How Sarah Ferguson Has Slowly Worked Her Way Back Into The Royal Family

The following article mentions sexual assault.

The transformation of Sarah Ferguson from duchess to national disgrace to redeemed unofficial member of the royal family has been truly astounding to witness. Upon marrying Prince Andrew in 1986, Ferguson was, by her own admission, living a fairytale life. But that all changed when she was banished from the royal family and stripped of her HRH title.

Her exile was catalyzed by a series of embarrassing indiscretions, many of which were documented for public consumption. Indeed, Ferguson has had her fair share of awkward moments captured on camera, including the quite literal toe-curling moment in which John Bryan was captured sucking on her toes at a poolside in 1992. As Princess Margaret, herself a royal renegade, once put it (via the New York Post), "You have done more to bring shame on the royal family than could ever have been imagined. Not once have you hung your head in embarrassment, even for a minute." Ouch.

But after years in exile, Ferguson has slowly been making her way back into the royal good books. Central to her transformation is a renewed sense of self-love. "It's a very good moment, because I'm free," she told Town & Country in 2021. "She's still with me, that person who thinks she's fat, ugly, and disgusting ... but she's now not so vocal. The truth is, I am 61 years old and I'm free of the self-­sabotaging Sarah." Here's how Sarah Ferguson has slowly worked her way back into the royal family.

The 2011 wedding between Prince William and Princess Catherine was a momentous occasion attended by the crème de la crème of the royal elite. One notable absence, however, was that of Sarah Ferguson. Alas, William's aunt wasn't invited to the nuptials. At the time, there was speculation that the duchess' enduring reputation as an embarrassment led to the decision by the royal couple.

Following the wedding, Ferguson sat down with Oprah (via Reuters) and admitted that she was deeply hurt by the snub. However, she took ownership over the situation, acknowledging that she had brought much of her rejection by the royal family onto herself. "I felt that I ostracized myself by my behavior, by the past, by living with all the regrets of my mistakes," she explained, "that I sort of wore a hair shirt and beat myself up most of the day thinking and regretting why did I make such a mistake? Why have I made so many mistakes? So I did spend a good three hours on that."

A decade later, she reflected on the slight in her interview with Town & Country, conceding that perhaps she wasn't worthy of attending the prestigious event. Subsequently, she headed to Thailand in an attempt to heal. Ferguson's honesty in the face of stark rejection undoubtedly showed a different side to the woman who had for so long been depicted as irredeemable.

After Sarah Ferguson failed to secure an invite to Prince William's wedding, Prince Harry — ever the rebel — made the surprising decision to ask the duchess to attend his. According to sources who chatted to Us Weekly, Harry chose to invite Ferguson due to his close relationship with her daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie. "Harry and Meghan have total control over who goes to the wedding and there was never an issue at the Palace about Sarah being invited," the source said. "No push back from anyone."

Attending the ceremony in a chic navy suit, Ferguson was greeted with cheers from the crowd. It was a particularly poignant moment for the woman who had once been castigated as the black sheep of the Windsor clan. "I wanted to cry," she told "Good Morning Britain" (via Hello!). "It was extraordinary and I looked around like, 'Are they doing that for me?'. Then someone shouted 'Fergie.'"

Ferguson needn't have gotten too excited though — she had only been invited to the ceremony and lunch, not the after party, which served as a painful reality check regarding her lowly status among the royals. "She was very good to [Harry]," Ingrid Seward told the New York Post's Page Six. "And it was nice that he invited her to his wedding to Meghan ... Fergie wasn't invited to the evening party, even though her ex-husband and children were. She is constantly reminded that she's an in-betweener."

Despite his myriad indiscretions, Sarah Ferguson still enjoys a close relationship with Prince Andrew. When Andrew found himself in the spotlight due to his controversial friendship with Jeffrey Epstein and his ensuing car-crash interview on "Newsnight," he, much like his ex-wife before him, was cast out of The Firm. Stripped of military titles and his right to use his HRH designation, things were looking bleak for Andrew. That was, however, until Ferguson stepped in.

Ferguson, who insists that she married a good man, has remained supportive of Andrew in the wake of sexual assault allegations and his multimillion dollar settlement to accuser and Epstein trafficking victim Virginia Giuffre. "There is no question that we remain steadfast to each other in loyalty, integrity, honor," she told Town & Country in 2021.

King Charles III, who has never publicly condemned his brother's association with the pedophile financier, reportedly developed a soft spot for Ferguson after witnessing her unwavering support for Andrew. "He always liked Fergie," Ingrid Seward told The Sun. "I think being 'included' this year is a public show of support and appreciation from the King for dealing with Andrew." Moreover, royal author Norman Baker argued that Ferguson and Andrew had a symbiotic relationship whereby both were central to the other's redemption. "Fergie could be being used as a test to soften up the public for the rehabilitation of Andrew, which the Prince of Sleaze is desperate to achieve," Baker said.

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).

With both his parents deceased, King Charles III was bestowed greater autonomy over whom he allowed into the furtive Firm. Subsequently, in 2023, he decided to welcome Sarah Ferguson back, as his mom had seemingly attempted to do years earlier.

According to royal experts who opened up to OK!, Prince Philip's death was the catalyst for the monarch's decision. "He found it difficult even to be in the same room as Fergie after all the shame she had brought on the family, but the Queen was always more conciliatory," explained BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond. "And now King Charles is showing that he accepts her as part of the family and has begun including her in family occasions." She reflected that it would have been painful for Ferguson to watch her daughters attend royal events for so many years while she was cast aside, an undeniable humiliation for the duchess. But throughout it all, Bond noted, Ferguson never publicly slighted the royals.

Furthermore, the king was apparently impressed by the scandal-prone duchess' ability to go for so long without a public indiscretion. "Sarah has always been close to the king [Charles] and is fond of him, and she has increasingly grown closer to the queen [Camilla]," a palace insider told Page Six. "She's always been loyal to the family and has really not put a foot wrong in recent years. She's never said a critical word and is always extremely loyal to the institution."