The timing of Sarah Ferguson’s return to Britain after seven months living under the radar in the homes of others across Europe and the Gulf States is no coincidence.
My bombproof sources tell me the disgraced former Duchess of York knew that all too well Prince Harry And Meghan Markle were plotting their own return to Britain, despite a campaign of secrecy so effective that the public announcement came as a complete shock to almost everyone.
In other words, Ferguson knew what was going on and made her own plans accordingly.
How did she find out? It is significant that, four weeks ago, the youngest daughter Princess Eugenie gave birth to her third child, Adelaide Elizabeth Annina Brooksbank. It appears certain Ferguson visited Eugenie and husband Jack at their home in Portugal following the baby’s arrival, despite remaining out of sight since she and ex-husband Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor were evicted from Windsor’s Royal Lodge in February.
Well-placed sources suggest that at one point she advocated being able to freely rule the remote Portuguese home so that she could come and go as she pleased. That was a request that went too far for the Brooksbanks, who don’t want their hideout under siege by paparazzi.
But Ferguson has been welcomed as a guest by her daughter – and so have the Sussexes. Meghan and Harry may have confided their plans to Eugenie, telling her they planned to send their two children, Archie and Lilibet, to private schools in the Cotswolds.
I think it’s more likely that Meghan herself revealed the plan to Ferguson. She has two good reasons for this. Firstly, both women have been living in a state of open war with the Palace machine for years. Very few people on this planet have personal experience with what that’s like, and both will benefit from sharing their notes.
In fact, Meghan has long seen Ferguson as an example of how it is possible to be half in, half out of the royal family, trading on title and tradition to make money, especially in the United States.
The disgraced former Duchess of York was well aware that Prince Harry and Meghan were plotting a return to Britain – and made her own plans accordingly, writes Andrew Lownie.
It is likely, Lownie says, that Meghan herself informed Fergie of the family’s planned move. She has long seen Ferguson as an example of how to exist as a half-in, half-out royal
The entire time she was Duchess, Ferguson could get away with blatantly flouting the rules – flogging her smoothie blenders on QVC, appearing in ads for Ocean Spray cranberry juice and promoting Weight Watchers, all while still living in a Crown property and shamelessly turning up at the Royal Box at Wimbledon or Ascot. Even if Meghan didn’t confide in all her plans, she will have dropped enough hints to convince the older woman that this was a good time to come out of cover.
It’s a general rule that no matter how insatiable the public’s appetite for royal gossip, there’s almost never room for more than one story in the headlines at a time.
That’s why Palace schedulers work so diligently to ensure royal engagements and announcements don’t clash — and why there is so much resentment among courtiers when Harry and Meghan steal the spotlight by arranging an unofficial royal tour in Africa or Australia. Ferguson knows how to make this work to her advantage.
All the public attention this week, and probably for most of September, will be on the Sussexes: where are they house hunting; which schools did they prefer and, most intriguingly, how long will Meghan stay in Britain with her family before returning to California?
That leaves little media time for questions about where Ferguson will live and how she will pay the rent.
Many assume she is spending the money left by her former friend and sugar daddy, F1 tycoon Paddy McNally, who died in July aged 88 – or, at least, borrowing money in anticipation of a bequest once probate has been granted.
But I’m told this isn’t the case. Whatever income she has comes from the Gulf States, from an unknown benefactor, most likely a high-ranking member of a Middle Eastern royal family. McNally helped her when she first became homeless, allowing her to stay at his home in Verbier, Switzerland, once known as “the Cocaine Castle.”
Her welcome soon grew sparse. Ferguson is not a woman who accepts one gift without asking for more, as the world saw firsthand when her money-grabbing email exchanges with billionaire financier and pedophile Jeffrey Epstein were publicized.
McNally became thoroughly fed up with her and apparently left her nothing at all in his multi-million pound will. This must have been a bitter blow and helps explain why she didn’t bother to attend his funeral in Wiltshire earlier this month, sending her daughter Beatrice instead.
Yet reliable rumors suggest she has her sights set on a six-bedroom house in a gated community in the Home Counties, renting at £10,000 a month. And she seems ready to move in right away, as the home is undoubtedly fully furnished.
She also has crates of personal belongings in a storage unit in London, although reports that Andrew has more furniture stored in his Sandringham abode, the cramped and shabby Marsh Farm, are less likely.
Ferguson’s relationship with her ex-husband is actually at a low ebb of mutual recriminations and distrust. He knows she has been dealing with TV production companies and publishers in the US, and has already turned down a $1 million offer for an exclusive interview in hopes of an even bigger payday. She has little left to lose – her reputation is in tatters.
A tell-all memoir about her friendship with Epstein could make colossal progress, if she’s willing to completely betray her ex-husband.
She must have always known what happened during his visits to Epstein’s homes and private island: the array of sex toys on display in every room and the photos of naked, very young women on the walls were impossible to ignore, according to multiple witnesses.
Of course, she is aware that she does not need to accuse herself further. She may face new allegations over her relationship with Epstein with the likely unsealing of court documents in the Virginia Giuffre and Ghislaine Maxwell defamation case and the release of further material under the Epstein Files Transparency Act in the coming weeks.
So far she has not come forward to assist Thames Valley Police and other forces in their investigation into the former Prince Andrew and his alleged misconduct – allegations he has steadfastly refuted.
Silence will not be an option as she returns to England. An obvious solution would be to seek a legal guarantee of compensation, a promise that she will not be sued. In return, she could tell the police everything she knows.
This could appeal to detectives who are beginning to fear that, however much they suspect Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is guilty of both sexual and financial misconduct, gathering evidence to prove this in court could be impossible.
Sarah Ferguson could be the witness they need to change that. This unexpected return to England is her own version of Finding Freedom… and her freedom could mean the end of her ex-husband’s.
- Titled: The Rise And Fall Of The House Of York, the biography of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Sarah Ferguson, by Andrew Lownie, is published by William Collins.
