Andrew and Sarah Ferguson finally to live apart – 30 years after divorce
Sarah Ferguson has deserted her former husband in the wake of the Jeffrey Epstein saga, choosing to ‘make her own plans’ and move on with her life.
Andrew Mountbatten Windsor finally agreed to leave his grace and favour residence at Royal Lodge after it became clear his closest ally, his former wife, Sarah Ferguson, had deserted him.
The former Duke and Duchess of York are to finally separate nearly 30 years after their divorce. Ferguson will not join her ex-husband when he moves into exile on the King’s estate in Sandringham, Norfolk, and will “make her own plans” to move on with her life. She is understood to have made it clear that she would leave the property in Windsor Great Park.
A representative for Ferguson declined to comment.
The couple, who divorced in 1996 but continued to live together for most of the three decades since, have been exposed in recent weeks after separate emails emerged showing that they both stayed in contact with the convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein after publicly renouncing him.
Ferguson recently sold a Mayfair property, although the proceeds were said to be put towards a trust fund for the couple’s daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie. Now she will find her own accommodation while Andrew lives on the private funds of his brother, the King.
Her decision comes as a government minister suggested Andrew should go to the US to answer questions over Epstein if asked. “I would expect any decently minded person to comply with that request,” Sir Chris Bryant, the trade minister, told the BBC.
More emails sent by Andrew to Epstein emerged yesterday (Friday), in which Andrew wrote it would be “good to catch up in person” months after the pedophile was released from prison for prostituting minors. An email, sent on April 15, 2010, was sent after a suggestion from Epstein that he should meet the American banker Jes Staley, court documents showed.
A royal source said the King’s decision to strip Andrew of his title and force him out of Royal Lodge was a sign of the monarch’s “steel”. Charles is understood to have made a private telephone call to Andrew to break the news of the decision, which was only made after the King asked: “Can he cope?”
By yesterday (Friday) evening Charles had signed the necessary documents which will lead to the letters stripping Andrew of his title.
Andrew’s exile follows two weeks of intense activity and planning as the King, in consultation with Palace legal advisers, the Cabinet Office and the wider royal family, assessed how best to formally remove his brother from any royal association. Andrew remains eighth in line to the throne, however, and Sir Keir Starmer is under mounting pressure from some of his own MPs to remove him from the royal line of succession. Amid fears of a possible constitutional crisis, one Labour MP told The Daily Telegraph that in the event of an “unimaginable tragedy”, it was still possible that Andrew could become king, which was something the British people “would not put up with”.
A Labour minister also said that they backed removing Andrew from the succession “in principle”.
Two weeks ago, Andrew released a statement through Buckingham Palace in which he said he would no longer use the title Duke of York and would relinquish all other honours.
With a steady drip of revelations emerging daily, however, the King was aware of growing public anger that the move had not gone far enough.
Sympathy was running low within the palace for Andrew, particularly after he failed to offer any acknowledgment of the plight of Epstein’s victims, which those close to Charles feel he could have achieved despite maintaining his innocence. It was said to put the Queen in a particularly difficult position, given her campaigning against the sexual abuse of women.
In a statement released at 7pm on Thursday, a Buckingham Palace spokesman made a point of stating: “Their Majesties wish to make clear that their thoughts and utmost sympathies have been, and will remain with, the victims and survivors of any and all forms of abuse.”
The new property earmarked for Andrew has not yet been named for security reasons. This goes hand-in-hand with a palace desire to maintain a duty of care for the late Queen Elizabeth’s second son.
A royal source said: “For a while, there were significant welfare issues. His entire raison d’etre revolves around status. We were asking ourselves: ‘Can he cope?’ In the end, we reached a tipping point and he was made to see sense.”
The Times
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