Seeing red (2013) - A fiery interview with Sarah Ferguson the Duchess of York | 60 Minutes Australia

I've just returned from an extraordinary encounter with Sarah Ferguson the Duchess of York it was her first Australian interview in eight years so I was looking forward to our meeting but as I soon discovered the Duchess has two very different sides first I met Sarah the charming knock about ex-royal open and brutally honest about her failings and then there's bad Fergie her description not mine who makes bad judgments and lands herself in scandal time after time weird agreed none of that was off-limits in our interview but I clearly hit a raw nerve and that's when the trouble began but don't try and trick me now because I'm not going to play this game delete that bit John cannot eat it please that because I don't want to go down this Duchess unless they're questions of you Sarah Ferguson at war with me but also with herself and take five no sorry fit up one minute an efficient brush charming and funny the next give me you figure you going home that's hope if the Duchess it began as a glorious English spring day an invitation to meet my first royal on a private estate outside London Duchess hello how are you I'm doing great thanks very good to meet you very nice to meet you too you're looking very regal up there la that's very nice of you you feeling really I'm just Sarah up here [Music] she hasn't been just Sarah since she married Prince Andrew in 1986 church and for richer or for poorer became the Duchess of York when you were the breath of fresh air into this royal family how do you reflect on your wedding time oh it's the best day of my life apart from having my girls and had a lovely dress it's great dress and it was a certainly a long kiss on the balcony that was a good that was a good long one severe in charge of our forces that 23 year old royal bride is now 51 battling two decades of bad press and a public perception that she may be older but no wiser watch out must be Alfie oh they'll think I'm gonna stop here okay you ready do you feel sometimes you can trust horses more than people always when I go through troubles I go back into I go back to where I'm safe which is with a horse no matter where and so when I'm with my horse and my horse does well for me then I know that I'm deep down I'm okay sir so so many people can write horrible things and every day if somebody writes absolute diabolical things about me but I know that's not me [Music] and there's no doubt diabolical things have been written about it have you always been the victim of untruths or have you made mistakes have you put yourself in position where errors have been made I made thunderous mistakes so that yes I've got better judgment at 51 now because of my appallingly bad judgement and there's nothing you know i i've my mistakes have been put on the public stage other people's mistakes aren't and there are many things that are good but good news doesn't sell papers bad Fergie sells another beautiful spot here this bridge great I'm having to be a bit careful Michael Rennie Huw because I'm in my heels which vanity vanity prevails but it's kind of difficult to walk on that Fergie was at her self-destructive worst on May 19 last year when she was caught in a sting by the now-defunct British tabloid news of the world fake businessman offers half a million pounds to save her from bankruptcy she agrees to give him access to Prince Andrew I think not only did i betray myself because I believed him and I didn't follow my instinct I think that's the most difficult thing to live with and now in the coming from that this time last year would never been able to talk to you I couldn't I couldn't talk to anybody I was too shocked I just put my head down and disappeared off the universe at first Fergie was completely open with me about what she calls her hill of shame the scandal features prominently in her new autobiography and a tell-all TV documentary the news of the world scandal was my rock bottom but when we sat down inside to discuss it further our conversation turned toxic I mean did you take the money at one stage you had $40,000 cash sitting in front of you did you tell you absolutely yes and it was given to me and I got it in the car and then returned it straight away once the scandal broke as soon as I knew it was a scandal not once it broke Michael but don't try and trick me now because I'm not going to play this game delete that bit John can delete it please that because I don't want to go down this Dutchess unless you have very clear questions of you know John he is Sara's Australian agent off screen this is everything you've written in your book yes I know it is you're racing your book on you for the book has already been released and the thing is I'm not gonna go down to this point I'm going to you answer your questions but that's done it's finished I've answered it thank you very much moving I think the next guest is just the starting point of this year in your life that you've really started the whole thing thank you you do right though that this tabloid scandal in fact you almost feel thankful for it had let you I don't know review your life see where you were at it's an interesting way to look at being involved in a controversy like that that had helped you in a way sorry what's your question in the book you write that then you use the world scandal almost helped you that if you look very grateful I'm very grateful to thee I'm very grateful to being in that position in a way when I hit rock bottom because because of it it woke me up how big a wake up as it bein what more can I say what more can I say the biggest you can't possibly you can't possibly of course it is how has it affected remember remember remember what she could send me yeah I'm gonna take five minutes all right Sarah returned to our Intervale but her mood is still frosty you okay yep move on yep I feel like I've gone from confident to commoner the book is called finding Sarah does that mean you were lost very lost are you lost Michael or you do you know where you are many people in this world are lost it's excruciating Lee to live with past mistakes it's so difficult I always would like to change so many things in my past but I can't I've got to move forward and it's very difficult to go back over them it really is it's because you just you just cringe you just think it's not me where was my head at the time that I did all these things already lapse of judgment or whatever else I meant to have done and it gets to a point where you really think enough enough you got to move forward while Sarah was at rock bottom the royal family she left was shining her snub from william and kate's most royal wedding seemed final proof that she is a royal outside was that a kick in the guts not to be invited to the wedding of William and Kate it was a moment when I took myself off to Thailand and there was no television or radio so I was able to just be quite completely quiet and and just sort of you know I was the last bride up that aisle and I and it's sort of very it's brings back lots of memories but while Sara was in Thailand alone with her memories her daughter Beatrice was being watched and judged by millions Beatrice's hat and the reaction to it were you surprised when you saw they had what did you think saw the hat but I think she's so perfect in every way both my children are so I'm I'm a very straightforward mum who knows my girls well but I think they look beautiful and I think that [ __ ] has had the most incredible outfit on as well she looked really good if you were here on the day but you said darling I think if I'd have been here maybe I would have made sure that the Hat a couple of days before was different Beatrice had the last laugh on the critics raising a small fortune for charity by auctioning the weddings most talked about that one hundred and thirty-five thousand dollars for charity is no mean feat and especially in this day and age so it was totally her idea and I really take my hat off to her for doing it one of those big cats one of those big ones these beautiful photos here yeah they're great aren't they some great memories and in Sara's world two faces eclipsed a life full of regrets her girls princesses Beatrice and Eugenie the girls are our life and they're the blood in my veins and they are my everything and you know one job I've done better than many people have been a good mother which is kind of brave to say but it's true and and it's really really impart of that it's a lovely thing to say isn't it mmm and I think that the girls will shine more and more and the more they shine the more of a nice way she don't be that bad she describes her relationship with Prince Andrew as the happiest divorce on earth and you get the sense she regrets their split twenty years ago when I first married him there was no emails no internet he was way at sea I saw him forty days a year for the first five years of our marriage and we've had to write letters but today they have a unique relationship when she's in London she lives at the princes house and in the wake of the sting scandal he came to her rescue and paid her debts are you looking for romance or do you still have a deep love for the prince oh no I think we both have separate lives we both honor each other but you know who knows what the future will bring I don't think there are many sort of men that could put up with this redhead and also the world's press and scrutiny it got to be quite strong when they Michael I think remarkably strong if that's fair to say you know it's a lot when you're in England and you have a guest room at the princes house literally in the shadow of Windsor Castle how difficult is it not being part of that royal family you're so close to it but so far from I think that it's um I am mum to two great girls and the queen is of the most fantastic grandmother to the girls but I am divorced from the family so you know that's it most other families you know you're divorced you're divorced you're not invited to weddings and things like that you're out of it and so you know it's very hard for me because I long to be with the girls in their finery and looking lovely and alone to be part of it all to be with the girls but you cannot have your cake and eat it do you still have a friendship with the Queen no subjects I'm not talking here to talk about the Queen or the royal family no you you raised it though because one of the things you know she's a wonderful grandmother to the girls tell me about Christmas times oh yeah that's that's what I do right about that it's been really sad for 15 years not to spend Christmas with the girls and why is that well because it's a real family occasion and I'm divorced from the royal family and so they say I don't get to spend time with them but I'm glad because they're I give the Queen a lovely gift of my girls she may not have been easy on me but then the 11th Duchess of York has never been that easy on herself last year was the most difficult of her life those days I was fighting for my life she spent it finding Sarah and and got lost book documentary series in therapy and mixing with American royal she may not have found ciri yet but says she's getting closer are you the happiest you've been in your life do you think I I think that I'm very strong right now because I have the tools to to be able to know how to deal with my life it does that bring happiness I think it brings a sense of contentment and peace which I haven't had for a very long time and that's good that means I've done well that means I've done well Dutchess thank you for your time thank you

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Views: 1,508,605

Rating: 4.4058046 out of 5

Keywords: Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, Royal, royal family, queen, prince harry, prince william, meaghan markle, Fergie, bad fergie, interview, walk out, ex-royal, 60 Minutes, 60 Minutes Australia, Michael Usher

Id: FMMR2p7xQ-A

Length: 14min 24sec (864 seconds)

Published: Wed May 02 2018