Sarah Ferguson reveals the surprising job she had before marrying Prince Andrew

(Image credit: Maurizio D'Avanzo/IPA/REX/Shutte)

Before becoming a member of one of the most famous and most wealthy families in the world, Sarah Ferguson has revealed that she actually did a rather normal - if unpleasant - job.

The Duchess of York married Prince Andrew in1986, and despite splitting from him in 1996, the pair remain good friends to this day.

But before marrying her Prince, way back in the 1970s when she was just a teenager, Sarah used to clean toilets for a living. Speaking on a Swedish television show, Skavlan, the Duchess said, "You won't believe it but when I was 18, I cleaned very good mirrors.

“I cleaned lavatories when I was 18 and graduates' bedrooms; they all left it very messy.”

But that wasn't her only less-than-glamorous job. Sarah also shared that she used to waitress as well.

She said, “And then the waitress in a strudel house. I don’t cook, I just took the strudel out of the deep freezer and put it in the oven; that’s cooking.

The Duchess then said, “Then I married a prince, it was great.”

Sarah Ferguson

So it seems that despite the fact that Sarah and Andrew's families were close as the pair were growing up, she experienced a pretty different life as a teenager to the Prince.

Sarah isn't the only person who held down a pretty normal job before marrying a Prince.

Even after meeting Prince William, the Duchess of Cambridge worked as an accessory buyer at the clothing chain Jigsaw. Catherine worked there part time for a year between November 2006 - 2007, before officially joining the Middleton family business, Party Pieces.

The Duchess worked in catalogue design, production and marketing at the party items company, and stayed there until 2011, when she became engaged to Prince William.

Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, also had a pretty normal career before marrying Prince Charles. In the 70s and 80s, she worked as a secretary and receptionist at a variety of London firms, including one decorating company.

And of course, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex also enjoyed a long, successful career as an actress, most notably in lawyer drama Suits, before meeting and marrying her Prince, the Duke of Sussex.

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.