ROYAL life could have been over for Sarah, Duchess of York when she split from Prince Andrew.
But nearly three decades later, The Firm’s greatest survivor now boasts a remarkable inheritance from The Queen.
After the monarch’s death, Fergie, along with Prince Andrew, took in her beloved corgis Muick and Fergus – and the Duchess reckons they bring a special psychic connection to her late mother-in-law.
“I love them, they are very special,” Fergie tells The Sun. “Every time I see them barking randomly I think it is because the Queen is around.
“They are very loving and they must have given the Queen so much pleasure. Now when I go walking with her dogs, and see the snowdrops and the primroses and the magnolia, I feel the Queen is around.”
The dogs currently live at Royal Lodge, the 31 room mansion which Fergie, 63, shares with Andrew, 63 – for now, anyway.
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Amid reports that her ex-husband is “resisting” being evicted to live at Harry and Meghan’s former home, Frogmore Cottage, Fergie won’t be drawn on where they are going next, saying firmly: “That’s entirely a matter for the Duke and the King.”
Not many divorcees would expect to inherit the mother-in-law’s pets, or still live with their ex for that matter, but then Fergie’s was no ordinary divorce.
She has described herself and Andrew as “the most contented divorced couple in the world”, and they have stood by each other through an unfortunate number of scandals.
“We support each other through thick and thin,” she says. “It’s all about what we call the three Cs – compassion, communication and compromise.”
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7While disgraced Andrew has been forced to step back from public life after paying out millions to settle his sex assault case with Virginia Giuffre, effervescent Fergie is embracing the latest instalment of her varied career – this time as a romance novelist.
Her latest historical romance, A Very Intriguing Lady, co-written with Marguerite Kaye, comes out this month, a follow up to her 2021 hit Her Heart For A Compass, which became Mills and Boon’s first bestseller.
The heroine, Lady Mary Montagu Douglas Scott, is loosely based on Fergie’s own ancestors, as well as her own personality – namely a fondness for constantly surprising others.
“Not many people get the chance to embark on something new in their sixties, and I feel very lucky,” she says. “I am a storyteller, and I believe in living every day romantically.”
And if the Royal Family think they have had enough of explosive tell-all memoirs, they should note that Fergie reckons she has got another one in her.
I love the corgis, they are very special. Every time I see them barking randomly I think it is because the Queen is around
“Oh yes, and I am definitely going to write it too,” she says. “And I have grown so much, the next one will be more honest than the last two.”
Writing romance seems to come easily to a woman who still sees her life as a fairytale – despite a few less than magical twists along the way.
“Marrying into the Royal Family and becoming a princess and then a royal duchess, you are in a very lucky place,” she says.
“I fell in love with my very good looking prince, and I married in 1986 and I am very, very proud.
"I am deeply grateful and I had the most incredible mother-in-law and family.
“And I really do believe in the institution and the monarchy and standing for that value system.”
Not that Fergie hasn’t rocked the monarchy over the years. Before Harry and Meghan, she was the first royal to flee to America, sit down with Oprah and spill her secrets in an explosive memoir.
Which means she has a fair amount of sympathy with the Sussexes, who have also sought a sympathetic audience across the pond after burning their bridges in the UK.
But she also urges an end to the cold war with William and Charles.
Fergie says: “When I got divorced, American people supported me. I don’t judge any other single person. I can’t. I really am in no position.
“I know Meghan makes Harry very happy.
“It is entirely down to that family to sort whatever they need to sort out and I believe personally compromise, compassion and the most important thing is to communicate. No matter what, communicate.”
If anything, Fergie is proof that there is always a way back into the royal fold.
I know Meghan makes Harry very happy
Once labelled “pointless and odd” by Prince Philip, she faced disgrace when she was photographed having her toes sucked by Texan millionaire John Bryan while on holiday in France just months after her separation from Prince Andrew in 1992.
Later, there were scandals when she borrowed £15,000 from convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to pay off her debts and when she was filmed in a News of the World sting accepting cash in return for access to Andrew in 2010.
Despite arguably facing far worse press than Meghan and Harry ever had, Fergie refuses to see anything that has happened to her as a negative, and repeats how “lucky” she is several times during our conversation.
“I think to myself, how extraordinary, I am still here in public,” she says. “Every day a bride!”
So how does she deal with the scrutiny of life in the public eye?
“I have had much therapy, I have done a lot of work looking at why in the past I handled things differently, why I am better now, and it is sort of like you are what you are at 63,” she says.
“I know now that it is no good trying to make everyone love you, and it has taken a lot of work to become less insecure.
"I suppose I have liberated myself from the shackles of my own mind.”
Proud grandma
The Queen was said to have always retained a soft spot for the ever optimistic Fergie, not least because she thought she was a good mother to daughters Beatrice, 34, and Eugenie, 32.
Fergie agrees that it is the “one thing I am totally confident in saying I have done brilliantly”, adding: “I look at how my girls have turned out and I know I’ve done a good job.”
These days she is also relishing being a grandmother to Beatrice’s daughter Sienna, one, and Eugenie’s son, August, 2.
Eugenie and husband Jack Brooksbank are expecting their second child in the summer.
I have had much therapy, I have done a lot of work looking at why in the past I handled things differently, why I am better now, and it is sort of like you are what you are at 63
“Every time they see me they think I’m hysterical,” Fergie says of her grandchildren, joking that if her good friend Princess Diana was still alive today they would be having a “granny off”.
She loves her nickname Fergie, even if it means that she gets confused with the football manager Sir Alex, or the singer from the Black Eyed Peas.
“I always say, 'Sorry, I’m not that Fergie, I’m the other one',” she laughs.
“But I must say, I went up to Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas once and said since we had the same name would she like to sing at one of my charity functions in New York? And sure enough she did.
"We raised a million dollars that night for education.”
Juggling act
Fergie is clearly proud of her philanthropic work, peppering our conversation with references to the campaigning and fundraising she has done on issues from education to the environment and the war in Ukraine.
It must be quite the juggling act, I tell her, having so many things on the go at once.
“I constantly surprise myself!” she declares. “I love it when I try and keep up with myself and I catch myself coming round the corner.
"I go at such speed because I love life and I am trying to fit it all in.”
So what are her ambitions for the next 10 years? Fergie’s answer is typically buoyant.
“I want to win an Oscar for best production,” she says.
“I am working on a film right now, but I better not tell you or someone will steal the idea.
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"It is historical, because I love history and we learn so much from it.”
A Most Intriguing Lady by Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson and Marguerite Kaye (Mills & Boon, £14.99) is out March 30.
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