How my hunch paid off: I scooped Fergie in my Speedos

The Duchess of York was fleeing the breakdown of her marriage. Saturday Telegraph journalist Mark Jones, appropriately attired, followed a hunch and found her enjoying a Sydney beach 30 years ago.

If you could bottle a tonic for the ills of the world it would surely be rich, royal red in colour and boast all the restorative qualities of a flame-haired powerhouse called Fergie.

Once outcast as the fiery, fun-loving misfit of the Royal Family, for more than 30 years the irrepressible Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, has charmed Australians — including this one — with her unflappable, no-nonsense approach to life’s ups and downs.

And if ever there was a year in which the House of Windsor was in need of a tonic, then this surely was it as first King Charles, then Kate, Princess of Wales, went public with revelations they were both battling the scourge of cancer.

So who better than feisty Fergie to lighten the Royals’ ills with news another Royal baby was on the way – courtesy of her daughter Beatrice – as the Duchess herself courageously recovers from her own devastating breast cancer and melanoma battles.

Fergie remains steadfastly close to daughters Beatrice and Eugenie – the ‘soulmate’ princesses she credits with supporting her through her recent health challenges. Support that’s never wavered.

Sarah with her children and sister Jane in Australia in 1993-1994.

Thirty years ago, I was there to see how the sisters, as five and three-year-olds, helped their mother through another dark chapter in her life.

Wind the clock back to the penultimate day of 1993, when Fergie was desperately seeking to escape a harsh UK winter and even harsher media maelstrom following a devastating Royal marriage split.

The Duchess and her sister-in-law, Princess Diana, were being pursued by paparazzi across the world — both recoiling from separations to husbands Andrew and Charles.

Fergie and the Princesses leave for a party.

Sarah and Andrew in 1995, a year before their divorce. Picture: AP Photo

Left out in the cold after a number of scandals, including a now infamous topless “toe-sucking” imbroglio, Fergie grabbed the kids and headed to Sydney.

But the Fleet Street press pack were never far behind, pursuing her to Australia where she had planned a New Year’s reunion with her sister Jane.

Adept at sidestepping reporters, she was marshalled out of Sydney Airport where I’d discovered she wanted to head straight to the beach and waste no time with her holiday.

I’d been assigned to try my luck at finding fleeing Fergie, and, abandoning the hordes of UK and international journalists at the airport, decided on a hunch to head to Sydney’s northern beaches, stopping on the way to purchase some essential summer beachwear and ideal camouflage, a pair of Speedos.

What the heck I figured, if I missed a Royal scoop, I’d get to enjoy myself and hit the surf on a hot, picture-perfect summer’s day.

But my hunch paid off.

There she was. Dressed in a black one-piece, floral wraparound skirt, sunnies and that unmistakeable, lustrous red hair tucked under a straw hat.

Sure enough, the media-savvy Duchess immediately blew my cover.

Playfully pointing me out across the beach, she rushed across the sand, asking: “Do you mind if I see what pictures you’re getting?”

Not the least fazed by my intrusion into the first hours of a short break from her worries back home, she turned the tables back on me, giggling about my strange Aussie accent and freely agreeing to a request for some family photographs.

Sarah was not the least fazed by Mark Jones’ intrusion.

Charmingly disarming, duty called. Fergie knew exactly what was required of her although it was implicit that any questions as to her personal problems back home were not on the table.

It was purely back to business to Fergie. But, fiercely protective of her princesses, she unhesitatingly let me know when our time was up and with a courteous goodbye and happy New Year, it was back to the family.

The Duchess’s joy at being alone with her children, 12,000km away from her own troubles, was clearly palpable.

Our exclusive pictures of Fergie playing blissfully on Whale Beach were in stark contrast that week to paparazzi snaps of Diana looking downcast in the chill of New York, a year out of her split with the now King.

The following day, New Year’s Eve, much to our amazement, we caught up with the Duchess and her family again as they partied in Pittwater on board a cruiser previously used by Diana on one of her Sydney sojourns.

Uncomplainingly, Fergie and he girls shrieked with delight as they enjoyed another beautiful day on the water.

Sarah with her daughters, Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice. Picture: Instagram

The Duchess of York on a tour of Australia in 1993-1994.

The Duchess of York in England in March, 2024. Picture: Getty Images

That week in the Sydney sun had really been the perfect tonic to her own troubles back home. Reinvigorated, one of her aides told me: “She looked great, really happy and bubbly as ever”.

Fergie later said Sydney had been a ‘haven’ to her. It was and always has been her happy place.

Despite all her ups and downs, at times unfair media attention, and downright appalling trolling on social media, Fergie has always been a tonic to her precious children, former husband and the entire Royal Family to whom she has remained steadfastly loyal. It’s this selflessness that’s seen Fergie firmly back in the Royal fold while at the same time winning over a whole new generation of followers.

Utterly charming, cheeky, unpretentious, naughty but steely tough, she’ll always remain my favourite redhead.

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Originally published as How my hunch paid off: I scooped Fergie in my Speedos