Chances are that Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, commonly known as Fergie, has long dreamt of getting back in the spotlight. Now, however, she’s back in the spotlight for the worst possible reasons!
That’s because all eyes are on her ex-husband Prince Andrew. The prince is under fire for his connections to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as well as allegations that he had sex with an underage girl in 2001. The girl in question, Virginia Giuffre, now 38, is now suing Prince Andrew, and Buckingham Palace went so far as to revoke Andrew’s patronages and military titles. He can’t even be called “your royal highness” as he heads into an ugly sex abuse trial.
People around the world are now asking themselves who the real Prince Andrew is. This is where Fergie, Andrew’s ex-wife, comes back into the spotlight. And what Fergie has to say about Prince Andrew following the sex abuse allegations against him is shocking.
How Prince Andrew and Fergie met
When you get right down to it, the Royal Family is a really tightly-knit group. So it shouldn’t be that much of a surprise that Andrew and Fergie met because of another famous royal: Princess Diana!
Diana and Fergie were childhood friends who reconnected in the early ’80s. Fergie quickly became a close confidant and even secured an invitation to Diana’s lavish wedding to Prince Charles.
Eventually, Diana invited Fergie to a 1985 event at Windsor Castle. There, she met Prince Andrew for the first time in their adult lives. As W Magazine reports, Andrew and Fergie had known each other as children and even played polo together back in the day.
Their meeting in 1985 blossomed into a romance that moved very fast. Diana provided her home in the country so Andrew and Fergie could date on the down-low. Once they went public, though, Fergie quickly ingratiated herself to the Royal Family. According to Vanity Fair, Fergie bonded with the Queen over their love of horses and with Philip over their love of competitive open-carriage driving.
The stage was set for a very happy and long-lasting relationship. But that’s not exactly how things went down.
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Fergie responds to Prince Andrew’s sex abuse scandal
As we noted before, it’s impossible to discuss Prince Andrew without discussing Jeffrey Epstein. And between the sex offense allegations and the bitter divorce, you might expect Fergie to be equally bitter about her ex-husband.
However, that couldn’t be further from the truth. When she appeared on the Italian chat program Porta a Porta in December 2021, Fergie was supposed to just promote her new novel Her Heart for a Compass. But as reported by The Independent, she ended up dishing on Prince Andrew while she was there.
First, she clarified that marrying Prince Andrew in 1986 was the happiest time in her life, stating, “I married the best man in the world.” And even post-divorce, she has nothing but love and respect for Andrew. “I believe that the love I have for him and he has for me is just very different from what normal people have,” she said. “We have great respect and love for each other. It really is our own fairytale and it’s our own lives, how we like to be, with total respect and honor to each other.”
Eventually, Fergie was asked what she thought about the allegations against Prince Andrew. And she didn’t mince words, saying, “I completely stand by Andrew 100 percent.”
In that same interview, she added, “He is such a kind, great man, he is a brilliant father and now a fantastic grandfather…. I feel very strongly that in this day and age that we must stand by our hearts, what we think is right with integrity and honor and loyalty.” Clearly, the sex abuse scandal has not affected Fergie’s view of Andrew’s character.
Interestingly, Fergie and Andrew still live together in Windsor (when Fergie is in the U.K.) despite getting divorced back in 1996. So if they still live together and clearly still care for one another, why did they ever get divorced in the first place? And could remarriage be in the cards for them?
Why did Prince Andrew and Fergie divorce?
There is a stereotype of royals that they don’t necessarily work that hard. Sadly, the main reason that Andrew and Fergie ultimately divorced seems to stem from Andrew’s work schedule in the early days of their marriage.
As Town and Country Magazine reports, Andrew’s career in the Royal Navy meant that he only got to see his wife about 40 days out of the year. And this frantic schedule didn’t slow down for things like children. While Fergie and Prince Andrew have two daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, Fergie revealed that “I spent my entire first pregnancy alone.” And when Beatrice was born in 1988, “Andrew got 10 days of shore leave” only.
While that was bad, the final nail in their relationship’s coffin came in 1992. That was when photos revealed that Fergie was having an affair with an American businessman named John Bryan. She previously claimed that he was merely her financial advisor, but intimate pictures (including ones showing Bryan kissing Fergie’s toes) revealed otherwise!
These photos came out when Fergie was on holiday at Balmoral Castle with Elizabeth, Philip, and other prominent royals. They were understandably angry that she had brought shame to the Royal Family, and she and Andrew legally separated.
They didn’t divorce until 1996, and to hear Fergie tell it, this was mostly a practical decision. She told Harper’s Bazaar that she wanted to return to work, but she couldn’t do so while still married to a prince. “I wanted to work; it’s not right for a princess of the royal house to be commercial, so Andrew and I decided to make the divorce official so I could go off and get a job.”
Perhaps to show her genuine desire to work, or maybe just get back in the Queen’s good graces, Fergie demanded only one thing as part of the divorce settlement: the friendship of Elizabeth. This was more important to her than receiving money, and she left the family knowing she would have to earn her own living.
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Will Prince Andrew and Fergie remarry?
As we noted before, the arrangement where Andrew and Fergie still live with one another decades after their divorce is very unusual. Between that living arrangement and Fergie’s frequent statements about Andrew, everyone is asking if the two will ever remarry.
The short answer is that neither Andrew nor Fergie have made any statements about getting remarried. But what fuels the fires of speculation is just how committed Fergie is to her ex. In a November 2018 interview with the Daily Mail, Fergie shocked the world by mentioning that she and Andrew still constantly express love for one another. “We both say it. We are completely compatible. Our bywords are communication, compromise and compassion.”
In that same interview, though, she downplayed the idea of remarrying Andrew. “We enjoy each other’s company; we allow each other to blossom. I know it sounds like a fairy tale but that’s the way we are.”
Still, every time Fergie talks about Andrew, it seems likely they will get back together. In an interview with Polsat News in September 2021, Fergie opened up about her continuing feelings toward Andrew. “I fell in love with him. He was a sailor, he is still. He was a helicopter pilot and was also a prince,” she said. “I kept my commitment, no matter what. People said: you got divorced. They don’t know how I feel. Divorce is one thing, but my heart is my oath, my obligation.”
These days, Andrew and Fergie are about as close to one another as a divorced couple can be. They continued to live together and raised their children together. When their daughter Princess Eugenie got married in October 2018, Andrew and Fergie were both there and beaming with pride. They have made other public appearances together, and she remains Andrew’s most passionate defender.
In recent years, Fergie has even rehabilitated her relationship with Queen Elizabeth and the rest of the Royal Family. Though if things go poorly for Andrew in his upcoming sex abuse trial, things may sour between Fergie and the Royal Family once again. But it seems that no verdict (or anything else, for that matter) could drive a wedge between Fergie and Andrew.