Princess Diana and Sarah Ferguson’s close friendship disintegrated after Ferguson published hurtful claims in her 1996 autobiography, My Story, that she had gotten a wart from borrowing a shoe from Princess Diana.
“The fact is that Princess Diana was very concerned that Sarah Ferguson was selling stories about her, and Sarah Ferguson pretended that the relationship had repaired, but the relationship never repaired,” royal author Andrew Rowney told the Daily Mail in a video published Thursday.
The late princess and Mr. Ferguson, who were fourth cousins and childhood friends, were quite close before their falling out. After Princess Diana introduced Ferguson to former Prince Andrew, the two married into the royal family and became sisters-in-law.
Princess Diana married then-Prince Charles in 1981, and Prince Ferguson, now 66, told Andrew, also 66, that he was getting married a few years later in 1986.
Lowney said the two women became particularly close, bonding over their shared empathy for the royal family’s struggles.
“Princess Diana would come to Sarah Ferguson’s house every Sunday and complain about the royal family. They both felt very restricted within the confines of the royal family,” he told the outlet.
Rowney continued: “But at the same time, she was concerned that Fergie was being too loud and that Princess Diana was damaging her own reputation, so she distanced herself from him.”
Their friendship is said to have withstood “harsh tactics” from Princess Diana when Mr Ferguson agreed to divorce her husband at the same time.
However, Princess Diana “let Sarah Ferguson do it herself, and basically learned how she herself would deal with divorce from how the royal family treated Sarah Ferguson.”
Mr Ferguson separated from Mr Andrew in 1992 after 10 years of marriage. The couple divorced in 1996, but they continued to live together at the Royal Lodge until King Charles III kicked them out of the royal grounds in February this year, after Andrew was stripped of his royal titles last year.
Meanwhile, Princess Diana separated from Charles, now 77, in 1992 and ultimately divorced four years later.
She tragically died in a car accident in Paris in 1997 at the age of 36.
