How Sarah Ferguson Has Slowly Worked Her Way Back Into The Royal Family

The following article mentions sexual assault.

The transformation of Sarah Ferguson from duchess to national disgrace to redeemed unofficial member of the royal family has been truly astounding to witness. Upon marrying Prince Andrew in 1986, Ferguson was, by her own admission, living a fairytale life. But that all changed when she was banished from the royal family and stripped of her HRH title.

Her exile was catalyzed by a series of embarrassing indiscretions, many of which were documented for public consumption. Indeed, Ferguson has had her fair share of awkward moments captured on camera, including the quite literal toe-curling moment in which John Bryan was captured sucking on her toes at a poolside in 1992. As Princess Margaret, herself a royal renegade, once put it (via the New York Post), "You have done more to bring shame on the royal family than could ever have been imagined. Not once have you hung your head in embarrassment, even for a minute." Ouch.

But after years in exile, Ferguson has slowly been making her way back into the royal good books. Central to her transformation is a renewed sense of self-love. "It's a very good moment, because I'm free," she told Town & Country in 2021. "She's still with me, that person who thinks she's fat, ugly, and disgusting ... but she's now not so vocal. The truth is, I am 61 years old and I'm free of the self-­sabotaging Sarah." Here's how Sarah Ferguson has slowly worked her way back into the royal family.

By 2010, Sarah Ferguson's public reputation was in tatters. Infamously, she promised an undercover reporter posing as a sheik access to her husband, Prince Andrew, for the princely sum of £500,000 (around $626,000). When the ruse was exposed, Ferguson was modified. "It is true that my financial situation is under stress," she said, per ABC News, "however, that is no excuse for a serious lapse in judgment and I am very sorry that this has happened."

The following year, she sought to humanize her less than savory public persona. She turned to Oprah Winfrey, who had previously sat down with the duchess for a tell-all interview back in 1996, and the OWN documentary "Finding Sarah" was born. At the heart of the program was the duchess' desire for redemption. Long characterized as spendthrift, she addressed her compulsive behaviors head on. Indeed, Ferguson's lavish lifestyle was routinely documented by the press, as was her apparent avarice, exemplified by her aforementioned deal with a purported sheik. However, in the doc, she insisted that she got into debt due to generosity, rather than greed, due to her desire to spend money on other people.

Discussing the documentary on "Good Morning America" (via ABC News), Ferguson admitted her faults, in turn attempting to garner public sympathy. "I got into a self-sabotage swirl of nonsense that had been building up for years," she said. "When I look back I think, 'You just didn't think it through.'"

The 2011 wedding between Prince William and Princess Catherine was a momentous occasion attended by the crème de la crème of the royal elite. One notable absence, however, was that of Sarah Ferguson. Alas, William's aunt wasn't invited to the nuptials. At the time, there was speculation that the duchess' enduring reputation as an embarrassment led to the decision by the royal couple.

Following the wedding, Ferguson sat down with Oprah (via Reuters) and admitted that she was deeply hurt by the snub. However, she took ownership over the situation, acknowledging that she had brought much of her rejection by the royal family onto herself. "I felt that I ostracized myself by my behavior, by the past, by living with all the regrets of my mistakes," she explained, "that I sort of wore a hair shirt and beat myself up most of the day thinking and regretting why did I make such a mistake? Why have I made so many mistakes? So I did spend a good three hours on that."

A decade later, she reflected on the slight in her interview with Town & Country, conceding that perhaps she wasn't worthy of attending the prestigious event. Subsequently, she headed to Thailand in an attempt to heal. Ferguson's honesty in the face of stark rejection undoubtedly showed a different side to the woman who had for so long been depicted as irredeemable.

It's no secret Prince Philip detested Sarah Ferguson, whom he once branded "odd and pointless," with his animosity preceding her initiation into the House of Windsor. So intense was his aversion, in fact, that he allegedly contemplated not attending the 2018 wedding of Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank to avoid a run-in with the flame-haired duchess. It appears, however, that Queen Elizabeth II didn't feel the same way about Ferguson.

In 2017, Ferguson made a surprise visit to Balmoral as a guest of the queen. According to sources who chatted to the Daily Mail, Prince Andrew served as a mediator between his disgraced ex and the monarch, effectively orchestrating her comeback. "Andrew pulls the Queen's strings. That's why she's at Balmoral," an insider claimed. "For someone who can be so bonkers in her personal life, she's extraordinarily shrewd when it comes to managing her relationship with the Queen."

And when Philip died in 2021, the late queen, who reportedly always had a soft spot for Ferguson, made greater strides towards welcoming the duchess back into the fold. "I think a lot of it is since Prince Philip passed away, who couldn't bear her and didn't allow her to come to Sandringham in 20-something years," royal author Angela Levin told GB News (via Express). "So when he died, The Queen started getting much more friendly with her. She always liked her because she made her laugh and she's so bubbly and alive."

After Sarah Ferguson failed to secure an invite to Prince William's wedding, Prince Harry — ever the rebel — made the surprising decision to ask the duchess to attend his. According to sources who chatted to Us Weekly, Harry chose to invite Ferguson due to his close relationship with her daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie. "Harry and Meghan have total control over who goes to the wedding and there was never an issue at the Palace about Sarah being invited," the source said. "No push back from anyone."

Attending the ceremony in a chic navy suit, Ferguson was greeted with cheers from the crowd. It was a particularly poignant moment for the woman who had once been castigated as the black sheep of the Windsor clan. "I wanted to cry," she told "Good Morning Britain" (via Hello!). "It was extraordinary and I looked around like, 'Are they doing that for me?'. Then someone shouted 'Fergie.'"

Ferguson needn't have gotten too excited though — she had only been invited to the ceremony and lunch, not the after party, which served as a painful reality check regarding her lowly status among the royals. "She was very good to [Harry]," Ingrid Seward told the New York Post's Page Six. "And it was nice that he invited her to his wedding to Meghan ... Fergie wasn't invited to the evening party, even though her ex-husband and children were. She is constantly reminded that she's an in-betweener."

Despite being invited to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding, Sarah Ferguson seemingly jumped on the Megxit hate bandwagon when the Sussexes decided to leave their royal duties behind. Comparisons have been drawn between the banishment of Ferguson from the royal family and the vitriol experienced by Harry and Meghan following their exile. But apparently, Ferguson wasn't entirely in the Sussexes' corner. According to noted royal family defender Piers Morgan, Ferguson seemed to side with him in the wake of the drama. (It's also worth remembering Ferguson and Morgan have been friends for decades.) 

Morgan made the revelation after quitting "Good Morning Britain" in 2021 due to the backlash he received for arguably racist remarks he made about Meghan. According to the TV host, his cruel comments evidently didn't scare off Ferguson. "Not all Royal duchesses were as thrilled as Meghan 'Pinocchio' Markle to see me leave GMB," he wrote in the Daily Mail. "'People have said how much they miss your morning joy and humor,' texted Sarah, Duchess of York, 'get back out there!'" Asked about the alleged texts in her aforementioned interview with Town & Country, Ferguson neither confirmed nor denied Morgan's claims. 

However, in an interview with The Independent, Ferguson was diplomatic when discussing her opinion of Harry and Meghan. "I don't believe in judging anyone, and I would just ask for a little more kindness," she said, seemingly choosing her words carefully and remaining vague.

Despite his myriad indiscretions, Sarah Ferguson still enjoys a close relationship with Prince Andrew. When Andrew found himself in the spotlight due to his controversial friendship with Jeffrey Epstein and his ensuing car-crash interview on "Newsnight," he, much like his ex-wife before him, was cast out of The Firm. Stripped of military titles and his right to use his HRH designation, things were looking bleak for Andrew. That was, however, until Ferguson stepped in.

Ferguson, who insists that she married a good man, has remained supportive of Andrew in the wake of sexual assault allegations and his multimillion dollar settlement to accuser and Epstein trafficking victim Virginia Giuffre. "There is no question that we remain steadfast to each other in loyalty, integrity, honor," she told Town & Country in 2021.

King Charles III, who has never publicly condemned his brother's association with the pedophile financier, reportedly developed a soft spot for Ferguson after witnessing her unwavering support for Andrew. "He always liked Fergie," Ingrid Seward told The Sun. "I think being 'included' this year is a public show of support and appreciation from the King for dealing with Andrew." Moreover, royal author Norman Baker argued that Ferguson and Andrew had a symbiotic relationship whereby both were central to the other's redemption. "Fergie could be being used as a test to soften up the public for the rehabilitation of Andrew, which the Prince of Sleaze is desperate to achieve," Baker said.

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).

After 70 years on the throne, Queen Elizabeth II died in 2022. The tragedy thrust Sarah Ferguson back into the spotlight, as she shared the heartbreaking last words Elizabeth said to her. "You just are what you are ... which was, of course, the last thing that the queen said to me: 'Just be yourself, Sarah,'" she shared on her podcast, "Tea Talks with the Duchess and Sarah Sharing" in 2023.

In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, she also acknowledged that the death of Elizabeth had ultimately liberated her. "She was more a mother to me than my own mother, really, and therefore now she's not there anymore, I feel as though maybe I can be free to be Sarah," she reflected. These poignant memories aided Ferguson's quest for redemption, exemplifying her softer side and thus further humanizing her.

Additionally, she entered the public's good books when she adopted the queen's beloved Corgis. "They are national icons, so every time they run chasing a squirrel, I panic," she told People. "But they're total joys, and I always think that when they bark at nothing, and there's no squirrels in sight, I believe it's because the Queen is passing by." With Britain famously being a nation of animal lovers, it's hard to envisage a more effective way of endearing the public than by adopting fur babies grieving the death of their devoted mom.

With both his parents deceased, King Charles III was bestowed greater autonomy over whom he allowed into the furtive Firm. Subsequently, in 2023, he decided to welcome Sarah Ferguson back, as his mom had seemingly attempted to do years earlier.

According to royal experts who opened up to OK!, Prince Philip's death was the catalyst for the monarch's decision. "He found it difficult even to be in the same room as Fergie after all the shame she had brought on the family, but the Queen was always more conciliatory," explained BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond. "And now King Charles is showing that he accepts her as part of the family and has begun including her in family occasions." She reflected that it would have been painful for Ferguson to watch her daughters attend royal events for so many years while she was cast aside, an undeniable humiliation for the duchess. But throughout it all, Bond noted, Ferguson never publicly slighted the royals.

Furthermore, the king was apparently impressed by the scandal-prone duchess' ability to go for so long without a public indiscretion. "Sarah has always been close to the king [Charles] and is fond of him, and she has increasingly grown closer to the queen [Camilla]," a palace insider told Page Six. "She's always been loyal to the family and has really not put a foot wrong in recent years. She's never said a critical word and is always extremely loyal to the institution."

Sarah Ferguson made a surprise appearance at the royal family's 2023 Christmas Day service. It was the first time she had attended the service since the '90s, seemingly solidifying her transformation from pariah to royal as she finally jettisoned her outcast status for good. But for all the fanfare surrounding her return to the royal family, Ferguson may never make a complete comeback.

In 2023, the Duchess of York was diagnosed with breast cancer and she underwent a single mastectomy. Amid the turmoil of her diagnosis and treatment, Ferguson decided to use her platform to encourage other women to get screened for breast cancer, unheeding any potential backlash. "She has come to an acceptance that 50% of people in a room might like her and 50% might not, but that won't stop her from putting her head above the parapet," a source told Page Six.

The following year, she received more devastating news when she was diagnosed with skin cancer. These health struggles could prove a barrier to her return, as Ferguson may wish to evade further public scrutiny. "There is naturally a great deal of sympathy for her over this," royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams told Express. "However, it would be premature to see any return to royal life, memories are fresh over some of her past mistakes and the York brand is pretty toxic."