The extraordinary history of Sarah Ferguson and Prince Andrew’s relationship

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Sarah Ferguson’s household have been rallying across the royal as she recovers from the shock at being identified with pores and skin most cancers – and the one individual probably offering assist to the Duchess of York is her ex-husband Prince Andrew.

The former royal couple have been divorced for 28 years however nonetheless share a long-lasting bond regardless of each having endured a sequence of scandals that might have pushed others aside.

Fergie has stood by Prince Andrew through the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, offering soothing phrases to her former lover as he was compelled to step again from royal duties in 2019.

She described him as a “very good and kind man” and gushingly described their marriage ceremony day on July 23 1986 as “extraodinary” and an “exceptional day”.

Andrew for his half, rushed to be at Fergie’s facet following her therapy for breast most cancers final summer season on the Royal Lodge in Windsor, Berkshire, the place they stay collectively.

They share two daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, however suffered a troublesome romance that was usually stymied by Andrew’s Royal Navy service that meant he was away for lengthy durations of instances.

Prior to their courtship, Andrew was thought of one of the nation’s most eligible bachelors and earned himself the nickname “Randy Andy” after being linked to a string of ladies.

He was broadly revered for his exploits through the Falklands War as a Sea King helicopter pilot and hypothesis was usually rife as to who he would find yourself marrying.

And it was the bubbly, flame-haired Fergie, the daughter of Major Ronald Ferguson, King Charles’s polo supervisor, who stole his coronary heart. The duo had met as youngsters however didn’t see one another as adults till 1985 at Royal Ascot, in a gathering reportedly orchestrated by Princess Diana.

Less than a yr after they met Andrew proposed on 19 February 1986 at Floors Castle in Scotland on his twenty sixth birthday. He gifted Fergie a bespoke ring designed by himself that featured an oval-cut Burmese ruby that reminded him of her hair.

At the opulent marriage ceremony ceremony they shared a passionate embrace on the balcony of Buckingham Palace in entrance of a whole lot of 1000’s of wellwishers and appeared set for a life of royal service.

However, regardless of having two great youngsters, cracks began to look within the marriage as a consequence of Andrew’s dedication to his naval profession leaving out of the nation.

The duchess advised US TV host Ernie Manouse in 2010: “My deal was that I was marrying my man, who happened to be a prince and a naval officer.

“But what I got was not the man, I got the palace and didn’t get him… and the courtiers told me I had to go to Buckingham Palace and he had to go to sea. For our marriage, I saw him 40 days a year.”

The royal couple separated in January 1992 and later divorced in 1996.

The duchess turned embroiled in a single of essentially the most infamous royal scandals ever after being pictured having her toes sucked by multimillionaire businessman John Bryan whereas she sunbathed topless within the south of France.

Her tabloid scandals led to a swift banishment from the royal household, however Andrew and the duchess remained shut pals.

Andrew’s love life nevertheless turned overshadowed by a string of extra severe controversies that might result in him changing into a determine of worldwide ridicule.

After leaving the Royal Navy after 22 years service he turned the UK’s particular consultant for worldwide commerce and funding, however his 10 years within the function generated a terrific deal of controversy.

He confronted questions over his connections to politicians in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Tunisia, Libya and Turkmenistan.

And his judgment was additional questioned after he held conferences with Libyan chief Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s son Saif, and when he entertained the son-in-law of Tunisia’s ousted president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali at Buckingham Palace.

His relations with Timur Kulibayev, son-in-law of the then-president of Kazakhstan, had been additionally scrutinised after Mr Kulibayev bought the duke’s Sunninghill Park house for £3 million greater than its £12 million asking worth in 2007.

Simon Wilson – Britain’s deputy head of mission in Bahrain from 2001 to 2005 – wrote within the Daily Mail that the duke was “more commonly known among the British diplomatic community in the Gulf as HBH: His Buffoon Highness”.

However it was his relationship with American financier and convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein that shattered his fame and led to his banishment from entrance line royal duties [Andrew has always fiercely denied any wrongdoing].

Andrew paid tens of millions to settle a civil sexual assault lawsuit to a lady he claimed by no means to have met, Virginia Guiffre. He denied the claims and tried to clear his identify in an notorious Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis that heaped additional humiliation on the duke.

Despite every of their respective controversies and issues, they might every depend on one another, regardless of splitting up virtually three many years in the past.

As nicely as persevering with to stay collectively on the Royal Lodge, they’ve additionally been on vacation quite a few instances, and met up for a royal engagement in Bahrain in 2019.

They additionally co-owned a Swiss ski chalet that was reportedly bought to a British household for £19million so the duke may cowl the authorized prices arising from the fallout of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.

There had been even rumours the 2 had been contemplating remarrying. In 2013, throughout a promotional occasion for her youngsters’s e book, Ferguson was requested if she and Andrew would remarry.

She stated: “He’s still my handsome prince, he’ll always be my handsome prince. It’s lovely that we are such a family and the story has a happy ending all the time.”