She credited the late monarch for being there through her “darkest days.”
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(webp)/GettyImages-52111577-0bd51a94b070455cad2ef0f0eda1de9e.jpg)
Sarah Ferguson credits an unexpected senior royal for making her transition into the royal fold a little easier–and helping her get through her “darkest times.” In an interview with the Sunday Times published on December 14, the Duchess of York looked back on her pre-royal life and how she struck up a close friendship with Queen Elizabeth. Revealing that the late monarch became like a “mother” figure to her in the absence of her own, Ferguson opened up about the heartbreaking final words the queen shared with her–and how it’s still stuck to her to this day.
While Ferguson didn’t marry Prince Andrew until she was 26, the royal was close to the Windsors from a young age. In her interview, Ferguson explained how Queen Elizabeth supported her after her mom left her in the U.K. to start a new life in Argentina with her second husband, Héctor Barrantes Sansoni.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(webp)/GettyImages-178928273-9e608ecbc9b34966a86e5579b5ae8399.jpg)
“My mum was her close friend so she knew me all my life and she loved me. The Queen was much more my mother than my mother was,” she shared. “I called her Mumma. She never let me down, even if I let her down. Even through the darkest days, she never left me.”
The Duchess of York also shed more light on her “darkest days,” crediting the queen for helping her deal with poor self-esteem amid postnatal depression and body-shaming comments from the public.
“I was an addict to food. The fact I could eat my emotions was the only thing that saved my life,” she shared. “I got lost, probably trying to be like Diana.”
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(webp)/GettyImages-2775995-d1f388d58cf64709a8c5b3c066b2ac89.jpg)
A cruel nickname from the public–“the Duchess of Pork”–severely impacted the royal’s self-worth, as she told the publication, “I believed my critics.”
“But the Queen never lost me,” she continued. “The best advice she gave me was the last thing she said to me: ‘Sarah, remember that yourself is good enough.’ It makes me cry.”
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(webp)/GettyImages-1041871258-0903f127b2b54b508ec4ba68904b54eb.jpg)
Ferguson revealed she kept her close relationship with the queen until the end of her life, although she admitted, “I still got nervous seeing her right up until the end because she was the queen of England.”
However, the royal said that she still has a sweet way to remember her relationship with Elizabeth, which included corgi dog walks during the pandemic. “I had many Covid jabs so I could walk the dogs with her. She had little brown walking shoes. Now I have the corgis. They’re phenomenal,” she shared.
Sarah Ferguson gives huge relief to King Charles amid Andrew troubles
Sarah Ferguson made a meaningful decision in order to provide relief to the cancer-stricken King Charles.
For the unversed, the monarch hosted a pre-Christmas lunch at Buckingham Palace for the key members of the royal family.
However, Sarah and her former husband Prince Andrew stepped back from the royal gathering after the Duke’s latest spy scandal, which once again portrayed the Firm in a bad light.
In conversation with GB, royal commentator Sarah Louise Robertson lauded the Duchess of York’s decision to “keep a low profile” in order to not “bring further embarrassment” to the monarch.
She shared, “Sarah Ferguson herself said, let’s not make any protests, keep our heads down, let’s not bring further embarrassment and cause trouble to the King and to the rest of the Royal Family.”
“Given obviously what’s unfolded over the last week, further embarrassment that Andrew’s heaped on the King and the Royal Family, they decided that they should keep a low profile,” the royal expert said.
Moreover, Sarah predicted that the ‘Disgraced Duke’ would not spoil the royal family’s Sandringham walkabout with his presence.
She claimed, “He’s going to be staying at Royal Lodge with Sarah Ferguson, and their two daughters are both spending Christmas with their in-laws.”
It is important to note that Sarah recently showered praises on King Charles for being a ‘kind’ person.
The mother of Princess Beatrice and Eugenie told The Sunday Times, “I’ve known the King all my life and I absolutely adore him. He’s kind and makes me laugh, and I love that he still calls me Fergie.”.
Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson Will Not Be at Royal Family’s Christmas Celebrations
The Duke and Duchess of York and their daughters Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie have declined the invitation from King Charles
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(999x0:1001x2):format(webp)/prince-andrew-christmas-010824-tout-4b125f144b9846279466eb8014812ed8.jpg)
The royal Christmas celebrations at Sandringham just got a bit smaller.
Prince Andrew, his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson and their daughters Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie and their respective families will not join the annual get-together hosted by King Charles.
PEOPLE understands that Andrew, 64, and Fergie, 65, will stay away, most likely spending the festive day at Royal Lodge, the home they live in on the Windsor Castle estate. The Daily Mail was the first to report the story.
The move came just hours after reports emerged that questioned whether Andrew would join the royals for Christmas morning church and then lunch at Sandringham House amid reports of his alleged connections to a suspected Chinese spy.
Andrew, his ex-wife Fergie (as she is popularly known) and their daughters had been widely expected to join the family and stay at Wood Farm on the Sandringham estate for the Christmas holiday, as they did last year — but Andrew was under pressure to stay away and out of the spotlight at such a prominent time for the royal family because of the recent scandal.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(954x333:956x335):format(webp)/prince-andrew-king-charles-queen-elizabeth-funeral-11224-572de48f73cc4d92b2d4453f93d72ec4.jpg)
PEOPLE understands the princesses had invitations spend Christmas with their respective in-laws some time ago and have decided to do so. Their attendance at Sandringham had been in question, one insider says.
By staying away, Prince Andrew has taken the issue out of older brother King Charles’ hands.
What isn’t known is if Prince Andrew will go to the family’s other major Christmas party, held for the wider family on Thursday, Dec. 19. King Charles was in a tricky situation as he has shown support for his younger brother Andrew in recent years, inviting him and Fergie to join in the public side of the Christmas festivities in 2023. But, mindful of political and public pressure around Andrew’s ties to the alleged Chinese spy, pressure is rising for action to be taken, and Charles would not want to be forced to ban Andrew from attending.
Buckingham Palace had no comment.
The furor over Andrew’s links with the Chinese businessman is the latest controversy to engulf him and thrust him back onto the front pages of U.K. newspapers. Andrew was forced to step back from public duties following his bombshell interview with the BBC about his ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, which aired in November 2019, just over five years ago.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(999x0:1001x2):format(webp)/prince-andrew-christmas-010824-2-c3660a70b0574cf7b184924fb973ba5d.jpg)
During that interview, Andrew also said he had “no recollection of ever meeting” Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who alleged she was forced to have sex with the royal three times between 1999 and 2002, including on a private Caribbean island owned by Epstein when she was 17 years old. Epstein died in prison while awaiting federal sex trafficking charges in August 2019.
Andrew has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and announced his step back from royal duties a few days after the explosive interview aired. The royal said he continued to “unequivocally regret my ill-judged association with Jeffrey Epstein” in the official statement announcing his decision.
The transition was made official when the late Queen Elizabeth stripped Andrew of his military titles and patronages in January 2022 amid Giuffre’s civil sexual assault lawsuit. An out-of-court settlement for an undisclosed sum was reached the following month.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(799x0:801x2):format(webp)/trooping-the-colour-explainer-060823-4-db8da6d683c341a5b19ba92327b1fd2c.jpg)
More recently, King Charles reportedly cut Prince Andrew’s allowance off this past summer. Andrew is reported to have found the funds to enable him to stay at Royal Lodge after a suggestion that he might move to Frogmore Cottage, which has been vacated by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle following their move to the United States.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(749x0:751x2):format(webp)/donald-trump-jimmy-carter-tout-100224-c6ec10ab9813473a8c708bf8844ae287.jpg?w=1200&resize=1200,0&ssl=1 "Donald Trump Mocks Jimmy Carter on His Milestone 100th Birthday")
