"It's a big day for me": Sarah Ferguson discusses emotional charity venture

Just days after re-joining the Royal Family for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding, Sarah Ferguson jetted off to Vegas to promote an important cause.

Beatrice and Eugenie's mother headed to the US from Windsor to showcase her Little Red series of children books - and the toy doll that inspired the stories.While there, the hard-working Duchess spoke in length about how much the cause means to her.

"It's a big day for me. My idea is to find manufacturers today to help me manufacture Little Red, so that we can help more children's lives."

In 2003, the Duchess of York conjured up Little Red as a symbol for her charity, Chances for Children. Little Red went on to inspire a series of books, penned by Fergie.

Sarah's Little Red doll was originally created as a fund-raising project, for a young boy, P.J, who had suffered burns to 95% of his body in the Oklahoma City bombing.The sale of the dolls also helped to raise funds for Sarah's charity, Chances for Children.

And it seems there's a poignant story behind the doll as a symbol of "hope" too.

The offices of the charity were originally based on the 101st floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Centre. Some days after the 9/11 attacks, and the tower had fallen, firefighters found one of the Little Red dolls hidden under the rubble, relatively unscathed by the disaster.Since then, the doll has been placed in the 9/11 memorial muesum, where it still sits now.

In Vegas yesterday, Sarah attended a licensing expo at a conference centre in the hopes of finding a manufacturer to create more of the dolls to raise funds for children across the globe.

At the expo yesterday, Fergie reaffirmed that the doll is still a sign "of hope and survival for children all over the world", because of what it symbolises.

The Duchess of York's work comes just days after she was welcomed back to the royal family for the Royal Wedding.

She sat across from daughter's Beatrice and Eugenie, and ex-husband Prince Andrew, as she watched the new Duke and Duchess of Sussex exchange their vows in front of the whole world.

Speaking to the reporters before she retired from the celebrations, Sarah said, "I have had a lovely day and it is wonderful to see so many people out for this lovely occasion."

Amy Hunt

Amy Hunt is an experienced digital journalist specialising in homes, interiors and hobbies. She began her career working as the features assistant at woman&home magazine, before moving over to the digital side of the brand where she eventually became the Lifestyle Editor up until January 2022. Amy won the Digital Journalist of the Year award at the AOP Awards in 2019 for her work on womanandhome.com.