Few expected Sarah Ferguson to remain away from the spotlight indefinitely. True to form, she chose a moment guaranteed to attract attention.
Thursday’s memorial service for her former lover and trusted confidant was an event from which she could hardly be expected to stay absent.
Even so, some may question whether her attendance at the thanksgiving service celebrating motor-racing businessman Paddy McNally’s life crossed the line from daring to audacious.
Ferguson had sensibly stayed away from McNally’s funeral in July, sending her daughter Princess Beatrice in her place. But for the woman once nicknamed the Royal Family’s ‘red setter’, the service in Knightsbridge offered an ideal chance to reconnect with the public — and remind the public of her presence.
If the timing was merely coincidental, it was nevertheless remarkable. The appearance came almost a year after the sheltered world of privilege and security that she had long taken for granted began to collapse. In that time, she lost her position and title as Duchess of York, her home and much of her professional purpose as charities and businesses moved to cut ties.
Unlike her former husband, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, Ferguson was offered no alternative refuge. Although Andrew was stripped by his brother, the King, of his princely title and HRH style and required to leave Royal Lodge, he was given a home on the Sandringham estate. Ferguson was left to make her own way — and many assumed that, deprived of the royal trappings to which she had become so attached, she would struggle.
Yet the former duchess has always shown a stubborn resilience. Her years inside the Royal Family have been marked by repeated attempts to overcome crises, many of which she helped create herself.
After such a punishing year, there was something striking about her decision to appear at such a high-profile gathering. She was surrounded by family, with both daughters, Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, at her side alongside their husbands.
Sarah Ferguson has been pictured for the first time in public since Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s arrest in February
The 67-year-old attended a service for her former lover and long-time confidant Paddy McNally in Knightsbridge, west London, on Thursday
Fergie smiled for cameras after arriving at St Paul’s Church
Fergie is seen with Princess Beatrice, who attended the funeral alongside her husband Edoardo Mozzi
The consequences of their parents’ disgrace have also affected the sisters, whose loyalty has occasionally been tested to its limits. Both have been drawn into the turmoil created by their mother’s and father’s damaging decisions.
Still, as Ferguson took her place in the pews at St Paul’s Church, near Harrods, her familiar confidence was unmistakable. She did not shy away from the cameras, although the smile she offered came from a visibly weary face, reflecting the strain of the past year.
For a woman so strongly attracted to royal life and its constant attention, the sudden absence of the limelight must have been difficult. So, too, must the near-invisible existence she has maintained over the past year.
Before Thursday, Ferguson had been seen only once in 15 months, when she was found staying at a remote £2,000-a-night spa in the Austrian Alps. Friends described her enforced seclusion there as a period of ‘recalibrating’.
Her retreat from public life was unusual for the once-outgoing Ferguson and prompted intense speculation. Was she preparing another memoir, adding to the two she had already written? Was she rehearsing for a tell-all interview that, some predicted, could ‘blow the doors off’ the House of Windsor? Might she have been planning a comeback — or finally undertaking the prolonged self-examination that critics have long said she avoided?
Her appearance, visibly worn but far from defeated and only a short distance from Buckingham Palace, points to another possibility: that she hopes to reclaim some form of royal-adjacent life. Her daughters were not the only royal connections present. Princess Anne’s son Peter Phillips also attended, with motor sport among his interests, as it was for McNally.
It was perhaps fortunate that the King was abroad, thousands of miles away on a Commonwealth tour in the Caribbean, when his former sister-in-law chose to re-enter London society.
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Even so, critics may regard the move as premature. The controversy surrounding Jeffrey Epstein continues to cast a shadow over her former husband, while Ferguson’s presence serves as an uncomfortable reminder of her own association with the scandal.
Andrew’s former wife is pictured embracing another guest in London
Fergie had not been seen in public since April, when she was spotted at a luxury chalet in the Alps
The former Duchess of York has faced controversy over her ex-husband’s ties to paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein
Beatrice wore a coordinated navy dress, coat and handbag for the service
Princess Eugenie, Fergie’s daughter, arrived with her husband Jack Brooksbank
Beatrice is pictured with her husband Edoardo Mozzi on Tuesday
Princess Anne’s son Peter Phillips also attended the service
Emails released by the US Department of Justice earlier this year revealed the depth of Sarah Ferguson’s financial, personal and affectionate relationship with the convicted sex offender.
In one message, she called Epstein ‘the brother I have always wished for’. In another, she wrote: ‘You are a legend. I really don’t have the words to describe my love and gratitude for your generosity and kindness. Xx I am at your service. Just marry me.’
More damaging still were messages in which she described Epstein as her ‘supreme friend’ and apologised for having criticised him publicly.
The most controversial aspect of their relationship involved her daughters. Only days after Epstein completed a 13-month sentence for soliciting an under-age girl for prostitution in 2009, Ferguson took Beatrice and Eugenie, then aged 20 and 19, to meet him in the United States. Their flights had been paid for by Epstein.
On Thursday, Ferguson appeared less tense than she had in April at the Mayrlife health clinic in Austria, a luxury retreat popular with wealthy clients and supermodels. Perhaps she drew confidence from being surrounded by family and friends. Or perhaps the occasion simply allowed her to honour a man associated with a less turbulent chapter of her life.
Before Andrew, Paddy McNally was the man closest to Ferguson. They met after she was hired to care for McNally’s young sons, Sean and Rollo, following the death of his wife Anne in 1980. The pair became romantically involved, although McNally never proposed. He was simply too occupied with building his business empire.
At the time, McNally was amassing a fortune through his partnership with Formula One businessman Bernie Ecclestone. Together, they transformed corporate hospitality at motor-racing events around the world by launching the Paddock Club.
His wealth allowed him to live extravagantly, particularly in the Swiss ski resort of Verbier, where he owned three chalets. One was given the euphemistic nickname ‘Cocaine Castle’. He also possessed a Scottish grouse moor, a Wiltshire estate that had once been the country home of James Bond creator Ian Fleming, and a substantial villa in St Tropez.
In recent months, McNally made his properties in Switzerland and the South of France available to Ferguson as she moved between safe houses while keeping out of sight. Some have speculated that his final gesture to her may have been a share of his estimated £600 million fortune.
‘Paddy was my father figure, 22 years older than me,’ Ferguson once said. ‘He taught me so much about life. Whenever I wanted advice, I turned to him because he was so worldly wise. He seemed to have seen and done everything.’
As Ferguson makes her first public appearance at home after a year of upheaval, she may need that advice more than ever.
