Sarah, Duchess of York: The ups and downs of life in the limelight

Charities have distanced themselves from Sarah, Duchess of York after the disclosure of an email to paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein which described him as a “supreme friend”.

She apologised to the sex offender in April 2011 after publicly disowning him in the media.

The ex-wife of the Duke of York and the mother of princesses Beatrice and Eugenie was recently seen in public with Andrew at the funeral of the Duchess of Kent.

Here, the PA news agency looks at the ups and downs of life in the limelight – from a fairy tale royal wedding to her infamous “toe-sucking” scandal.

– Meeting the duke and a royal wedding

Sarah Ferguson, 65, was born on October 15 1959 to Major Ron Ferguson and Susan Barrantes.

A young Sarah – dubbed Fergie by the media – grew up around royalty as her father played polo with the late Duke of Edinburgh and was polo manager for the then Prince of Wales.

It is said romance blossomed between her and the Duke of York in the mid-1980s thanks to scheming by an unlikely matchmaker – Diana, Princess of Wales.

Sarah married Andrew on July 23 1986 at Westminster Abbey, with millions tuning in to watch the televised ceremony. Princess Beatrice was born in 1988 and Princess Eugenie two years later.

The duchess brought renewed vigour to the monarchy in the 1980s alongside the then Princess of Wales, but often struggled to come to terms with the rigorous disciplines of royal life.

She once confessed: “I was hopeless from the start … They could never make me the perfect princess.”

– Divorce and “toe sucking” scandal

Royal life with its protocols and procedures stifled the duchess and the long periods that her husband Andrew spent away with the Royal Navy did not help their marriage.

The couple split in 1992 and that year the infamous photograph showing American John Bryan kissing her feet was published by a tabloid newspaper.

Paparazzi photos of a topless “Fergie” having her feet kissed by her “financial adviser” paved the way for her exit from the royal family, and the then Duke of Edinburgh is said to have never forgiven the duchess for the scandal.

The duke and duchess divorced four years later but the break-up was amicable and they both played important roles in the lives of their daughters. The couple have remained close.

In the time that followed, Sarah spent years as an outcast from the royal family and was said to have struggled with money problems.

She turned her finances around by working in America, including acting as a spokeswoman for Weight Watchers for 10 years from 1997 and writing a series of children’s books and self-help and lifestyle guides.

– Cash for access

In 2010 she was caught up in the cash-for-access scandal, offering to sell an introduction to her ex-husband for money to an undercover reporter posing as a businessman.

She was filmed by The News Of The World newspaper promising to introduce an undercover reporter posing as a wealthy businessman to Andrew, who was then the UK’s special representative for international trade and investment.

The footage showed the former royal telling the journalist: “£500,000 when you can, to me, open doors.”

After the scandal broke, Sarah was interviewed by US chat show queen Oprah Winfrey and said about Andrew: “We are divorced and I don’t want to keep being this burden on him.”

– Epstein and royal guest lists

In March 2011, she admitted to a “terrible, terrible error of judgment” after accepting £15,000 from convicted sex offender Epstein to pay a former assistant’s unpaid wages.

When Prince William married Kate Middleton in Westminster Abbey in 2011, the duchess was left off the guest list.

She was invited to Prince Harry’s wedding to Meghan Markle in May 2018, but was seated well out of view of the royals, near the choir.

– Return to the royal fold

Later in 2018, Fergie was finally back when daughter Eugenie married wine merchant Jack Brooksbank.

The duchess has become known for her enthusiastic tweets, and declared after Beatrice’s engagement “I know what a mother feels so I have tears of joy. I am so proud of this sensational news. Andrew and I are just the luckiest people ever to have two great sons-in-law”.

– The Queen’s corgis

Sarah said she spoiled the corgis she and Andrew adopted following the death of the Queen in September 2022.

Elizabeth II owned more than 30 corgis during her reign and was known for her love of the breed.

Sarah told Hello magazine: “I am their favourite but everybody always says it’s just because I feed them gravy bones. I love everything about them and I spoil them the most.”

She was invited to spend Christmas with the royal family at Sandringham in 2022, a sign that relations may have thawed.

– Double cancer blow and recovery 

Sarah was diagnosed first with breast cancer in 2023 and then with skin cancer in 2024.

She has previously described thinking her own diagnosis was a “death sentence”, saying it felt like a “bomb going off in your life” and took her mind to the “darkest places”.

Speaking earlier this year, she said: “I tell people to be proud of your scar.

“A teenager who died of cancer once told me, ‘Always keep your sense of humour’ – so I call my breasts Derek and Eric.”

In 2023, she co-hosted This Morning alongside presenters Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary.

Topics included a look into the importance of defibrillators, the best way to rehome a dog and how to protect your skin.

In an interview the same year, she admitted: “I probably reached to the wrong places and the wrong people and made, as you call it, mistakes.

“I don’t call them mistakes, I call them enormous learning curves.”