Sarah Ferguson once opened up about a challenge in her life that she found very upsetting, and amid renewed scandals surrounding her, she has to face it again
When Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson divorced in the mid-1990s, her life would change forever. Despite maintaining a good relationship with Andrew himself, Sarah was cast out of the royal fold, and this brought with it a few challenges that most single parents across the UK would be unlikely to face.
Sarah described her relationship with Andrew after their split as the “happiest divorced couple in the world,” and the pair still live together at Royal Lodge in Windsor – for now. Renewed scrutiny on the former couple’s relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has increased public pressure that they give up the lavish home.
However, Andrew has to make the choice to do so voluntarily, because he has an iron-clad 75-year lease, something he is reportedly willing to do if the Royal Family comes up with two alternative properties, one each for himself and his ex-wife.
READ MORE: Outrage as Sarah Ferguson sold £4.2m property months before ‘demanding new royal home’READ MORE: Meghan Markle finally gives clearest glimpse yet of Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet
With both Fergie and Andrew unlikely to be welcomed back into the royal fold anytime soon – an old wound is likely opening up for Sarah, something she’s previously described as “very hard”.
In 2011, she sat down for an explosive interview with 60 Minutes Australia. During the interview, which saw Andrew’s ex-wife at one point storm out furiously, she admitted that living in Royal Lodge when she was in the UK, and being so close to the Royal Family but still not part of it, was difficult for her emotionally, especially at one time of year.
“It’s very hard for me,” Sarah admitted, explaining that not being able to join with her daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, on some occasions was a sore point.
“I long to be part of it all,” she continued. “It’s been really sad for 15 years not to spend Christmas with the girls…because it’s a Royal Family occasion, and I’m divorced from the Royal Family and so I don’t get to spend time with them. But I’m glad because I give the Queen a lovely gift of my girls.”
Each year the royals congregate at Sandringham in Norfolk for the festive period, and they undertake a walkabout on their way to the annual Christmas church service.
In the first Christmas since he took the throne, Charles invited his brother Andrew and Sarah to join them for the celebrations, marking the first time in over 30 years that Fergie had been included in the public aspect of the day.
However, it has been reported that in some of the recent years before that, the late Queen had extended an invitation to join the House of Windsor for the private Christmas lunch behind closed doors.
Last year, the former couple were banished from view once more amid ongoing controversy around Andrew’s friendship with an alleged Chinese spy.
Yang Tengbo has denied charges of espionage levied against him, but their relationship was enough that Andrew was deemed by security services to be a “national security risk,” reports have claimed.
Last year, despite the ban on her parents attending, Beatrice attended Charles’s festive celebrations in Norfolk, with her sister Eugenie opting to spend Christmas with her in-laws. Andrew and Sarah remained at Royal Lodge by themselves.