500 million people watched them get hitched, but how much does the public really know about
Andrew and Fergie?
And what does Fergie mean when she says they're "divorced to each other"?
The public has long been fascinated with royal couples.
It seems we have an endless appetite for what appear to be fairytale love stories—there's
Will and Kate, Meghan and Harry, or, back in the day, Charles and Diana or even Elizabeth
and Philip.
There is one royal couple that we don't talk about much these days — Prince Andrew and
Sarah Ferguson, or, as she was fondly known in the '80s and '90s, Fergie.
In their heyday, these two were royal favorites.
In fact, the BBC reported that 500 million people from around the world tuned in to watch
their wedding.
These days, however, Andrew and Ferguson aren't exactly the fairytale couple we once thought
they'd be.
The couple divorced in 1996, and Andrew is now going through a controversial legal battle
after being accused of sexual assault.
"You were staying at the house of a convicted sex offender."
"It was a very convenient place to stay."
So, what exactly happened between this ill-fated royal couple?
Prince Andrew, the third child of Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip, reportedly
had a string of unsuitable girlfriends.
As a 1986 Vanity Fair article reported, however, that all changed when he reconnected with
Sarah Ferguson, who was a childhood friend of the family, at the Royal Ascot in 1985.
At the time, Ferguson was a good friend of Princess Diana, and apparently, it was she
who introduced Ferguson to her brother-in-law, hoping it would develop into something romantic.
After Andrew's prior romantic attachments, Ferguson was allegedly quickly embraced and
accepted by the royal family.
Even though she was deemed suitable, she and Andrew seemed to have a real spark, too.
In fact, their connection was so strong, they dated for less than a year before Andrew proposed
on his 26th birthday.
Sarah Ferguson and Prince Andrew tied the knot on July 23, 1986.
The royal wedding was an extravagant, hugely publicized affair.
According to Hello!
magazine, Ferguson traveled to Westminster Abbey in a carriage with her father, waving
to the thousands of people who lined the streets along their route.
Ferguson, like other royal brides, didn't skimp when it came to her wedding dress, according
to Town & Country.
She wore a satin gown covered in hearts, along with anchors and waves to symbolize her love
for Andrew, who was a naval officer, and thistles and bumblebees, to symbolize her own family
crest.
In 2021, Ferguson spoke of her wedding day during an appearance on Italian TV, calling
it the "happiest day of her life."
After their wedding, tensions grew fairly quickly between the couple.
For one thing, Prince Andrew's naval career meant that Sarah Ferguson was often left on
her own.
She recalled to Harper's Bazaar in 2018,
"I married my boy, who happened to be a prince and a sailor, because I loved him — and
still do — my only condition being, 'I have to be with you.'
And two weeks after the wedding, the courtiers told Andrew, who thought he'd be stationed
in London, 'You have to go to sea.'"
Ferguson went on to explain that he wasn't even there for most of her first pregnancy,
telling Harper's,
"When Beatrice was born, Andrew got 10 days of shore leave, and when he left and I cried,
they all said: 'Grow up and get a grip.'"
In addition to the strain caused by his absence, Ferguson was also unused to life as a royal.
"It's not a fairy tale.
It's real life in there.
Well, so to speak.
They think it's real life in there."
Like other royal brides, she found herself under constant public scrutiny.
As she told the Times in 2021,
"When you marry into the family you give up your anonymity, and that comes with challenges
but also opportunities."
In the early '90s, there were plenty of rumors surrounding Sarah Ferguson and Prince Andrew's
marriage — namely, that Ferguson was having an affair.
The pair officially separated in 1992.
Shortly after, a series of paparazzi images of Ferguson and her financial adviser, John
Bryan, were published.
According to the Washington Post, the pictures showed the pair, quote, "smooching, snuggling,
nuzzling, embracing, back-rubbing and generally carrying on."
One infamous photo even featured Bryan kissing Ferguson's feet.
The scandal seemed to sour things between Fergie and the royal family.
The Queen's private secretary apparently called her "vulgar, vulgar, vulgar" at the time,
per the Guardian.
According to royal biographer Penny Junor, the scandal was "the end" for Fergie and her
ties to the family.
Junor said on the show "The Royal Wives of Windsor,"
"She was at Balmoral [Castle] when those photographs came out.
The family came down for breakfast and there was Fergie in this shocking scene and that
was the end."
Even though Sarah Ferguson and Prince Andrew separated in 1992, they didn't officially
divorce until 1996.
As Ferguson later told Harper's Bazaar, she ended up striking a deal with the Queen.
Apparently, Ferguson wanted to earn her own money.
She told Harper's,
"It's not right for a princess of the royal house to be commercial, so Andrew and I decided
to make the divorce official so I could go off and get a job."
As Ferguson went on to explain, she only had one request: as she put it, she wanted, quote,
"friendship, not money."
Instead of asking for a large divorce settlement, she requested that she could remain close
to the royal family.
This meant that Ferguson left the marriage without having to "fight" the Queen for money.
In the end, her settlement was just £15,000 a year.
And even though Ferguson claimed to want a small settlement, according to the Guardian,
she was bitter not to have been given a little more.
Sarah Ferguson and Prince Andrew are definitely an unusual divorced couple.
As of February 2022, the pair are still living under the same roof more than 25 years after
their divorce.
Apparently, the pair live at Royal Lodge, Prince Andrew's official residence, a home
that is part of the Windsor Estate.
As Ferguson explained to the Telegraph, their bizarre living situation has meant they've
been able to co-parent their two children.
She told the outlet,
"We are co-parents who support each other and believe that family is everything.
I'm proud of the job we have done together in bringing up our children and sustaining
a strong family unit."
As far as Ferguson is concerned, Royal Lodge isn't exactly her home.
She told the Times,
"I travel a lot.
When I'm in the U.K.
I'm lucky enough to stay at Royal Lodge.
I wouldn't call it my home as that would be presumptuous."
One thing's for certain: There's no longer any bad blood between Sarah Ferguson and Prince
Andrew.
In fact, in 2021, she told the Telegraph,
"We always say we are the most contented divorced couple in the world.
We're divorced to each other, not from each other."
And, in 2020, when asked if she still loved Andrew, Ferguson told the Daily Mail,
"We both say it.
We are completely compatible.
Our bywords are communication, compromise and compassion."
In fact, their relationship is so close, rumors even began to swirl in 2021 that the couple
might remarry.
Of course, the sexual assault allegations against Andrew, and his connections to the
late Jeffrey Epstein, may have caused a rift between him and his ex-wife.
"He knows exactly what he's done, and I hope he comes clean about it."
However, it seems that Fergie is determined to stand by him.
Royal biographer Penny Junor told the Guardian,
"She has not just stood silently by his side.
She actually speaks out in favor of him."
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