Sarah ‘Fergie’ Ferguson upstages Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in the United States

The Sussexes’ slide down the royal hierarchy hits new lows as Prince Andrew’s ex-wife Fergie reveals her new TV venture and weighs in on their dramas.

Prince Harry became a spare royal on both sides of the Atlantic after his aunt upstaged the Duke of Sussex in the United States, where she’s in early talks to develop two “major” television series.

Demand to hear from Sarah “Fergie” Ferguson in New York saw tickets to her virtual book tour more than double the price of Prince Harry’s California therapy session to promote his memoir, Spare.

While a virtual ticket to watch the Duke of Sussex’s attention deficit disorder diagnosis cost USD$33.09 ($A49.18), it came with a copy of the tell-all memoir currently discounted to US D$22.40 ($A33.29).

The USD$10.69 ($A15.89) difference to watch the struggle session with controversial therapist Dr Gabriel Mate came in at less than half what of Ferguson received for a comparable, US$25 ($A37.16) virtual ticket (USD$45/ $A66.88 in-person) at the 92nd Street Y, in Manhattan, to promote her book just days later.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been on a media blitz in the US to sell their Netflix series and memoir. Picture: Getty Images

Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, is in the US on to promote her new book without airing the family’s dirty laundry. Picture: Getty Images

The Duchess of York, who is commanding a $5 premium over Spare for her latest literary offering, A Most Intriguing Lady, revealed she’s in serious talks with “a major US TV series” to adapt the “sweeping, romantic” Victorian-era saga about a Duke’s daughter secretly moonlighting as an amateur sleuth.

Her first novel, a Mills & Boon romance, is also being discussed as part of the development deal.

“I’ll go for the Emmy and then perhaps the Oscar,” Ferguson said.

Her tour of the US comes amid reports her daughter, Princess Eugenie, is considering a move across the pond to follow the footsteps of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, whose popularity among Americans has sunk lower than even Prince Andrew.

Ferguson, who lived in the US for 12 years after her divorce, says she understands why Prince Harry and Ms Markle fled the United Kingdom.

“I did do Oprah and the American people were very good to me,” she said.

In 1996, Ferguson was the first royal to grant a sit-down to Oprah Winfrey with a tell-all interview that would resonate 25 years later when the House of Sussex gave the talk show host a blockbuster royal sequel.

Fergie was the original British royal to be interviewed by Oprah.

Harry and Meghan followed Fergie’s footsteps to the US and onto the set of Oprah. Picture: Supplied

At the time, brutal headlines called Ferguson the “Duchess of Pork” and compared the “fat, frumpy” Fergie to the tall, thin and beautiful Princess Diana in scenes that would echo in the coverage of Ms Markle and her sister-in-law, Catherine, Princess of Wales.

Despite the public savaging, and a private eating disorder, Ferguson loved every minute of public life, adding it’s the royal family’s duty not to let down every little girl who dreams of being a princess.

“Fat, frumpy Fergie sells papers,” she said, adding her continued problems are “still terrifying”.

“It’s OK, you just get on with it.”

Asked if she had any advice for Prince Harry and Ms Markle, the Duchess said she wouldn’t judge, and that actions speak louder than words.

But if she had her time again, Ferguson would tell a young Duchess of York in the 1980s to “learn to play the game, and play it better”.

“I would have understood you could take the institution, take the monarchy, and learn so many things,” she said.

Ferguson has been on a media blitz to promote the release of her second book, which she says is supporting her family now that Prince Andrew isn’t taxpayer funded as a working royal.

After returning from the US to the UK, Ferguson has remained by her ex-husband’s side amid his fall from the King’s grace and reports he will be evicted from the Royal Lodge to move into Frogmore Cottage.

She wouldn’t be drawn into commenting on her relationship with Prince Andrew or his eviction, which she maintains is a private matter between the Duke and King Charles, saying “Zip” as she crossed her lips to shut down the topic.

Sarah, Duchess of York, and Prince Andrew, Duke of York, on their wedding day in 1986. Picture: Getty Images

The couple have remained close after their divorce. Picture: Getty Images

While Prince Harry’s media tour to sell Spare mined the depths of his family trauma and frozen todger, Ms Ferguson refused to criticise the royal family Instead, she answered uncomfortable questions with quotes on kindness by the late Queen Elizabeth II, whose ghost she thinks lingers among palace grounds to visit her beloved Corgis.

“She was more my mother than my mother,” she said. “The Queen was like a hand of support on your back. For the whole nation and the whole world. Such an honour”.

Originally published as Sarah ‘Fergie’ Ferguson upstages Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in the United States