Sarah Ferguson’s Wimbledon freebies must be over | Royal | News

This time last year Sarah Ferguson was at Wimbledon, sitting in the Royal Box at the invitation of King Charles; A lot has changed in 12 months. On June 30, 2025, Fergie, then 65, attended the first day of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships alongside her eldest daughter, Princess Beatrice, with a first-class seat in the Royal Box.

This made headlines as it marked Fergie’s highly publicized return to the prestigious VIP Royal Box for the first time in decades; his last appearance here dated back to 1988, when he attended alongside Princess Diana. While invitations to the historic 74-seat venue were only extended by the chairman of the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC), reports from royals suggested Charles had intervened to support her high-profile return.

Now fast forward to July 2026 and there’s not a Fergie in sight in the home of strawberries and cream, “new balls please”, Henman’s Hill and Murray’s Mount.

The truth is, it would be easier for Sarah Ferguson to climb Mount Everest than to find a VIP escort high up Henman Hill.

A lot has changed for her and ex-husband Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor in the last 12 months, and none of it was good.

In 1992, the late Queen Elizabeth once referred to Annus Horribilis – meaning Fergie was involved in it as part of the nightmare that was her split from Andrew that year.

Also that year saw the separation of Princess Anne and Mark Phillips; and the then-Prince Charles and Princess Diana, as well as the publication of Andrew Morton’s tell-all book Diana: Her True Story and the devastating fire at Windsor Castle.

Compared to the 12 months Fergie and Andrew have just endured, this now seems like a misty day and a picnic in Primrose Hill – and it’s hard to feel much sympathy for them.

Both denied any wrongdoing over their relationship with pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, but both publicly claimed to have cut ties with the US financier after he was convicted of sex crimes, when in fact they had not.

Pre-Epstein Files, Fergie’s lowest low was probably the infamous ‘Cash for Access Scandal’ in 2010, when she was filmed accepting £15,000 to facilitate access to ‘Prince’ Andrew and later admitted she was in financial crisis.

But when the US Department of Justice released millions of documents related to Epstein in January, Fergie was plunged into a new hell as she unmasked his relentless greed.

In July 2009, she approached Epstein about paying for business class flights to go to America to see him, just days after he was released from prison for procuring a 14-year-old child for prostitution.

He had no moral qualms about having lunch, veggie lasagne, with the freed child sexual abuser simply because he had paid for his and Princess Beatrice and Eugenie’s flights to the US.

In May 2010, she begged the now-convicted pervert to hire her as a “Home Assistant”, writing: “I’m the most talented and in dire need of money” and “Please Jeffrey consider this”.

The files also revealed that Fergie hailed Epstein as “a legend” and told him in a message: “I’m at your service. Just marry me.”

He can thank his lucky stars that he never says yes. So no, we won’t be seeing Sarah Ferguson in the Royal Lodge again. He probably didn’t like tennis anyway.