Sarah Ferguson was never likely to remain away from the public eye indefinitely—and, true to form, she chose a highly significant moment to step back into view.
Few would have expected her to miss Thursday’s memorial service for Paddy McNally, her former partner and trusted confidant of many years.
Even so, her decision to attend the Knightsbridge thanksgiving celebrating the motor-racing entrepreneur’s life may strike some observers as either remarkably bold or unnecessarily audacious.
Ferguson had carefully stayed away from McNally’s funeral in July, sending Princess Beatrice in her place. But Thursday’s service offered the woman once nicknamed the Royal Family’s ‘red setter’ a carefully chosen chance to reconnect with the public—and remind the public of her presence.
If the timing was merely accidental, it was nevertheless striking. The service came almost a year after the privileged world Ferguson had inhabited for decades began to collapse around her. In that time, she lost her position and title as Duchess of York, her home and much of her professional purpose as charities and businesses moved to distance themselves from her.
Her former husband, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, was also stripped by the King of his princely title and HRH status and required to leave Royal Lodge. However, he was provided with a residence on the Sandringham estate. Ferguson received no comparable refuge and was effectively left to find her own way. Many assumed that, separated from the royal privileges to which she had become accustomed, she would struggle to recover.
Yet resilience has always been one of Ferguson’s defining qualities. Her years connected to the Royal Family have repeatedly followed a pattern of crisis, much of it self-inflicted, followed by determined attempts to rebuild.
After what was arguably her most difficult year, there was something striking about her willingness to appear at such a prominent gathering. She was not alone: both daughters, Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, attended with their husbands.
Sarah Ferguson was seen in public for the first time since Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s arrest in February
The 67-year-old attended Thursday’s Knightsbridge memorial service for her former partner and long-time confidant Paddy McNally
Ferguson smiled for photographers as she arrived at St Paul’s Church
Ferguson was pictured with Princess Beatrice, who attended alongside her husband Edoardo Mozzi
The consequences of their parents’ scandals have also affected the sisters, whose loyalty has at times been tested to its limits. Beatrice and Eugenie have repeatedly found themselves drawn into the fallout from their parents’ damaging decisions.
Still, as Ferguson took her place inside St Paul’s Church near Harrods, her familiar determination was unmistakable. She did not try to avoid the cameras, although the smile she offered came from a visibly tired face that appeared to reflect the strain of the past year.
For a woman so closely associated with royal glamour and public attention, being cut off from both must have been particularly difficult. So too, presumably, was the unusually private existence she has maintained over the last 12 months.
Before Thursday, she had reportedly been seen only once in 15 months, when she was found staying at a secluded £2,000-a-night spa in the Austrian Alps. Friends described the retreat as a period of ‘recalibrating’ and insisted the isolation was voluntary.
Her disappearance from public life prompted widespread speculation. Was Ferguson preparing another memoir after publishing two books already? Was she considering a revealing interview that some predicted could cause further upheaval for the House of Windsor? Perhaps she was planning a return to public life—or finally spending time reflecting on the choices that had brought her to this point.
Her appearance—weathered but clearly not defeated—so close to Buckingham Palace raises another possibility: that she may be seeking a limited return to royal circles. Beatrice and Eugenie were not the only royal connections present. Princess Anne’s son Peter Phillips also attended, sharing McNally’s interest in motor racing.
The King’s absence may also have made the moment less uncomfortable. Charles was thousands of miles away on a Commonwealth tour in the Caribbean when his former sister-in-law chose to re-enter London society.
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Even so, critics may argue that Ferguson’s return has come too soon. The shadow of Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes and his association with Andrew continues to hang over the family, while her own links to the disgraced financier remain an uncomfortable part of the story.
Andrew’s former wife was photographed embracing another guest in London
Ferguson had not been seen publicly since April, when she was photographed at a luxury Alpine chalet
The former Duchess of York has faced scrutiny over her links to paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein
Beatrice chose a coordinated navy dress, coat and handbag for the service
Princess Eugenie arrived with her husband, Jack Brooksbank
Beatrice was pictured with her husband, Edoardo Mozzi
Peter Phillips, the son of Princess Anne, was also among those attending
Emails released by the US Department of Justice earlier this year pointed to the extent of the financial, personal and affectionate relationship between Ferguson and Epstein.
In one message, she called him ‘the brother I have always wished for’. In another, she wrote: ‘You are a legend. I really don’t have the words to describe my love and gratitude for your generosity and kindness. Xx I am at your service. Just marry me.’
More damaging still were messages in which she referred to Epstein as her ‘supreme friend’ and apologised for having criticised him publicly.
The most controversial episode involved her daughters. Only days after Epstein completed a 13-month sentence for soliciting an under-age girl for prostitution in 2009, Ferguson took Beatrice and Eugenie—then aged 20 and 19—to meet him in the United States, travelling on air tickets he had funded.
At Thursday’s service, Ferguson appeared more composed than she had during her April visit to the Mayrlife health clinic in Austria, a luxury retreat popular with wealthy clients and supermodels. Her greater ease may have come from being surrounded by family and friends—or simply from attending an event dedicated to a man associated with a less troubled period of her life.
Long before Andrew, Paddy McNally had been Ferguson’s partner and confidant. They met after she was hired to care for McNally’s young sons, Sean and Rollo, following the death of his wife, Anne, in 1980. Their relationship became romantic, although McNally never proposed. At the time, he was focused on building his fortune alongside Formula One entrepreneur Bernie Ecclestone, with whom he transformed corporate hospitality at international races through the creation of the Paddock Club.
His success afforded him an extravagant lifestyle. He spent considerable time in the Swiss resort of Verbier, where he owned three chalets, including one nicknamed ‘Cocaine Castle’. His properties also included a Scottish grouse moor, a Wiltshire estate that had once belonged to James Bond author Ian Fleming, and a large villa in St Tropez.
In recent months, McNally reportedly made homes in Switzerland and the South of France available to Ferguson as she moved between discreet retreats and stayed away from public view. Some have even speculated that his final act of generosity may have included leaving part of his estimated £600 million fortune to her.
‘Paddy was my father figure, 22 years older than me,’ Ferguson once said. ‘He taught me so much about life. Whenever I needed advice, I went to him because he was so worldly wise. He seemed to have seen and done everything.’
Now that Ferguson has made her first public appearance back in Britain, she may need that wisdom more than ever.
