Prince William reportedly harbors strong resentment towards Sarah, Duchess of York, and has been eager to see her and Prince Andrew removed from Royal Lodge. According to insiders, the tension between the future king and his aunt has been simmering long before recent revelations about Jeffrey Epstein came to light.

The 43-year-old royal notably left Sarah Ferguson off the guest list for his 2011 wedding to Kate Middleton. This decision followed a scandal in 2010 where Sarah was caught on camera offering access to Prince Andrew in exchange for £500,000 to an undercover reporter from the now-defunct News of the World, who posed as an Indian businessman.

In the book “Entitled” by historian Andrew Lownie, palace insiders suggest that Prince William’s animosity towards Sarah Ferguson has been longstanding. The late Queen Elizabeth II reportedly referred to her as “The Duchess of Deceit,” a nickname attributed to her history of financial controversies, as discussed in Lownie’s Substack.

A royal insider revealed to Lownie that there have been long-standing tensions between William and Andrew, partly due to Andrew’s alleged disparaging remarks about Kate. The source claimed William has been actively working behind the scenes to have his uncle vacate Royal Lodge, believing Andrew is misusing the property and his privileges. William’s disdain for Sarah Ferguson is also evident.

According to the insider, William is eagerly anticipating the day King Charles will remove them from the residence. They further added that if Charles does not take action, William is determined to evict them once he ascends to the throne.

“William refers to Andy as a ‘tosser,’ although it’s reportedly not as harsh as some of the names his brother Harry uses,” the source noted.

And it’s possible that the wound goes deeper into Sarah’s own relationship with the Princes’ late mother, Diana; while the sisters-in-law were dear friends in their youth, later years appear to have marred their relationship with jealousy on both sides.

The Duchess of York Uncensored – written by her psychic Vasso Kortesis (despite Sarah’s attempts to stop it) – alleged that Andrew’s ex wife struggled with her envy of Diana’s image.

In his new book Entitled, author Andrew Lownie highlighted that William and Kate always appeared to have chilled relations to the ex Duke and Duchess of York, going so far as to exclude Sarah from their wedding invite list in 2011; after it emerged that she seemingly accepted cash for access to her ex-husband. William, Kate and Sarah pictured at the Duchess of Kent’s funeral 

Even before the stripping of their titles – and their ousting from Royal Lodge – it appears The Firm’s growing animosity towards the pair ran deep, following years of snubs from the Prince and Princess of Wales, and a complicated relationship with the late Queen, who reportedly lost patience with the ‘remorseless Duchess of Deceit’ in her later years. Andrew, Sarah and the late Queen in 1986

‘Sarah tried to hide it, even from me, but for a brief time she became incredibly jealous of Diana,’ Kortesis penned.

‘It grated on her that whenever there was controversy surrounding Dianna’s marriage, the press and public always seemed to take her side but when Sarah’s marriage came under the spotlight, fun loving Fergie was always the one to blame.’

Lownie too elaborated on how the stark comparisons made by the public attributed to a drift.

‘There had also been an element of jealousy and competitiveness. Sarah called Diana Blondie, Little Miss Perfect or Miss Goody Two Shoes. Diana called her Dutch,’ he explained.

‘Sarah felt the Princess of Wales, more popular and more stylish, was able to get away with behaviour she could not.

‘Diana envied Ferguson’s more relaxed and closer relationship with the Queen and initially with the rest of the Royal Family thanks to her equine interests and talents and love of country pursuits.’

Sarah has herself been open about facing the consequences of her own actions when it came to her relationship with the royals.

Remarking on her absence from William and Kate’s 2011 royal wedding on Oprah that year, she said: ‘I was not invited, and I chose to go and be in Thailand in a place called Kamalaya and… the jungle embraced me.

‘I wanted to be there with my girls and… to be getting them dressed and to go as a family. And also it was so hard because the last bride up that aisle was me.’

She added: ‘I felt that I ostracised myself by my behavior, by the past, by living with all the regrets of my mistakes, 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.’

Lownie however pointed out that the Thai wellness sanctuary was far from a humble abode in the thick of the jungle – as ‘detox breaks at the five-star retreat cost around £300 a night’.

And while Sarah always spoke of her mother-daughter bond with Queen Elizabeth II, theirs was a complicated relationship and it is claimed that the late monarch lost patience with the ‘remorseless Duchess of Deceit’ in her later years.

This apparently was due to a string of financial scandals Sarah had been caught in over the decades – and, according to a Palace source, ‘an utter betrayal of the trust placed in her’.

‘She sold access to the Royal Family and secrets of the Royal family to make a quick buck,’ an insider told historian Andrew Lownie, as per his Substack. ‘It was all calculated to prioritise her own personal interests.’

The source added: ‘The Queen described Sarah as the type of person who was beyond experiencing guilt, shame, or regret for her terrible actions because all she cared about was herself and nobody else.’

But it seems to have been a frustration which built up after years of patience with Sarah – with Elizabeth II reportedly ‘overjoyed’ when Andrew first approached his mother about proposing to Sarah.

As their tumultuous marriage took a toll on both parties, Lownie said ‘the Queen, sympathetic to her daughter-in-law’s unhappiness’ – but it came in hand-in-hand with her and The Palace’s general concerns about Sarah’s ‘projects of questionable suitability’, as well as her penchant for extravagant holidays.

In his book, the author also says Sarah had long begun to cause friction with senior royals – with Princess Anne, according to some reports, ‘coming close to throttling’ Fergie after seeing her notorious ‘toe sucking’ photos. 

Elsewhere – despite not making any public statements about his former sister-in-law Sarah directly – Prince Edward recently seemed to draw a line in the sand when he became the first member of the Royal Family to address the newly released Epstein files.

‘I think it’s all really important always to remember the victims and who are the victims in all this,’ he firmly told an audience at World Governments Summit in Dubai.

The rift appears to have been one that had been building since the 90s.

In 1999, her daughter Beatrice’s 18th birthday bash, hosted at Windsor Castle, proved to be a glitzy affair – with just dinner rumoured to have racked up £400,000.

Sarah donned a £10,000 dress by Harvey Weinstein’s wife Georgina Chapman; and while the disgraced director was in attendance, along with Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell – more notable was the absence of the Queen, Prince Charles, Camilla, Princes William and Harry.

Just one year later, Andrew’s 40th birthday party (a £30,000 do at Sunninghill) was also not attended by senior royals, including the Queen, Prince Philip, Princess Anne, Prince Charles and Prince Edward.

Sarah, however, organised a video montage tribute to her ex – featuring Elton John, among others.

It’s possible that the wound goes deeper into Sarah’s own relationship with the Princes’ late mother, Diana; while the sisters-in-law were dear friends in their youth, later years appear to have marred their relationship with jealousy on both sides. Sarah and Diana in 1983

It comes as Sarah has faced backlash after newly released Epstein files revealed that she told the convicted paedophile that she was waiting for her youngest daughter ‘to come back from a sh***ing weekend’. Pictured in 2024

It comes as Sarah has faced backlash after newly released Epstein files revealed that she told the convicted paedophile that she was waiting for her youngest daughter ‘to come back from a sh***ing weekend’.

The extraordinary exchange is contained in the tranche of three million documents released earlier this month.

In the email, sent on March 21, 2010 – two days before Eugenie’s 20th birthday – Epstein asks the then-Duchess of York: ‘NY?’, in an apparent reference to an upcoming New York trip.

Sarah replies: ‘Not sure yet. Just waiting for Eugenie to come back from a sh***ing weekend!!’

Eugenie met her now-husband Jack Brooksbank during a skiing trip at the beginning of 2010 and later described it as ‘love at first sight’.

The couple wed in 2018 and have two young children.

Earlier this month The Mail on Sunday revealed Eugenie has cut off all contact with her disgraced father in the wake of the Epstein scandal and refused to visit him at Christmas.

Ferguson, who is reportedly about to be made ‘homeless’ after being kicked out of Royal Lodge where she has been living with ex-husband Andrew, has apologised repeatedly for her friendship with Epstein yet the new documents show the paedophile helped pay off around $60,000 worth of debts she owed to a former assistant.

In one email dated 4 April, 2009, and signed ‘Love Sarah, the red head!’ she tells Epstein: ‘I am landing in Palm Beach in a couple of hours. Is there any chance on my quick layover that I can get to have a quick cup of tea?’

She goes on to discuss ‘Mother’s Army’, a website Epstein purchased for her, and says: ‘My dear, spectacular and special friend Jeffrey. You are a legend and I am so proud of you.’

The paedophile was still under house arrest when the email was sent.

In July 2009 financier Glenn Dubin, one of Epstein’s close friends, writes to him saying: ‘Fergie said she would organize tea in the Buckingham Palace apts…or Windsor Castle..she said you should call her directly.’

In another exchange in August 2009 Sarah thanks the billionaire ‘for being the brother I have always wished for’.

In 2010, Epstein is invited to Andrew’s 50th birthday party in an email which says: ‘Dear Jeffrey, Beatrice, Eugenie and I would love to invite you to celebrate the 50 years of Papa/Andrew.’

The invitation to drinks and dinner at St James’s Palace in London continues: ‘It will be suits and cocktail dresses, and you know me, mysterious mischief, so bring your presents, your presence and your humour!’

When Andrew’s office hears nothing back from the billionaire they politely send a reminder to which Epstein replies curtly: ‘Not able.’

A source said: ‘Epstein was always falling out with Sarah over money. She would borrow it from him and then say something stupid which would make the papers and infuriate him. He wasn’t that fond of her, she was more of a useful idiot to him. She offered him a way into Andrew’s good graces and, by default, the good graces of the Royals.’

By July 2010 they appear to have patched things up with Epstein saying an unnamed friend will be in London adding ‘any chance of your daughters saying hello?’ to which Sarah replies: ‘Beatrice is in London with her father. Eugie is away with a cool boyfriend.’

But in March 2011 Epstein was ‘enraged’ after Sarah gave an interview to London’s Evening Standard newspaper calling him a paedophile. He even considered suing her.

He hired Michael Sitrick, a high-powered New York crisis manager who wrote: ‘Jeffrey, the Fergie retraction is critical. One of your good friends, a member of the Royal family, is calling you a paedophile. 

‘If gentle persuasion doesn’t work it is my view that we need to turn up the heat to the point of sending her a draft defamation lawsuit. As I said yesterday, this would be a major turning point and be picked up everywhere. 

‘This is about your name and your reputation. You really can’t worry about her, in my view you need to worry about you. She certainly isn’t concerned about you or your reputation.’

Just weeks after telling the Standard she would ‘never have anything to do with Epstein again’, Sarah wrote him a groveling letter in April 2011 in which she called him a ‘steadfast, generous and supreme friend’.

She said: ‘I know you feel hellaciously let down by me. And I must humbly apologise to you and your heart for that. You have always been a steadfast, generous and supreme friend to me and my family.’

A spokeswoman for the former duchess said she had been left terrified by Epstein’s threats to sue saying: ‘Like many people she was taken in by his lies. 

‘As soon as she was aware of the extent of the allegations against him she not only cut off contact but condemned him publicly to the extent that he then threatened to sue her for defamation for associating him with paedophilia.’

The former duchess has previously been contacted for comment by the Daily Mail.