Fergie: Downfall of the Duchess

[Music] this is the story of a girl who had everything and threw it away Sarah Ferguson once her Royal Highness the Duchess of York is now in exile from the royal family a single mother forced to exploit her name to wipe out a huge tax bill [Music] today Fergie wishes she could return and talk to the young bride she once was ruefully she looks back at the Royal lifestyle that was hers a world of first-class travel green light traffic and five-star luxury [Music] gone now is the background organization that ensured her public duties ran with regal smoothness like her friend Diana Fergie's the divorced outcast from the royal family at the christening of her first baby Beatrice Fergie seemed to have achieved all her ambitions but within a year she started the perilous descent into disgrace and removal from the Royal fold she rarely saw her husband and while she and Diana relished much that royal life provided they kicked against its restrictions no one can marry into the royal family and have an easy happy life I mean Fergie's not the only one Diana you know even other people I could name and won't because they're still married and they're putting up with an awful lot existence it's it's so incredibly difficult to adjust to that life to become a prisoner in a golden cage it's it's a life in which you make endless sacrifices is there's no freedom and this is why you know Diana and and Fergie both wanted to escape it was a life they began to pull oh they just felt if you have only one life to live it's impossible to live in happily inside a royal palace by selling her book my story in New York Fergie is working to clear the mountain of debts accrued during the wild reckless years that marked her passage from grandeur to Danville it is a life far removed from the Royal one which made her famous without the protection of bodyguards she's open to casual autograph hunters like a fading film star [Music] the architect of her final humiliation was John Bryan an American businessman with an elevated opinion of his sexual and financial prowess he followed his friend the handsome Texan oil man Steve Wyatt in Fergus affections during her husband's long absences at sea began her relationship with Steve white in 1989 she was in three years into her marriage pregnant with her second child she was seeing her husband on an average between 40 and 45 days a year or at least that's how many evenings they were able to spend together there was a huge void in her life I think these men filled a void and yet didn't detract from her relationship with her husband because they were friendly enough when they saw each other following her disastrous affairs and her departure from the royal family Sarah strives to maintain the style she knew in her 10 years as the Duchess of York [Music] aware of her limitations she admits in her book I was never cut out for royalty she adopts instead the pose of a show business celebrity in a Hollywood style unlike the staid traditions of the British royal family it was those customs that she had tried so diligently to imitate in her eagerness to impress her in-laws although andrew disliked horses his family built much of their social life around them Sarah gladly showed off the equestrian skills land on ponies in her childhood despite early worries of fergus suitability she and Andrew seemed an ideal couple Fergie brought a fresh wave of popularity to the royal family behind the often bouncy exterior Fergie was really an under confident girl she herself calls the pleaser Fergie's slimmer and prettier mother susie bronty's had left her husband major Ronald Ferguson when Sarah was 14 Suzi set up home in Argentina with her second husband Hector brantas Fergie had finished her growing up under her father's guidance major Ferguson essentially when when his wife ran off to Argentina with Hector brantas really didn't pay his daughter's very much attention Jane ran off to Australia Sarah went off to school and really never had that strong father figure in her life it's something that I think she suffers from even now Sarah's father remarried and had a second family which brought additional responsibilities while Sarah loved her easygoing stepmother sue her father's new family meant that she had to stand on her own feet major Ron served as Prince Charles's unofficial polo manager and kept many royal secrets despite temptations to tell all but major Ron's own weaknesses were exposed when a tabloid paper revealed a massage parlor scandal his daughter and his colleagues showed their loyalty by standing by him the day he was forced to resign from the guards Polo Club [Music] [Laughter] major Ron kept the support of Sarah and Andrew until he wrote his autobiography which Sarah felt betrayed her he said very revealing things about the royal family things about the Duchess his relationship with Prince Andrew and speculation about how it could evolve that really surprised the Duchess and I think upset her a great great deal she was appalled when he wrote that book about his past and all the scandals that he'd been involved in she didn't help her at all but she's now forgiven him through Polo Fergie met up with Lady Diana Spencer Sarah was already enjoying a freewheeling life in London in Europe she was the older and wiser friend the innocent Diana needed Diana wanted Sarah as her lady-in-waiting but her wishes were denied by palace officials there was already a palace connection major Ron's first cousin Sir Robert fellows was assistant private secretary to the Queen as well as Diana's brother-in-law at Diana's wedding Fergie on the right wearing a dress given by the bride enjoyed an honoured front-row place beside the flatmates who had also supported Diana as she saw her friend pass into royal life Sarah had no idea that within five years she too would marry a prince [Music] although Fergie knew much about Diana's secret misery she was attracted to the luxury and privilege which surrounded the princess as her marriage was privately disintegrating diana maneuvered sarah into royal life by inviting her on various family occasions diana was very very responsible for bringing together Andrew and Sarah it was exactly what she needed a pal at the palace and so she went to work on Fergie and at the first child she got which is when the Queen asked her to suggest some people for the 1985 house party during Ascot week that she suggested Sarah Ferguson and the Queen thought it was a good idea and of course they met at lunch and they hadn't seen each other since they were children Andrew and Sarah and when they got together again he realized what fun she was he was on the loose looking to settle down and she fell for his charm he's a good-looking chap and he has a very sweet nature Andrew and so didn't take much persuasion a lot of them he murder with bouquets of red roses and quiet dinners and they even went to announce and John concert together hoping that someone would spot them and they'd have a bit of fun you know ducking and diving from the press but it didn't happen and all the while Dinah encouraged them she allowed them to meet secretly at Kensington Palace and she arranged little weekends and and dinners for them and she gave them every every possible encouragement because she was very lonely and she didn't feel that there were anybody there was anybody in the palace that she had much in common with so Sarah Ferguson was exactly what she needed Dinah's matchmaking was the success Sarah and Andrew married in Westminster Abbey in July 1986 unlike Charles and Diana the newlyweds were obviously a love match [Music] but their surface happiness hid a deeper truth they were marrying on the rebound Andrew had ended or a Matz with kou stark and Fergie's previous love Paddy McNally a self-made millionaire twenty-two years her senior had refused to marry her probably she did marry Andrew on the rebound when Patti McDonough made it clear that he wasn't going to marry her but it seems to me she falls in love rather easily and she'd always had a yen for that glamorous royal world that Dayanara dented and I think it was a lot of factors not just paddy McNally that influenced her [Music] when Sarah and Andrew married Archbishop Ramsey said the Royal Wedding was a precious gift to the nation and on that sunny happy day who would have disagreed [Music] the Queen's joy was unmistakable she had seen her favorite son married to a lively uncomplicated girl who quickly became her favorite daughter-in-law the royal family had an exciting new member one who might deflect the growing estrangement between the Prince of Wales and his troubled wife by being the companion she badly needed [Music] Donna had been a teenage friend of Prince Andrew but had marriage his older more complex brother by the time of Andrews wedding Charles claimed his marriage had irretrievably broken down but on this day Diana hid her personal turmoil to share the happiness of her friend the new Duchess threw herself wholeheartedly into the Royals public life a skirt where Sara had first attracted Andrew in 1985 became an annual highlight until their separation seven years later when she was banned from the royal carriage parade her exuberance and over-familiar manner did not please everyone fashion critics slammed her varied taste in clothes [Music] behind the scenes she was the recipient of carping criticism from palace officials and from some of the Royals themselves I think within the royal family the person who she seemed to be most afraid of it was Prince Phillip early on in the marriage apparently he had told her now that you're a member of the firm you can do anything you want but you'll always be caught out and she was always frightened about that one time she walked into a room where the Queen and Prince Philip were going to have dinner with her and she greeted each one of the servants by their first name and when they sat down Prince Philip turned to her and he said I thought you gave up flirting with the servants ages ago and you know she was riveted by these one-liners that he'd come up with periodically Princess Anne who had marriage problems of her own was unsympathetic to fergie and once called on outside of that a family lunch and there was a furious trial between Andrew and and Fergie walked out the room in tears Andrew demanded that Anne apologize which she did but after that you know there was a very very frosty relationship between Fergie Anne the public viewed Sarah differently on a tour of Canada in 1987 Sarah generated excitement with her enthusiasm and sense of fun her unique style made her popular especially in the Commonwealth where the young royal wife was on display just as Diana had been before her [Music] every aspect of Sara's performance from her manner to her hairstyles and earrings was monitored by the press and the palace and not always favorably but the York's made a good team as Sara had promised they would Andrew was devoted to his good-natured fun loving wife who had taken away his stuffiness he shared her spirit of open friendliness so different from the formality of his family the commentators delightful phrase it's wild it's wooly its western and good watching like my wife sorry others found her weak point her weight and her clothes she was cruelly nicknamed the Duchess of pork and a style Freezone clothes are props to her she has to wear them she's not very interested in them she'd rather go horse riding or skiing all I know of her is a warm generous woman who's totally without any vanity whatsoever that's why she's so often photographed looking not exactly her best she doesn't think about putting on makeup she just thinks oh what have I got to do and two dashes often doesn't and I find that rather endearing she's not like the Princess of Wales who spends hours beautifying herself and is working out endlessly and you know going to aromatherapy sessions every second day she's just not like that and that's why she gets into difficulties with her weight sometimes she is just not a vain woman in that respect she resembles the Queen [Music] after the birth of Beatrice the Queen gave Sarah and Andrew a belated wedding gift of a mansion to bring up their family she tried to ensure their happiness sunning Hill was based on an American house fergie had seen in the rolling countryside of Connecticut but squeezed into a smaller plot near Windsor and altered to suit Andrews preferences the new building was lacking in grace and charm dubbed Dallas palace because of its vulgarity it became a monument to bad taste naturally it attracted the attention of the press it was the York's his third home in as many years sunning Hill became the setting for the dramas which ended their marriage here Fergie's money problems started to become unmanageable she and Andrew I think their largest ever income was about two hundred thousand pounds a year which went on staff salaries pensions medical benefits and endless other costs involved in running a royal household they had a staff of at least 25 people you may say they don't need so many but do you know that's the way you're expected to live and after those salaries were paid then she got money to buy frocks or Christmas presents or whatever now it just simply wasn't enough money to live on especially when she was endlessly compared with Diana Andrew was the serving naval officer sent away for long periods at sea Sarah was often alone these absences were a crucial factor in dividing the couple she says that he was home for only forty seven days out of 365 now it was appalling I mean the way they treated them both they were given something like a three-day honeymoon alone on in the Azores on the Royal yacht before the royal yacht had to steam home for the Queen to go on her Western Isles cruise and Andrew and Sarah had to go along with all their in-laws I mean it was just ridiculous to treat a young couple like that they had no time to get to know each other before he was often away again Sara tried to cope with the empty spaces in her life by taking flying lessons becoming Sara the action woman helped her to deal with her problems and to understand her absent husband by emulating him skiing was another escape from Palace protocol she relished the freedom and thrill of the mountains [Music] but as the royal Duchess Sarah believed she had to help others so in her favorite sport she tried to help publicize the achievements of handicaps cares [Music] no I'm singing a song and I haven't prepared a speech but I I just I'm so pleased to be here today I mean it's just wonderful I mean it's not very much snow and I think you've done a fantastic job because seeing those conditions out there with that ice I think you're all amazing that all here in one piece and race her mixed motives attracted the criticism of the grey men at the palace they were unhappy about her tendency to be drawn into commercialization [Music] she would face the world bravely but go back to rebukes from the Queen's advisers at the palace beneath the tide of savagery over her clothes from fashion writers and sneering remarks from courtiers Sarah's confidence was slowly eroded her high-volume contribution to the TV program it's a wild knockout and her more hostility Sarah was expected to turn out get on the Royal Roadshow roll around the country and go abroad as if she'd been doing it all 'life without any preparation or any training or any support whatsoever and I just think it's too much to expect and when you run into difficulties they have a policy you know never complain never explain in the royal family just get on with it and don't you know go to anybody else don't don't seek support or help you've got to be self-reliant and solve your own problems and of course when you turn to your spouse as she did to Andrew you say well I don't know what you're talking about I don't find that it's not like that for me because they're born loyal so they get all the encouragement support advice everything they need is just laid on for them and it just isn't for the people who are their partners in August 1989 Sarah Andrew and their daughter Beatrice joined the Royal Yacht Britannia on Route four Balmoral the Queen was happy to be seen with her favorite son and her favorite daughter-in-law Fergie was already pregnant with her second child within months her journey would take her on a new and dangerous route in November she met handsome Texan Playboy's Steve Wyatt their affair involved secret trysts at home and abroad Steve Wyatt was the main reason for the breakdown of her marriage Fergie fell head-over-heels in love with him it was she met him at a time of her life when she was exceptionally low throat Andrew wasn't supporting her she went to Texas and she met a very handsome and rich Texan he was very attentive very loving and you know they very quickly fell in love and Steve worked with the real love of Birdy's life and removing her best friend and it probably still is now probably always will be but Steve work was the love of her life and she was devastated when when the affair ended it left her totally broken she dreamt that one day they'd be together hopefully living in America she was forever making dreams in her head when Steve Wyatt was living in England throughout 1991 he was trying very hard to establish a fortune for himself he's a step son of a very rich man Oscar ye who has refused to give him money during his own lifetime and so Steve simply is not as rich as as people believe although the Dutch just found that out the hard way and when she realized that he wasn't rich he said I'm gonna go back to America to Washington and make my fortune the Dutch have actually helped outfit his apartment in Washington filled out his Christmas list and had every intention of waiting for him till he made the adequate amount of money and then they were going to get married the relationship ended because Steve distanced himself from her he started getting just really really lacks one time I was with her and she said you know I called Steve up and you know what he told me he's in the middle of watching a football game that I should call him back after half times of and you know this kind of stuff pushed it too far and she just got the feeling she wasn't wanted anymore and then he got involved with another woman when Princess Eugenie was born in March 1990 Fergie was still hopelessly in love with Wyatt and hoping to marry him [Music] she played a Sharad with her husband who refused to listen to gossip treating Wyatt as a friend taken in by pictures of family togetherness the public had no idea of the truth behind her facade [Music] Wyatt returned to America but he left fergie a parting gift his friend and relative by marriage John Bryan [Music] she probably might have stayed married if John Bryan hadn't come along but he was such a persuasive forceful character quite frightening Lee so I mean I can understand why she got involved with him he was great fun and I'm sure initially he lightened her load he provided her with a lot of happiness and a bit of relief from the grind and the the ordeal of facing people inside Buckingham Palace which she had to do at that stage and he also said look I can do everything I'm gonna take all your problems away I can do you know work miracles and he convinced her of that I mean he convinced me for a while that he was going to do what he said he could do it was all you know a farce he was just a a conman really John Grimes hauled over the Duchess was primarily because she perceived him as being a very wealthy powerful influential man that could aid her in the transition from her real life to a successful commercial life he he kind of advertised himself as a very wealthy successful businessman which she was not and it's quite funny too because he kind of enlisted me to help him with this illusion and I told him once John what if she finds out he said well I just have to make the money before she finds out I don't have it both fergie and Diana consulted astrologers and psychics and attempts to foretell the future Fergie turned to Greek born Madame vaso to discuss her men both were trapped in unhappy marriages desperate to see what the what the future had in store for them and that the believed by you know speaking consulting to people who you know with psychic abilities that they would know how it would turn out and whether there was a sort of you know delight at end of the tunnel the husbands were right different different problems with both their husbands but both were unhappy and wondered whether things were going to work out for the best although Fergie trusted vaso like a substitute mother she didn't always follow her advice particularly over John Bryan the so told Fergie a thousand times that man will bring you nothing but bad news get rid of him I don't like him I don't trust him and Fergie didn't listen to her so perhaps if she did she wouldn't have been in the mess that that she was in but Basso met John Bryan a number occasions and even went to his to his flat on a number of occasions when he asked her for readings didn't trust him believed he was only out for what he could get for himself fergie even ignored clear evidence of brian's double-dealing [Music] Darrell was ill and vaso used to frequently send Fergie flowers and he/she running up John Bryan said look I've got some a nice bouquet of flowers to cheer Fergie up will you take them over for me so he picked him up and delivered them and the next day the sigh rang to ask you know what she loved the flowers and he said what the flowers were from you I can't believe it and Bryan had just delivered them as his own I mean you know it's only a small point but it shows what sort of a man he is Fergie's adventures with her American lovers had not gone unnoticed by the Queen's top advisers the gray men behind palace walls her two embarrassing Affairs convinced her enemies that she should be removed from the royal family [Music] but the knives were out for Fergie while Sarah was in private discussions with lawyers news of her impending separation was leaked to the Daily Mail much to Sarah's horror the palace had seized the initiative to remove the Queen's daughter-in-law from her royal duties Sarah firmly believes that there was some kind of an plot against her because she was not ready to leave Andrew when she did she was forced to because the story was leaked to the Daily Mail and she believes that she now knows who leaked it and that they had some Machiavellian plan to get rid of her perhaps she wouldn't have left Andrew if that story hadn't emerged the way it did certainly she was blamed by the palace for leaking it and she was totally innocent of that because she wanted to make a lot of plans and just be sure she was doing the right thing and she was totally unprepared when the story came out and the separation was quickly announced she was put in a terrible position fergie found hostility within the royal family Prince Philip and Princess Anne were already critical now Princess Margaret took their side the Duchess of York and sent flowers to Princess Margaret with a little note no doubt trying to one renew their once good friendship and the flowers had been sent straight back with a note from Princess Margaret saying how dare you send me flowers you know have you ever considered what damage you've done to the royal family and I thought that was the worst example of a pot calling a kettle black in history because you know it was perhaps in the 50s and 60s but Princess Margaret was notorious for her behavior it was totally out of keeping with her position so I think that Princess Margaret was cruelly unfair to do such a thing when it was a kind gesture from Sara very well-intentioned and I think that indicates exactly how the royal family treats somebody who steps out of line except if they're born loyal aware of her sisters antipathy the Queen still continued to offer her trouble daughter-in-law her personal support encouraging her to attend various family events over the years the Duchess was quite convinced that the Queen was hoping that the Duchess's fight against this bureaucracy that had taken over the monarchy was going to be a successful one and the times that I thought it was most drastic the Dutch just used to go over and see the Queen on Sundays with her children very often and she'd come back with varying degrees of enthusiasm of the support that she was being promised by the Queen but at one point the Queen invited the Duchess to come for the Christmas holidays but to stay in a farmhouse she wanted to see her grandchildren she told the Duchess if you come you know maybe we can meet secretly and at least I can see my grandchildren for Christmas and so from all of this the Duchess began to get the feeling that perhaps the Queen was almost a prisoner in her own family secretly rooting for Fergie to be this new light and you know that kind of cleared up all of this darkness the two marriages which had created so much renewed popularity for the Queen's family were all but over still playing their individual parts Diana and Sarah decided to leave the family together early in 1992 I went on a trip to Dartmoor with John Bryan this is very early into his involvement with the Duchess and on the way back on the train he told me that Princess Diana and the Duchess had formed a divorce pact some time before where they were going to divorce their respective spouses simultaneously but that the palace convinced them that it would be too destructive to do that and it was going to be staged Fergie's departure was the dress rehearsal for the more controversial and calculating exit of Diana who waited for her friends to reveal the truth about her marriage a lot of people including myself at one time I did believe that that perhaps somebody is sympathetic to Diana relate the story of Fergie's wish to leave Andrew because the I thought that it would help Diana to find out what would happen to Sarah if she left it would be a kind of a rehearsal for Diana and it certainly looked as if it was certainly beneficial to Diana because she quickly changed her mind and put off her separation for some time one stage Sarah and Diana were determined to leave together but that didn't happen and obviously Diana saw that Fergie quickly was victimized by the palace diana broke the pact letting Fergie face the consequences alone Fergie continued her public duties without palace support under Brian's influence Fergie let her guard slip the result was catastrophic while on holiday with Johnny Bryan at a villa in the South of France the couple will photograph together while her young children looked on the true nature of their relationship was exposed Bryan had posed as her financial adviser but was revealed as her lover Fergie believes she was set up and she stepped off the plane that private plane that John rented the jet air she was photographed walking down the steps of the airplane with a scarf and sunglasses on that photograph appeared in the local newspaper the next morning she was followed in the car by a motorcyclist all the way to the villa that they rented I mean and then there was a van parked in the side of the road with one-way mirrors photographing her as she drove along I mean three tip-offs how much more information did she need I told her many many times years afterwards I said at least on a subconscious level admit to me you both wanted to get caught you made too many mistakes fergie believed the confident brian could prevent publication of the pictures but his attempt to gain an injunction failed John Brian rang Fergie to say we've lost the pictures again to appear though he was absolutely devastated and shell-shocked because Brian had convinced her he'd sort it all out as he always did he said don't worry I'll sort it all out he couldn't and she sat down had a large brandy probably another large brandy sat there all night not not not being able to sleep and you know had to face the the royal family although separated Fergie had been invited by the Queen to Balmoral to join the royal family on their summer break they were all there when the topless toe-sucking pictures were published there are two versions of that what happened one is Sarah's version in her own autobiography where she says she didn't go down to breakfast and there was another version told by former friends of hers that she did go down to breakfast and she found that the Queen had left all the tabloid newspapers on her plate told me that she went down to breakfast and the Queen was sitting there with all of the newspapers all lined in front of her and that it was a very awkward moment for her which he says in her book as she stayed upstairs having taken a valium pill and that Andrew confronted the family looking nonplussed as they all looked through the newspapers and he flipped through them too after apologizing to the Queen Fergie left Balmoral in disgrace [Music] she boarded a flight at Aberdeen Airport with her children and their nanny Alison water Lee who had comforted her during her worst moments my lasting memory of that day is when she came back to London how she held her head up she must have been through the worst experience the most humiliating ordeal anybody could possibly have happened to them and yet she still held her head up and it takes guts to do that Fergie returned to her new home remand a lodge the how she rented after leaving sunning he'll arrive back at Remender Lodge you know the world's media were waiting for her there there was a terrible scene at the gates and when she was driven in with the children looking brave a wielded the children on her knee went inside tried to get everything sorted out and then went into a bedroom and I think she just sat down and cried for the first time since it actually you know the story about the pictures broke at Balmoral the royal family continued their holiday Andrew oblivious to the reality of his wife's conduct Andrews attitude is quite remarkable in that Andrew doesn't believe genuinely doesn't believe that his wife has had these Affairs despite the pictures I don't know it sounds you know fanciful but he he genuinely believes he's whilst being let down other people's he doesn't read the papers and I you know he doesn't believe his wife has been unfaithful to by contrast Brian loved publicity particularly that surrounding his affair with Sara he even placed stories about her and Andrew in the press she was very much under his spell she likes Americans she likes their free and easy ways and their their glamour in I suppose and he was a lot of fun and when you've got a miserable existence somebody like that can be very captivating so it was understandable but inevitably she found out what he was really like and it broke her heart Fergie suspected that both her love affairs were deliberately exposed by her enemies pictures of her with Steve Wyatt was surprisingly found in his old flat again this is January 1992 . second week of January when those things were found that you know the palace put them there perhaps mi5 the apartment had certainly been cleaned Steve Steve had no access to those photos and a million different things just like all of the the talk after the South of France pictures that that had been leaked also by the palace there's a great deal of paranoia and searches for fall guys in the form of the gray man or palace Machiavellian schemes and the pictures of Steve White fell into the same category that the pictures with John Brian ultimately were kept in the category of a plot and known Steve white and John Bryan and these are too chaotic guys that know there's no plot involved here at all there were just too careless guys that were relishing the fact that they were with a member of the royal family and to a great deal both profited by being caught but for Fergie the exposure only brought further humiliation and disgrace she carried on with her everyday routine taking her children to school but her depression was evident particularly in her neglected personal appearance Sarah's affairs with white and Brian cost her a royal title and her generosity to them only added to her escalating debts she had sought happiness but found misery expected a fortune but found creditors awaiting payment she liked being seen as you know a duchess who had very deep pockets she liked buying gifts for people she spent a fortune that she didn't have and you know I'm amazed that the bank I think the bank must take an awful lot of the blame for for letting someone get three three four million pounds in debt it's you know she went on extravagant spending sprees money she didn't have and then all of a sudden she'd get a statement and realized how bad things were and she'd lock herself away and get depressed and then say well anyway to cheer myself up you can spend some more money and I should go again life at remand illogic a otic and expensive Fergie's lifestyle didn't go unnoticed she spent thousands on staff but often answered the door herself all sorted out servants personal problems Madame Basso was a frequent visitor sometimes smuggled in for tarot card readings of Fergie's fait total at once dates that she needed to she was three million pounds in debt and said I need to win the lottery she was very open about her debts and she would frequently asked in her readings where the bit where the potato is one of the chips which was the code word for money and she told it when it one of these chips coming back so I've been waiting for so many years now I must have the chips you know the bank manager bank managers on my back the accountants are on my back what am I going to do and you know sometimes she'd break down and cry and say I feel like I've got a 10-ton truck on my head sometimes she'd laugh I didn't sigh well honey laughs it's just you know I'm I'm so deeply in debt sara was still a royal Duchess Brian realized that she could exploit her name she planned enterprises with her business advisers we had these meetings for a four-year period each month and each month would come up with a new list of ideas the first month however we created a list of criteria by which he could weed through all of the things I mean a second-rate designer blue jean company offered her a million dollars to be their model for the blue jeans a developer in New York offered her a free apartment in a Central Park south location just to say that she lived there we were given all kinds of money-making opportunities all the time inspired by flying helicopters Fergie had created the character budgie for a series of children's stories pocketing most of the profits had bought her severe criticism she wrote these books immediately there was a big stink caused that because she didn't turn over all the royalties to to charity well she said well why should I you know it's all very well for Prince Charles to donate money from his books because he he has this vast income from the Duchy of Cornwall so I think she was quite justified in what she did but it did get her in a very bad odor with everybody from the media to the public and it was totally unfair he still tried to help raise funds for others she continued her work in Britain and in missions to Eastern Europe after she set up her own charity 16:56 press that's incredible [Applause] [Music] this little person had her had their shirt on upside down and and then laughing we need to really really help them look at this however well-intentioned Fergie's motives were questioned she was accused of mixing charitable and commercial schemes arising from her well-publicized support of charities in Eastern Europe I don't really look at it that way the Duchess's budget was in such a confusion that very often she pay personally for charity trips that could have been reimbursed and she take money from revenues generated from press events associated with the charity trips as expense money to pay legitimate expenses I'll be it too over-the-top expenses for traveling with the through entourage which wasn't really needed but she didn't milk the charities directly for money no she didn't do that at all which she did do is she used the charities in my opinion as an alibi to win love and acceptance as sort of a mask of legitimacy for ventures that she doesn't want to take responsibility for having done for more selfish reasons it is serving the role of an alibi it's complex like everything that she does Sera's relationships with the Queen and the royal family remain complex neither she nor Diana are invited to royal events their relationship too has a downside Diana's relationship with the Dutch has fluctuated quite a bit during the four and a half years that I was involved with the Duchess but for the majority of the time the relationship was highly competitive they were fighting an ongoing battle through use of their charities and using the press as a weapon they would look like like actresses on opening night after reviews of their latest charity trips and compare them and whine if the other one got better reviews no it was a highly competitive relationship they fell out once over there's some charity work which Sarah promoted an AIDS charity and Diana rang her up and said what on earth you think you're doing trying to hijack a charity that I've done a cause that I've done so much for and slammed the phone down and Fergie tried to get through she wouldn't take the call so she faxed her you know faxed I was saying I'm sorry I didn't mean to offend you and because of that silly little incident they didn't speak for four weeks they've had their ups and downs somebody in the family once compared it to being just like sisters sisters occasionally have rouse and fall out and that's what's happened to them in 1996 Sarah and Diana were divorced from their royal husbands and stripped to the title Her Royal Highness their settlements reflected their unequal status Fergie received several hundred thousand pounds immediately swallowed up by her massive debts Diana as mother of a future king gained 15 million pounds holidaying together in the South of France they considered their uncertain futures Diana would tell you what was wrong with them within her life and vice versa that there any unique position as being married to you know princes members of the royal family and perhaps with any ones who were capable of understanding what the others problems were Fergie loves her daughters but they are undoubtedly passports to royal connections children were all always paramount paramount in her thoughts and the thing that terrified her more than anything whatsoever was losing the girls I think she looked back and realized that she did some some things which she shouldn't have done she and Andrew have stayed friends their children still feel part of her family what she got out of the marriage which was two beautiful little girls who are her total joy their greatest comfort in life and she would never turn the clock back and be without them because she adores them and they adore her early in in October of 92 she and I were talking about families and children and I was at that point thinking of starting up a family she said Alan if you're not a hundred percent sure don't have children they are such pests [Music] however New York publishers were quick to see the commercial potential of Fergie as the royal mother we can market her as a mother she is after all a mother we need to redefine her as an expert on motherhood Simon & Schuster along with Rubinstein her PR firm head of marketing as a mother and so we believe now because we've been fed this that she's a good mother issue though where she's sort of a distant mother who spends a great deal of time traveling in a great deal of time involved with her own problems I don't know I think the jury's out on that one Sarah Ferguson assumed an almost other identity called Fergie Duchess of York at times an irresponsible person who lived in grew before the public eye and whose immaturity was at times overwhelming she's left her rented home and moved back temporarily to the marital home sunning Hill Park house in an effort to downscale her expensive lifestyle she may be divorced but Fergie is nevertheless jealous of Andrews friendship with attractive Henriette peace she has warned her not to get too close to her ex-husband when she says she still loves Fergie could still find a wealthy new husband meanwhile she's obliged to take every money-making opportunity to chip away at her huge tax bill I don't want to be commercial she claims but I have to be whatever will forgive you next [Music]

Channel: FilmRise Documentaries

Views: 8,711

Keywords: FilmRise, Sarah Ferguson, British, Documentary, Biography

Id: vyG6v-NXKfw

Length: 50min 30sec (3030 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 12 2019