Prince Philip had Fergie sussed and would be shouting ‘told you so’ | Royal | News
There is no doubt that Sarah Ferguson can say that she is the author of her own misfortune; she went after Jeffrey Epstein’s fortune just as she went after his royal access and status. But if she were still alive, there would be one senior royal to say “I told you so” about her dramatic fall from grace: Prince Philip.
In his explosive biography ‘Title: The Rise and Fall of the House of York’, historian Andrew Lownie asks the late Queen Elizabeth “doesn’t that girl ever shut up?” she laments, claiming that Prince Philip thinks she’s just a “creative girl” and “rude.” He may have realized this when reading the latest shocking Epstein Files emails between the now-convicted US pedophile financier and Fergie.
Admittedly, there wasn’t much love lost between Prince Philip and Fergie in the end, but the pair appeared to be quite close in the beginning.
In the early 1980s, Philip was reportedly quite fond of this talkative daughter of former British Army Major Ronald Ivor Ferguson, who was initially the polo manager of the Duke of Edinburgh and later Charles, Prince of Wales.
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Major Ferguson was the son of Marian Montagu Douglas Scott, a first cousin of Lady Alice Montagu Douglas Scott, who became Princess Alice after marrying Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, brother of King George VI (aunt of Queen Elizabeth II).
When Fergie became engaged to Prince Andrew in 1986, Philip believed she would be a “great asset” to the Royal Family.
But Philip and Fergie’s relationship soured when her and Andrew’s marriage collapsed in 1992. She was staying at Balmoral when photos were published of her toes being ‘sucked’ by her financial advisor John Bryan while on holiday in St Tropez.
Philip, with a stiff upper lip, found the images “beyond the pale” and was “paralysed” by the embarrassment they caused the Queen, declaring that he was, in effect, her persona non grata.
There was reportedly even a “Balmoral Dance” when Fergie visited the Queen at Balmoral; this meant that the schedule was tightly managed for Philip to leave before his arrival.
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Sarah Ferguson, Andrew, the late Queen and Prince Philip in April 1986 (Image: Getty)
The pair were photographed together for the first time in 26 years at Princess Eugenie’s wedding in 2018, but observers noted that Philip remained distant and “avoided her like the plague”.
It was no coincidence that since Philip’s passing in 2021, Fergie has slowly been reintegrated into royal society for a while, spending more time by Andrew’s side.
Previously, Fergie confirmed on Alan Carr’s Life’s A Beach podcast that the bond between her and Philip had broken down: “You had to do the best you could. If you made a stupid comment, I was told it was an absolutely stupid comment.”
Royal historian Kenneth Rose said Fergie told him she still had letters from Prince Philip about the John Bryan affair, “saying I had let the Firm down”.
She told Rose about letters from Philip: “In one of them he wrote that he was reading a book about Edwina Mountbatten. [Lord Mountbatten’s wife, notorious for having had many lovers, including, allegedly, Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India]and my actions reminded him of that.”
Philip’s concern and caution about Fergie seems very prescient at the moment; But just like Andrew’s decades-long arrogance, there were also warning signs of future disaster.
If looking down at the Epstein fallout from above with his head in his hands makes Philip any happier, then ‘Balmoral Dancing’ will now be ‘Balmoral Totally Banned’ – Fergie won’t be welcome there for another decade or two.
