‘Notorious’ Fergie makes surprise visit to Australia
She has weathered some of the most vicious criticism during her life as a royal, now the Duchess of York is proving why she is one of the warmest members of the royal family as it faces its toughest year.
Royal appearances are usually marked by pomp and ceremony, not with the guest of honour leaping on tables, but then when has anything Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, ever been by the book?
The royal is the surprise guest in Melbourne for the first Australian Global Citizen Now summit, a leading advocacy organisation founded by three Australian men and headed up by Melbourne-born Hugh Evans which has deployed close to $44bn in commitments around the world for climate action, women’s economic power, food security all driven a mantra of combining policy with pop culture.
While climate protesters were blocking Melbourne’s West Gate Bridge at peak-hour on Tuesday, the brightest young minds who have committed their careers to sustainability were being pumped up by royalty and politicians from home and abroad.
Prince Harry and his wife Meghan were some of the first royals involved as Global Citizen aimed to end vaccine inequity during the Covid pandemic and past chairs and ambassadors include Beyonce, Leonardo DiCaprio, Hugh Jackman and Bono as well as former prime minister Julia Gillard and many other political players around the world.
The Duchess of York captivated the invite-only crowd of young leaders, NGOs and experts in fields spanning health, science and economics from around the Asia Pacific as the two-day conference got underway.
In a private session with the guests the 64-year-old Duchess showed Gen Z levels of enthusiasm and zest for their pursuits.
“She was desperate to hang out longer but wanted to speak to literally everyone so she jumped on the table and gave us all a pep talk telling us to keep up the important work,” one participant told The Australian.
“I love it. I want to roam the world giving a voice to all the work they do, and those at Global Citizen, to anyone who asks me. I’m free to do that now,” the Duchess told The Australian.
It is the first time she has granted interviews since her shock breast cancer and melanoma diagnoses last year, but life for her has never been better.
“Oh yes I’m alive, yes that’s good,” she laughed as well-wishes passed by.
As the Princess of Wales was spotted for the first time on Tuesday as she recovers from “planned abdominal surgery”, Fergie was showing all the signs of the late “People’s Princess”, aptly filling the shoes of Princess Diana’s legacy, albeit, there was no sign of vertiginous Jimmy Choos, instead she opted for a pair of Alice in Wonderful inspired loafers with the slogans “eat me” and “drink me” embossed into the velvet.
She praised King Charles for speaking out about his prostate cancer battle which now allows her, and other working members of the family, to raise awareness about treatments and care that is available.
An issue she feels deeply, having held her own father’s hand as he died from the disease.
“We need people to know there is a cure. Lutetium-177 is used to treat neuroendocrine tumours and prostate cancer, there is hope out there. As well as a non invasive treatment for melanoma that was invented in Melbourne. It is important I am allowed to say that. It was a huge gift this man gave me (King Charles) because now anyone going through that too can go ‘Oh good, I’m not alone’ and everything that I’ve learned now means I can take someone by the hand and say ‘you are not alone’. This is critical,” she said.
Whereas in the past her candid nature has landed her in hot water, she is helping to breath fresh air into the stuffy establishment and it’s obvious she’s glad to be back in the fold of The Firm.
“I’ve had quite the life.
“When people say to me ‘How have you managed the 38 years of negativity thanks to the British media?’, I thank them very much for the experience.
“When I win as Oscar I’m going to say ‘This is thanks to the British media.’ Because at the end of the day, I’m not an actress, I’m not a singer. I’m a nobody. I’m not even married to a prince anymore. I’m just me. Why? Because I’m notorious,” she said.
“I’m notorious thanks to those newspapers. Now when people see ‘bad Fergie’ in real life they go ‘Oh. You’re much taller and not as fat as those pictures’.”
