Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York has weathered a fair few royal scandals in her time and she is currently facing one of her most serious yet after the publication of a 2011 email sent to Jeffrey Epstein. The Duchess's spokesperson has declared that it was sent in the "context of advice" following threats from Epstein.
However, multiple charities severed ties with Sarah in the days that followed, reportedly leaving her "devastated". The Duchess had been attending more royal occasions in recent years, but there were decades where this wasn't the case.
She and Prince Andrew divorced in 1996 and were married for 10 years. Now former royal butler Paul Burrell has reflected upon Sarah in his new book, The Royal Insider: My Life with the Queen, the King and Princess Diana, and shared a time Fergie reportedly left a member of staff "in a rage".
According to Paul, the Duchess of York once allegedly angered staff because she refused to tell them what she wanted to eat for a picnic.
He wrote, as per The Mirror, "When the men were out stalking, the ladies would meet them on the hills for a picnic lunch. A page would enquire in advance what people wanted to eat and compile a list."
"On one occasion, Fergie sent one member of staff into a rage having failed to comply with his request," the butler claimed. "In a voice heard by all the ladies assembled, including the Queen, he boomed, 'What does that red-haired mare want for lunch?'"
Paul continued, "It was accepted with silence as if it was never said. No reprimand. The staff had formed their opinion based on gossip and her behavior."
As well as including this startling allegation, Paul Burrell also supposedly delved into how Fergie was often compared to her late sister-in-law Princess Diana.
Comparison isn't unusual for members of the Royal Family. As woman&home's Royal Editor Emma Shacklock explains, "It wasn't just Fergie who was compared to Princess Diana, but Princess Anne and Duchess Sophie too."
"The comparisons nowadays are often between the Princess of Wales and Duchess of Sussex, and I imagine it's so challenging for them all to deal with when they just want to be recognised as their own person," she adds. "Someone always comes out more favorably in these instances and it must be hard."
Even though both Sarah and Diana were young and often in the press for modernizing the Royal Family at the time, the former royal butler alleges that feeling of goodwill didn’t always translate to the staff at the palaces.
He explained, "Fergie was twenty-six and like a bouncy, uncontrollable red setter puppy. She was not as popular or as well received downstairs as Diana had been. Fergie may have been a breath of fresh air for the Royals but the staff preferred the gentleness of the established Princess of Wales whom they had known for almost five years."
According to him, "newcomer" Fergie had to "earn the trust of the staff". Paul reportedly dubbed her "far too familiar for her own good" but conceded that "the staff could be snobs at times".
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