Sarah Ferguson – affectionately known as Fergie – and Prince Andrew married in their spectacular 1986 royal wedding. However, after welcoming Princess Beatrice in 1988 Princess Eugenie in 1990, the Duke and Duchess of York would go on to separate in 1992. It was followed by their 1996 divorce, although Fergie and Andrew’s enduring closeness – and co-habitation – continues to make royal-watchers speculate about a reunion. 

Added to this, according to the Duchess of York, the reasons for her split from Andrew was nothing to to with the relationship between husband and wife.

Instead, in her 1996 autobiography “My Story”, Fergie claims that the separation was provoked by forces within the Palace. 

She writes: “If ever the Royal Family needed a respite, it was in August of 1992.

“The Queen would later call it her annus horribilis, the year of torn moorings and shattered peace.

“In June came the first published extracts of ‘Diana: Her True Story’, a tabloid-flavoured rendering of the Princess of Wales’ bulimia, suicide tries, and marital problems with Prince Charles.”

She continues: “Not one to be left out, I’d had my own bit to contribute.

“From early on that year, 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. 

“Gradually, relentlessly, they had beaten me down.

“They were killing me by inches.

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“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. 

As the Duke and Duchess of York decided on a separation in 1992, Fergie had another trial to go through that year. 

The news of the separation was leaked to the press and Fergie was erroneously blamed for it. 

The Queen was said to be “personally infuriated” by the leak, and this would later several affect Fergie’s financial negotiations during her 1996 divorce. 

In an off-the-record briefing at the time, the Queen’s press secretary Charles Ansons called Fergie “unfit for royal life”.

This triggered the now-infamous BBC headline “The knives are out for Fergie at the Palace”.

However, author Tina Brown claims that Fergie had actually not been the source of the leak at all.

In her 2007 book “The Diana Chronicles”, she writes: “After Diana’s death [Andrew] Morton finally revealed that it was the Princess of Wales who had served up her erstwhile best friend to provide the necessary press distraction.”

A rival book was due out weeks before Diana’s own in 1992, and the Fergie distraction was needed to throw the uncomplimentary tell-all book off the front pages.

The Morton book would go on to cause a myriad of problems of its own for Diana with the Royal Family.

However, Ms Brown says: “The Duchess never suspected Diana as the source of the leak.”

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