Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson’s unusual marriage has been plunged back into the spotlight as a new explosive biography makes fresh allegations about the couple
Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson are something of a ‘royal odd couple’. Having divorced in 1996 after ten years of marriage, they are now closer than ever and the two ‘best friends’ still reside together at Royal Lodge.
And while it’s been nearly 20 years since they officially ended their union in 1996, the spotlight is now firmly back on Andrew and Sarah’s love story, thanks to a new biography on the disgraced Duke and his ex lover.
Author and historian Andrew Lownie’s biography,’ Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York,’ seen by The Mirror, offers an in-depth look at the couple’s unconventional relationship and dramatic marriage.
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Andrew and Sarah were introduced to each other in June 1985 by Princess Diana, and embarked on a whirlwind romance, getting engaged in February 1986 and marrying that July.
In many ways the timing was perfect; Andrew’s one-time actress girlfriend, Koo Stark, had married another man, while Sarah had given up on the idea of her live-in boyfriend, older racing driver Paddy McNally, ever proposing, Lownie’s new book notes.
But the royals had reservations, according to the author, who writes that ‘jolly hockey sticks’ Sarah just couldn’t stop talking inappropriately – which reportedly raised eyebrows with the Queen and Prince Philip.
Lownie writes: “Even Sarah’s own family were not sure about the relationship. With characteristic candour, her father stated: ‘She’s either in love with Andrew or in love with the Royal Family and I think it’s the latter.'”
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Nevertheless, the ‘fairytale’ wedding went ahead – but it didn’t take long for cracks to emerge. The couple had few mutual interests and Andrew was rarely there.
The well regarded historian notes in the book that as a naval officer, the Duke was either at sea or on a base far away from her – one year he spent only 42 days at home. Andrew reportedly told Sarah of his priorities: ‘I am a prince, then a naval officer, then a husband.’
The disgraced royal is also said to have embarked on multiple affairs, allegedlly sleeping with ‘more than a dozen women’ before his first wedding anniversary.
Sarah, too, found affection elsewhere. There were instant sparks when she met American playboy Steve Wyatt in November 1989, and they embarked on an affair, the book claims. The following year, Sarah and Andrew welcomed their second child Eugenie, but their marriage was allegedly all but over.
The author notes that Sarah remained close to Wyatt, and he was one of 800 guests invited to Buckingham Palace to mark the Queen Mother’s 90th birthday, Princess Margaret’s 60th, Princess Anne’s 40th and Prince Andrew’s 30th.
According to the book, the Queen asked her whether Wyatt was ‘quite the sort of person you should be encouraging, dear’.
But Fergie seemingly ignored the warning and continued the affair – until he returned to the US, apparently in an attempt to make his fortune before he proposed to her. His friend John Bryan saw an opportunity to swoop in and invited her to dinner at La Tante Claire, Lownie states.
According to the book: “They slept together that night, after which he reflected: ‘Here she was jumping into bed with me. I couldn’t believe that anyone behaved with such reckless abandon.'”
Some months later Sarah was involved in a major public scandal when she was photographed in August 1992 on holiday with her ‘financial advisor’ John Bryan. Fergie was seen rubbing sun cream on the head of Bryan, kissing him, lying under him and letting him kiss or lick her toes.
According to friends quoted in the book, Andrew accepted his wife’s infidelities – perhaps because he was having affairs of his own. Sarah, however, was said to be jealous of any of Andrew’s girlfriends.
“She wanted to remain ‘The One’, with all the perks that brought, and girlfriends were invariably dispatched through a mixture of charm and ruthlessness,” the biography claims.
Elsewhere in the book, Sarah’s spending comes under scrutiny, including claims that she had debts totaling hundreds of thousands of pounds paid off by the late Queen after living a life of “opulent excess”.
It’s alleged she had to be bailed out on “several occasions”, including one payment of £500,000 in April 1994 when the bank Coutts “demanded £500,000 within 14 days”.
After a string of failed business ventures, which often traded on her royal connections, including putting her name to a chain of retirement homes that went bankrupt, Sarah reportedly had debts in excess of £3.7 million by 1994.
The book is the latest in a string of blows for Sarah and disgraced Andrew – who was stripped of his military titles and royal patronages by the Queen in 2022 in light of his association with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
He is described as ‘vulgar’ and ‘sex-obsessed’ in the book, which claims that he has slept with over a thousand women. Those Andrew has shared a night with allegedly include adult film stars, politicians and bartenders, according to an investigative journalist quoted in the biography.
Lownie claims that when Andrew represented the monarch at the King of Thailand’s diamond jubilee celebrations in 2006, he demanded that more than 40 women were brought to his hotel room in Bangkok during his stay.
And one 20-year-old model recalled how ‘kinky’ the Duke was after they allegedly met at a charity function before sleeping with him twice in a hotel.
One excerpt reads: “‘He wanted me to engage in kinky sexual activity,’ she remembers. ‘He had no boundaries. He told me he had an open marriage arrangement with his wife. After returning to London, I never heard from him again. I felt like he used me for a few days, so he could live his wildest fantasies.'”
The book also claims that Palace staff were aware of Andrew’s behaviour. “It seemed everyone was aware of his behaviour, but little was done about it,” one insider is quoted as saying.
Buckingham Palace and Sarah Ferguson’s team declined to comment.
‘Entitled’ by Andrew Lownie (William Collins, £22), to be published August 14.