Sarah Ferguson Says Prince Andrew Still Mourns His Parents' Deaths

It's widely known that Prince Andrew had a close bond with Queen Elizabeth, with the Duke of York possibly being the monarch's favorite of her four children. In addition, Andrew also had a tight relationship with his father, Prince Philip. During Andrew's childhood, Philip saw a lot of similarities between himself and Andrew, both visually and in their personalities. After Prince Philip and the queen died within a year and a half of one another, Andrew was suddenly grieving the loss of both his parents.

During an episode of her podcast, "Tea Talks with the Duchess and Sarah," Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, touched on how her ex-husband is doing. Fergie, who has been recuperating at Royal Lodge after her recent breast cancer surgery, is now permitted to walk her dogs, and she and Andrew were following in Elizabeth's footsteps by walking the late queen's corgis through the woods in Windsor. "It was very moving actually," Fergie recalled, per Mirror. "At one stage we both, Andrew and I, just sat quietly under some really beautiful trees and I asked him if he was all right without his mum and dad. He said it's lonely. He thinks about it a lot." The duchess also noted that grieving can be a turbulent process. "It comes up in tidal waves, then it goes away again, and you cry and you're sad, and then you just keep going and the next day it's OK, or the next minute," she observed, per The Telegraph.

When Prince Philip died on April 9, 2021, Prince Andrew, Duke of York was quick to help Queen Elizabeth. "She described it as having left a huge void in her life but we, the family, the ones that are close, are rallying round to make sure that we're there to support her," the duke explained to the BBC at the time. Andrew made numerous visits to Windsor Castle from Royal Lodge just three miles away. "She saw Andrew very, very regularly right up until her death," author Katie Nicholl informed Fox News Digital. "They remained incredibly close, and she was very protective of him."

In March 2022, Andrew conspicuously supported his grieving mother when he accompanied the monarch to her seat at a memorial for Prince Philip. While some royals regretted Andrew's prominent role at the service, Princess Beatrice, Andrew's older daughter, burst into tears when she saw her father's caring gesture toward her grandmother. 

Similarly, Andrew played a prominent part in acknowledging mourners in Scotland after Queen Elizabeth died on September 8, 2022. Along with his family, the duke thanked the crowd and read the personal messages left in tribute to his mother. "As our book of experiences closes, another opens," Andrew wrote after Elizabeth died, per People. "I will forever hold you close to my heart with my deepest love and gratitude, and I will tread gladly into the next with you as my guide."

Prince Andrew has become a source of much controversy ever since he was linked to Jeffrey Epstein in a lawsuit accusing him of sexual abuse. Because of the allegations, Queen Elizabeth quickly took action and stripped her second son of his dozen military titles and patronages in what royal experts called a "brutal and humiliating" means of damage control (via NBC News). The move to disassociate the shamed prince from the rest of the royal family was a severe blow to Andrew, who had lost his father just two years prior to the bombshell lawsuit. 

Although the case caused a rupture in the public relationship between Queen Elizabeth and Prince Andrew, the queen continued to show support and love for her son behind the scenes. "There was an unbreakable bond between them, and she must have been devastated when his name was dragged through the mud," royal expert Phil Dampier told the Daily Mail. Just a few days after Prince Andrew stepped down from being a working royal in response to the allegations, he was photographed with his mother riding horseback at Windsor Castle, per Town & Country. According to The Telegraph, the monarch was also to thank for the millions of dollars donated to help Andrew settle with his accuser, Virginia Giuffre, out of court.