She has become a beloved – if not slightly eccentric – member of the royal family and often shares insights about the business on her social media.
And although she is now seen as a doting grandmother – a resurfaced clip of Sarah Ferguson storming out of a TV interview 13 years ago has gone viral – is shocking royal fans.
The Duchess of York, who was married to Prince Andrew from 1986 to 1996, walked out of a TV interview after being questioned about the cash-for-access scandal.
Princess Beatrice and Eugenie’s mother took part in a trainwreck interview with 60 Minutes Australia host Michael Usher in 2011.
During the car crash interview, the Duchess walked out mid-interview because she didn’t like the questioning, before returning to talk to Michael.
It seemed the interview came to nothing when the Duchess was forced to watch recorded footage of her offering of ‘cash-for-access’ services to her former husband Prince Andrew.
In May 2010, Sarah was filmed by the now closed News of the World newspaper, which offered Prince Andrew access for £500,000 to an undercover reporter posing as an Indian businessman.
She can clearly be heard on the footage saying: ‘£500,000 if you can, for me, open doors.’
Sarah Ferguson stormed out of a 60 Minutes Australia TV interview after being questioned about her ‘cash-for-access’ scandal in resurfaced footage
In the clip, Michael asked Sarah, “Did you take the money?” At one point you had $4,000 in cash in front of you, did you take it?”
Sarah replied: ‘Absolutely yes, it was given to me, I got it in the car and gave it straight back.’
Michael added: “Once the scandal broke?” Looking frustrated, Sarah added: ‘As soon as I knew it was a scandal, not when it broke Michael.
“Don’t try to fool me now, because I’m not going to play this game. Remove that piece. I don’t want to go down this route.’
The Duchess then turned to her Australian agent John, who was off-screen, and said she did not want to continue with that series of questions.
After Michael pressed to continue with the interview, Sarah said ‘ok thanks, we’ll move on to the next question.’
The Duchess of York sat down for a trainwreck interview with 60 Minutes Australia host Michael Usher in 2011, and it appears the awkward clip has resurfaced on YouTube channels
‘We walked outside and the Duchess came running after me. She took off her heels and stood on the lawn in her stockings. He said, “Michael, how was that?”
After being asked if the scandal helped her “rethink her life,” Sarah said, “I was very grateful in a way to be in that position because when I hit rock bottom, it woke me up.”
Sarah then looked back off camera at her agent and said, “Remember, remember, Cindy, yes…I’m going to take five minutes.”
The Duchess then stood up and walked out of the interview, before returning later, but she still seemed icy towards the interviewer.
During a radio interview, Michael talked about his difficult interaction with Sarah.
The Channel Seven reporter joined Nova 96.9’s Fitzy & Wippa with Kate Ritchie on Thursday to break down the big news stories of 2024.
During the chat, Michael “Wippa” Wipfli recalled Michael’s 2011 interview with Sarah.
“Wasn’t that a hot mess!” Wippa said, before co-host Kate Ritchie added: “I’ve never seen it, I want to hear you guys talk about it.”
‘I had to call her Duchess. She didn’t want me to call her Sarah, lots of charisma and grace,” the veteran journalist said.
Michael Usher (pictured) has opened up about his awkward interactions with Sarah Ferguson
‘But she was doing well, and she was relatively sweet. But then there was this exact moment… she turned around and it was crazy to get her back in the chair.
“She came back and continued the interview, and then it was a different personality again,” he added.
The reporter then said that after the awkward interview, he and his crew were walking outside when the Duchess of York came running up behind them.
‘We walked outside and the Duchess came running after me. She took off her heels and stood on the lawn in her stockings. He said, “Michael, how was that?”
“At that point I just said, ‘Sarah, if I were you, I would ask to go back to the room and do that interview all over again because I don’t know what happened.’
‘Then she says, ‘Oh yeah, who wants to sign some books anyway? I’ll sign your book for you. And now, what are your children’s names?’ And from there she went away.
The Duchess’s representative in Australia, John Scott, claimed at the time that the footage had been cynically taken out of context and demanded that the network withdraw its advertising of the program and remove scenes from the interview.
He told Sydney’s Daily Telegraph newspaper: ‘We had gone through all the questions and topics beforehand and filmed all the footage of walking in the park before we sat down.
‘She walked out when she was ambushed – no, it was an entrapment – but after she cooled down she said to me, ‘F*** them, let’s do this’, and she did, but it was a banal interview and her behavior reflected that.’
John said the Duchess was shocked when he was asked to re-watch the News of the World footage during the 60 Minutes interview.
He said there was no need to have the Duchess watch the footage again as she had clearly already seen the footage and agreed to answer questions about it.
But 60 Minutes producer Mr Thomson said: ‘She agreed to talk about the issue, as she has done extensively, so it was certainly not entrapment.’