Princess Diana and Sarah Ferguson made a pact that they would divorce their husbands at the exact same time, according to a royal insider.
- Princess Diana agreed to leave her marriage to Prince Charles at the same time as Sarah Ferguson's separation from Prince Andrew, according to royal sources.
- The two ladies made the secret pact after bonding over their shared marital unhappiness.
- In other royal news, the Royal Family gets the wrong kind of attention during this SNL host's monologue.
Princess Diana and Sarah Ferguson made a secret pact to abdicate their titles as royal wives at the same time – but it didn't exactly go to plan.
The two women both struggled in their respective marriages to Prince Charles and Prince Andrew and had reportedly conspired to cause double trouble for the Royal Family by coinciding their separation dates. Sarah, also known as 'Fergie', was the first to propose the idea, after bonding with Diana over their mutually unhappy relationships.
The revelations were made by Lesley Player, the mistress of Fergie's father Ronald Ferguson, who claimed the Princess of Wales had initially agreed to the plan. However, according to Diana's lover James Hewitt, she backed out due to pressure from the Royal Family.
“There was no way the Palace was going to let both royal couples announce they were splitting up at the same time," he said. "Diana had been informed in no uncertain terms that the effect on the Royal Family would be disastrous."
The warnings were enough to convince Diana, who was well aware of her husband's infidelity at the time, to try to make her marriage work. Fergie, on the other hand, was adamant about going through with her separation from Prince Andrew.
After photos of herself and her lover, Steve Wyatt, were printed in the tabloids, she knew there was no salvaging her marriage. Fergie and the Duke of York confirmed their split in March 1992, marking the official end of her obligation to royal engagements.
Diana reportedly minimized contact with her former pact mate after she left the Royal Family, focusing her energies on saving her shaky relationship with Prince Charles. Her efforts to reconnect with her husband, who had been involved in an ongoing affair with Camilla Parker Bowles since the onset of their marriage in 1981, were sadly unsuccessful. The couple announced their separation in December 1992 and divorced four years later.
