Just days after Andrew and Fergie faced a public fall from grace, losing their titles, homes, and reputations, Fergie is reportedly planning a comeback with a fresh rebranding effort.
Many believed the former duchess was out of touch, but this move might redefine what it means to be detached from reality. Has she overestimated her appeal, or simply misjudged the situation?
One has to wonder who would align themselves with someone who openly declared friendship with a notorious figure involved in egregious crimes like sex trafficking and child exploitation.
Even as the ink was drying on the King’s decree that officially removed them from Windsor, Fergie was allegedly engaging with a prestigious ‘brand rescue team’ to rehabilitate her public image and professional path.
According to reports from The Sun, she aims to pursue “various branding and commercial ventures,” positioning herself as “a mother and philanthropist.”
This ambition seems remarkably out of touch with reality.
Maybe a soap powder bearing the motto ‘How to wash your filthy linen in public’ is in the offing.
It is also reported that Fergie and Andrew’s daughters, Beatrice and Eugenie, are encouraging their mother in this bizarre rebrand – one of whom thought it was a good idea for dad to do the car-crash Emily Maitlis interview on Newsnight.
Sarah Ferguson and Andrew Mountbatten Windsor at Royal Ascot in 2019
It seems Sarah has told her advisers that she wants to become ‘a leader of the female positivity world’.
That space is currently occupied by the likes of Malala Yousafzai and the former First Lady Michelle Obama, not to mention hundreds of other distinguished women who have fought tirelessly for decades for the rights of women and girls and to protect them from abuse by men.
It really is a laugh till you cry moment.
It makes Fergie’s apparent absence of remorse for her actions all the more astonishing. She’s shown not a shred of self-awareness or given any inkling she understands how much she is loathed.
As for rebranding herself a ‘philanthropist’, Fergie is largely famous for pocketing cash from others, including the late Queen, who was believed to have once paid off her debts.
Blimey, this is a woman who once even tried to sell off her husband, offering ‘access’ to the then Duke of York for £500,000.
That a woman who spent decades consorting with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein – and accepted thousands of pounds from him – believes she can be reborn as a female role model fighting for women and girls beggars belief.
Princess Beatrice, Sarah Ferguson and Princess Eugenie at a charity party in Chelsea in 2013
Sarah Ferguson and Andrew Mountbatten Windsor with the late Queen Elizabeth in 1986
While it’s probably true she was unaware of the scale of his activities, the fact is that Fergie lied about her continued association with Epstein – despite knowing he’d been convicted in 2008 in a Florida state court of soliciting prostitution from a minor under the age of 18.
It’s all the more outrageous that she reportedly took Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice to meet him at his New York mansion following Epstein’s release from prison in July 2009.
She wants to rebrand herself as ‘a mother’. What kind of mother does that?
If we were seeking a true female royal role model, we need look no further than the late Queen or her daughter Princess Anne – women exemplifying the very essence of duty, both knowing every action they took reflected upon the institution they have cherished.
And what an insult to true working royals like Queen Camilla, who has fought tirelessly since 2010, alongside women’s charities, against domestic and sexual abuse.
Then there’s the often unsung work of Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, who crosses the world as patron of worldwide organisations highlighting abuse against women and girls, taking her message to unfashionable, far-flung places in support of gender equality, women’s health and sexual violence in conflict.
A friend of Fergie reportedly says she is ‘taking stock’ after a stressful few months, to let the dust settle. Does she have any ‘friends’ left?
Insiders say every door in polite society is now slammed in the face of the former duchess.
Fergie’s attempts at rehabilitation are about as plausible as Epstein’s madame, Ghislaine Maxwell, getting out of prison any time soon.
Yet an impoverished, shamed, banished Fergie is a dangerous thing.
No doubt she will continue to claim she was close to the late Queen – who would have been horrified by her behaviour – and milk it for millions, if anyone is mad enough to cough up.
Without a single witness to corroborate it, Fergie has said Queen Elizabeth always encouraged her ‘to be her authentic self’ and that the last words the Queen spoke to her shortly before passing away were: ’Sarah, remember that [being] yourself is good enough.’
Although recollections may vary, perhaps what the sovereign of dignity, Queen Elizabeth, really said to the disgraced and disgraceful Fergie was this: ‘Just being yourself is enough already!’
