Sarah Ferguson – affectionately known as Fergie – married Prince Andrew in their spectacular 1986 royal wedding. However, the Duke and Duchess of York would separate only six years later, in 1992, ahead of their 1996 divorce. Fergie weathered several scandals during this time, which significantly contributed to  the end of her royal career. 

However, the Duchess of York’s father, the late Major Ronald Ferguson, blamed the Duke of York for the breakdown of the marriage.

Writing in the Daily Mail, the Major said: “By the time Eugenie had been born, I felt, rather than knew, that all was not well between Sarah and Andrew.

“Things wouldn’t have gone wrong if he had been around more.”

However, he did add that Palace courtiers had contributed to ferries’ misery with their “gossip and backbiting”.

Major Ferguson had a frosty relationship with the Palace himself, after publishing his memoirs, ‘The Galloping Major’, in 1994, which was full of Royal Family details.

The Major died in 2003 after suffering a heart attack. 

Fergie released her autobiography “My Story” in 1996, shortly after her high-profile divorce that year. 

In it, she appears to go against her father’s judgement of her relationship breakdown and instead lays the blame squarely at the feet of the Palace, rather than her husband. 

The Duchess writes: “From early on that year [1992], Andrew and I had been discussing a separation.

“Not because we’d stopped caring for one another, but because I had reached the end of my royal rope. 

 “For six years I had shouldered the demands of Palace life.

“I’d endured the constant scrutiny of the British press and the barely veiled hostility of the royal household, the courtiers who run the show. 

DON’T MISS
Why Sarah Ferguson blamed Princess Diana for toe-sucking debacle  [REVEALED]
How Queen is ‘proud’ of Beatrice and Eugenie amid Andrew scandal [EXPERT]
How the Palace stood behind Kate and Meghan – but not Fergie [INSIGHT]

“Gradually, relentlessly, they had beaten me down.

“They were killing me by inches.

“It was time to save my life.”

Fergie reveals that two high-ranking aides in particular, who she mysteriously dubs “Mr X” and “Mr Y” were at the heart of the Palace machine that she felt was freezing her out of the Royal Family. 

The Duchess also writes how the Palace refused to help her when she was in crisis. 

When the now-infamous “toe-sucking” photographs were about to be published, Fergie claims: “The Queen’s private secretary, Mr Z, refused to intercede”. 

She adds: “I will forgo using his name – not to be mysterious, but because his name doesn’t matter. Like all the top courtiers, he was a creature of the Palace establishment, no more and no less.” 

Source: Read Full Article