Sarah Ferguson has never been known for understated entrances, and her surprise return to Britain last week was no exception.
The former Duchess of York made her first public appearance in the UK in more than a year at a memorial service for one of her wealthy former partners. She arrived showing off her legs and wearing a bracelet bearing her daughters’ names.
The flame-haired 67-year-old may have lost her ducal title, but her status as the mother of two princesses remains central to her identity.
And, as the Daily Mail can reveal, her ambitions appear as grand as ever. Now back in Surrey, Ferguson has reportedly moved into a gated development just across the county border from Sunninghill in Berkshire, where she lived during the early years of her marriage to Prince Andrew, the former Duke of York.
Her reported rent of £10,000 a month is being covered by a wealthy Middle Eastern benefactor, who is also said to be paying for a small team of staff to assist her.
Despite the extraordinary arrangement, sources say Ferguson is already searching for a larger, more permanent property. One possible destination is the Gulf, where she and Andrew retain strong commercial relationships and a loyal network of supporters, particularly among royal households and their circles.
Most strikingly, the Daily Mail understands that Ferguson’s plans may remain closely linked to those of her disgraced former husband.
The pair were forced to leave Royal Lodge in Windsor in February and initially appeared to pursue separate paths. Andrew moved first to Wood Farm and then Marsh Farm Cottage on the King’s Sandringham estate in Norfolk, while Ferguson, without a settled home, moved between Switzerland, Austria and the south of France, relying on wealthy friends.
Sarah Ferguson made her first public appearance in Britain for more than a year to attend a memorial service for businessman Paddy McNally
Before returning to the public eye, Ferguson had reportedly been dividing her time between properties, including Les Gais Lutins, a luxurious £15 million, eight-bedroom chalet in Verbier owned by the late Formula One businessman Paddy McNally. It was at McNally’s memorial service in Knightsbridge last week that she chose to reappear.
Ferguson was in a relationship with McNally for three years before marrying Prince Andrew in 1986. The pair remained close friends until his death at the age of 88 in July.
Behind the scenes, however, Andrew and Sarah have also maintained regular contact. Their bond has been shaped by shared controversies, financial ties and a long history of mutual discretion.
Their relationship is understood to be rooted in dependency rather than romance. Although they have kept it largely private, Daily Mail sources say they have been seen together in Norfolk at the home of at least one of their so-called ‘Turnip Toff’ associates.
A royal source told the Daily Mail: ‘They have survived as a couple, with the occasional hiatus, for 40 years because they share an inordinate love of money, a misguided belief in their own abilities and an inflated sense of entitlement. Andrew has never been besotted with her, although as friends, confidants and keepers of each other’s secrets they have forged an unbreakable, occasionally grim, bond.’
Relations with their daughters have reportedly become strained amid the latest scandals, giving the former couple further reason to remain close. Financially, too, their lives are said to remain deeply intertwined.
Andrew is still facing a police investigation into allegations of misconduct in public office. The royal source said there was speculation that, if he is cleared, the pair could relocate to the Middle East, either separately or together.
‘Beatrice and Eugenie are regular visitors to the region and a reconciliation with the daughters might be more possible out there away from the media glare. It would certainly suit the Palace for Andrew and Sarah to be far away,’ the source added.
Ferguson dated McNally for three years before marrying Prince Andrew in 1986 and the pair remained lifelong friends
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie joined their mother, who has been laying low since the Epstein Files scandal, at the memorial in London’s Knightsbridge
Ferguson’s return may indicate that pressure on the former Yorks is beginning to ease, or that public attitudes towards them are softening. According to the royal source, she had been seeking a route back into public life for some time but did not attend McNally’s funeral in August. Princess Beatrice went in her place.
Ferguson reportedly decided to attend McNally’s ‘father figure’ memorial at St Paul’s Church in Knightsbridge on October 29 after being encouraged by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s return to Britain following years of tension with the Royal Family. The date was also almost exactly a year after she was reduced to the status of a commoner.
‘It was Harry and Meghan’s seeming “reconciliation” with the family in the summer which, while not as warm and fuzzy as might be perceived, finally persuaded Sarah to return,’ the source said.
Accompanied by Beatrice and Eugenie, their husbands and Princess Anne’s son Peter Phillips, who knew McNally through Formula One, Ferguson made her first public appearance in Britain since attending the Duchess of Kent’s funeral with Andrew in September 2025.
The couple were said to have treated that occasion as a ‘jolly family outing’, laughing as they left Westminster Cathedral and joining members of the Royal Family on the steps.
Last week’s memorial was also the first time Ferguson had been photographed at a public event with her daughters since the House of York’s fortunes collapsed.
She wore a navy knee-length dress, a matching lace jacket and navy heels, completing the look with a determined smile.
Her confident appearance was a marked contrast to the christening of Beatrice’s daughter Athena last December. On that occasion, Ferguson and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor quietly entered the Chapel Royal at St James’s Palace in separate cars, then avoided the reception at a Marylebone pub to prevent further embarrassment.
Behind the scenes Ferguson has remained in close contact with her ex-husband Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor
Even so, the royal source cautioned that talk of a full reconciliation between Ferguson, Andrew and their adult children would be premature, particularly in the aftermath of their links to the late billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Sarah is thought not to have met her grandchildren recently and may not yet have met Eugenie’s youngest child, Adelaide, who was born in August. ‘Both princesses are concerned about potential further hits to their reputations,’ the source said.
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‘Beatrice and Eugenie aren’t yet fully reconciled with their mother – and definitely not with their father. Beatrice is more open to reconciliation. Eugenie less so.’ Royal biographer Andrew Lownie, author of Entitled: The Rise And Fall Of The House Of York, also believes the family relationship remains fragile as the sisters try to balance loyalty to the Crown with their responsibilities as daughters.
‘I think Eugenie is conflicted,’ he said. ‘Beatrice is so in the thrall of her mother that it’s harder for her. Neither of their husbands’ families are very keen on Sarah and Andrew because of the risk of reputational damage.
‘But throughout their lives the girls have been aware of the scandals and known that this is the sort of world their parents move in and the kind of people they associated with.
‘They’ve also benefited themselves from their parents’ business contacts, particularly in the Middle East.’
From an early age, both princesses were exposed to their parents’ international network of wealthy acquaintances. They accompanied Andrew on trips to the Gulf and travelled with their mother to meet ‘Uncle Jeffrey’, the name by which Epstein was known to them.
Through Ferguson’s friendship with McNally, the sisters have also had links to Formula One for decades. They, and more recently their husbands, have regularly attended Grand Prix events as VIP guests.
There has been speculation that McNally, who was 22 years older than Ferguson, may have left her a share of his estimated £600 million fortune. Ferguson’s well-known spending habits – including a reported £25,000 shopping spree at Bloomingdale’s in New York in a single hour – and financial difficulties have meant she has often relied on the support of wealthy benefactors.
Although she has written more than 50 books, ranging from memoirs and royal biographies to historical romances, the income they generate is not believed to be sufficient to sustain the lifestyle to which she is accustomed.
Nor is she expected to publish a full account of her dramatic fall from grace. Despite tentative discussions, a tell-all memoir would risk causing further damage to her relationship with her daughters.
The royal source said: ‘The main source of her money has been Andrew. She may have taken a scattergun approach to making money but he, or rather his trusted business contacts, were far more shrewd, leaving him quite comfortably off.
‘Sarah has been a beneficiary of Andrew’s acumen, investing herself and in joint enterprises with her husband.’
The full scale of the former couple’s wealth, along with that of their daughters, remains difficult to establish.
‘Andrew’s business dealings are mainly overseas and deliberately convoluted,’ the source claimed.
‘His business associates have stood by him and he has been able to pursue his ventures, albeit usually from a distance, without the demands of tiresome official duties getting in the way.’
Lownie said: ‘They’ve still got mutual friends and contacts in the Middle East who are standing by them. They’re very well treated out there and still addressed as HRHs. Their business interests continue. Very little has changed except that now there is actually far less scrutiny of their financial affairs because they’re not representing the Royal Family, only themselves.’
There are other indications that conditions may be improving slightly for the former duke and duchess, including signs of sympathy within the wider Royal Family.
Although a return to the royal inner circle appears unlikely, two of Andrew’s siblings, Princess Anne and Edward, Duke of Edinburgh, are said to have shown concern for their brother.
One unverified story circulating in royal circles claims that Andrew was recently taken into Anne’s Gatcombe Park estate hidden in the back of a horse box.
The King is also said to have asked wealthy members of north Norfolk society to look out for his increasingly isolated younger brother.
According to Lownie: ‘High society hasn’t turned its back on them. Andrew is still welcome at shooting parties and the homes of the Turnip Toffs.
‘The word has gone out that people should be kind to him. He’s not being boycotted but it’s all going on behind closed doors.’
The couple’s future will depend heavily on the outcome of the misconduct in public office investigation into Mountbatten-Windsor. The inquiry follows allegations that he passed confidential information to Epstein while serving as the UK’s trade envoy.
Andrew was arrested in February this year but has not been charged. He challenged the validity of warrants used by Thames Valley Police to search Royal Lodge in Windsor and Wood Farm at Sandringham. A High Court judge agreed that warrants issued at the Old Bailey were unlawful because the wrong legislation had been used.
The warrants were quashed in July during a private hearing that was made public last month. The investigation is continuing, with police seeking permission to retain documents and electronic devices seized during the searches. A private hearing is scheduled for 2027. The delay, the royal source said, is ‘hindering planning’ for the former prince.
Ferguson also faces unanswered questions about her business activities. Her charity, Sarah’s Trust, shut earlier this year, while concerns remain over the collapse of Gate Ventures, the entertainment investment company on whose board she served.
Most significantly, Ferguson and Andrew have continued to face questions about their dealings with Epstein, whose shadow still hangs over them on both sides of the Atlantic.
Police Scotland confirmed this week that it had begun an early-stage investigation into activities at Balmoral Castle involving Andrew, Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, including allegations that women were trafficked to the royal residence.
The Democrats’ recapture of the US House of Representatives in this week’s midterm elections could also lead to renewed examination of the Epstein files. Many documents have yet to be released, and the party has pledged to revisit the case, potentially creating fresh difficulties for Andrew and Sarah.
A year after their spectacular fall from grace, it may be little surprise that the former spouses – once dubbed the Royal Family’s ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ – continue to stay close.