Fergie’s\u00a0friendship with Clive Garrad, for example, an East End-raised serial entrepreneur who made his millions founding the\u00a0energy drink Red Devil.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Sarah <\/p>\n

Sarah Ferguson was seeking ways to leverage what little remained of her royal status, when the idea of monetising the Queen’s corgis was floated in May 2023\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Decades <\/p>\n

Decades of deals: Sarah Ferguson pictured in 1995 with East End serial entrepreneur Clive Garrad, who, Andrew Lownie documents in his book, struck a deal with the former royal to represent his nursing home business, in which she would be paid a ‘\u00a31 for every bed’<\/p>\n

Mr Lownie details how, after developing an interest in the showjumping world in the early nineties – while spending weekends in County Cork post separation from Andrew, Fergie splashed out on Heather Blaze, a horse she hoped would make it to the Olympics.<\/p>\n

It wasn’t the ex-duchess writing the cheques to fund the horse – eventually put down after a\u00a0devastating fall – but Garrad, who later admitted he found the prestige of Fergie’s regal connections intoxicating.<\/p>\n

In July 1994, it was announced that Fergie was to be active in a new nursery home enterprise owned by Garrad – although she would ‘have no financial involvement’ in the care home business.<\/p>\n

Lownie reveals that wasn’t quite the reality of the deal signed though, writing: ‘In return for lending her name to a string ‘Duchess of York Nursing Homes\u2019\u2026she received \u00a31 a bed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘Income from the first year would be \u00a330,000, rising to \u00a3200,000 with a few years.’<\/p>\n

Months later, Garrad, who admitted that ‘from a Kudos point of view there could be nothing better than being in business with a member of the Royal Family’, was declared bankrupt. He would later be jailed for VAT fraud.<\/p>\n

In 1989, Fergie and Andrew received a payment of \u00a350,000 for a 48-page spread in Hello! Magazine comprising of 70 pictures of the then Yorks’ private life, including images of Beatrice in the bath.<\/p>\n

It was insisted, however, that no money had been paid to the couple and that a donation would be given to ‘a charity of their choice’.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The ‘charity’, it later transpired, was Sarah Ferguson’s mother, Susan Barrantes, who was experiencing financial troubles and needed the funds for extra features at Sunninghill Park after the Queen refused to keep funding the renovations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fergie later recalled: ‘The pool and tennis court were yet to be built – luxuries, granted, but a big house must have its finishing touches if it’s not to look half-baked.’<\/p>\n

\"In <\/p>\n

In the early 90s, Fergie developed a keen interest in showjumping… with Clive Garrad, who was later jailed for VAT fraud, bankrolling the purchase of a horse<\/p>\n

Yet the former duchess didn’t stop there. In June 1996, Fergie joined New York’s Next Management and was set to receive payments of \u00a325,000 for every appearance at a corporate event to promote products.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mr Lownie added: ‘The same month Simon & Schuster announced it had bought a memoir – the reputed advance varied from \u00a3800,000 to \u00a32.5million.’\u00a0<\/p>\n

After Fergie had boasted to publishers that she might be able to get Princess Diana, ‘Di’, on board, they were said to have offered her an additional \u00a31million if she achieved her promise.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, just two days of promoting Rupert Murdoch’s Foxtel cable network saw an additional \u00a350,000 put into Fergie’s bank account, according to Mr Lownie.<\/p>\n

Fergie accepted \u00a384,000 from Paris Match magazine in damages after it published topless poolside photographs of her with Texan adviser John Bryan in 1992.<\/p>\n

But the former duchess had no qualms in signing a deal with the same magazine to work as a roving reporter – interviewing the rich and famous around the world.<\/p>\n

Commissioned to do six pieces a year, she was expected to earn around \u00a350,000 an article.<\/p>\n

The bit between her teeth, Fergie then signed a 1998 syndication contract with The New York Times to distribute a weekly diary of anecdotes to publications worldwide.<\/p>\n

Her words of wisdom were co-written with Jeff Coplon, co-author of her biography.<\/p>\n

That month, OK! magazine billed her \u00a3200,000 for an interview and in May she garnered an additional \u00a3200,000 for a ten-day American lecture tour and crossed paths with golfing star Tiger Woods.<\/p>\n

\"One <\/p>\n

One of Sarah Ferguson’s Little Red rag dolls\u00a0was found by a New York fireman amid the ruins of the World Trade Centre. She received an estimated \u00a31million for writing books about Little Red<\/p>\n

The former Duchess was even said to have confided in Piers Morgan that she was ‘in love’ with the 15-time major champion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Other lucrative deals included a \u00a360,000 payment to interview Michael Dogulas about his sex addiction for Hello!, a \u00a3200,000 Sky One lifestyle show and a \u00a350,000 payment to host a Sky TV series.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While the upfront fee went to charity, ‘it was not revealed that the backend payments would go to her,’ noted Mr Lownie.<\/p>\n

So keen was Fergie to get more cash that she even allegedly utilised her romantic relationships for money-making schemes.<\/p>\n

Italian aristocrat Gaddo della Gherardesca, who shared a romantic relationship with the former duchess in the late 90s, was adamant that the pair’s relationship was ‘as strong as ever’.<\/p>\n

However, ‘the press had wondered over the years how serious the relationship was and whether, like many of the former duchess’s apparent romantic relationships, it was not simply a business arrangement,’ wrote Mr Lownie.<\/p>\n

Such speculation was reignited after it was revealed that the Italian had paid Fergie \u00a325,000 ‘a time to take part in various publicity stunts, including promoting Livorno’s new docks’.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, by April 2007, Fergie was also receiving payments of $550,000 to give just five talks – all written by one of Bill Clinton’s former speechwriters – on how she had successfully managed to turn her life around by tile manufacturer Porcelanosa.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hiring the Queen Mary 2 for a six-day trip from Southampton to New York, Fergie’s lavish pay cheque ‘covered the cost of her entourage, which include a hairdresser, personal trainer, make-up artist, two assistants, a ghostwriter, four staff from Hartmoor and a male business friend’, Mr Lownie added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yet while it appeared that the former duchess’s financial woes were a thing of the past, this would not, sadly, be forever.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now, Fergie’s earning potential is at an all time low; the ex-royal was \u2018dramatically impacted\u2019 by King Charles\u2019s decision to slash Andrew\u2019s allowance after the Queen\u2019s death.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The reputational damage caused to Fergie by the former Duke of York’s ongoing fall from grace – including being arrested on his birthday earlier this year – have issued a death knell on decades of her benefiting financially from her royal ties.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Few relationships manage to remain so amicable after a broken marriage – Andrew and Fergie split in 1992 and divorced six years, yet few relationships have also promised the continuation of such a gilded lifestyle.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Constructing a ‘very modern divorce’, including continuing to live together, has enabled Fergie to ensure her lavish lifestyle has lasted for decades.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The ex-duchess, given a \u00a33million divorce settlement, has remained unwaveringly supportive of her former husband, telling Vanity Fair in 2023 – four years after the death of Jeffrey Epstein – that she had ‘married a wonderful, very kind, and a very good man’.<\/p>\n

Many of the Fergie’s shadiest deals are well known: the 2010 ‘cash-for-access fake sheik’ scandal, where a UK newspaper revealed the former duchess had offered an introduction to former Prince Andrew for \u00a3500,000.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In an interview recorded in a Mayfair apartment, the then duchess told the man she supposed was a foreign tycoon: \u2018I can open any door you want, and I will for you.\u2019<\/p>\n

Or the promise in 1999 to promote historic British pottery brand Wedgwood in the US for \u00a3500,000, despite it having a Royal Warrant from the Queen.<\/p>\n

In one email, businessman David Stern, reports that she told him Cunard would pay her $1million a year to take four cruises a year, but nothing came of it, and that the ex-duchess asked him \u2018where she can sell her jewellery\u2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, it was revealed Fergie had accepted funds – \u00a315,000 from\u00a0convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein – to help pay off significant debts.<\/p>\n

Even the more salubrious deals have still leveraged the Windsor name; the steady stream of publishing deals; the role as Weight Watchers’ ambassador<\/p>\n

The \u00a310 rag doll, Little Red – sold exclusively by New York’s toy giant FAO Schwarz in the months after 9\/11 to raise money for her US children’s charity Chances For Children – led to a \u00a31million book deal.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The news last week, exclusively revealed by the Daily Mail, that Sarah Ferguson had once entertained bizarre conversations…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":178237,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[818,9,24,63,122,124,123,4259,15373],"class_list":["post-178236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-dailymail","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-royals","tag-sarah-ferguson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178236\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/178237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}