When Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor wed Sarah Ferguson at London’s Westminster Abbey in July 1986, the late Queen was perhaps the happiest of all attendees.

Andrew, who has since had his royal titles revoked by King Charles, was often considered the Queen’s favorite child. Her Majesty was thrilled at the prospect of him finding his “happily ever after.”

However, when Andrew and Sarah, affectionately known as Fergie, approached the Queen about their separation five years later at Balmoral, she was notably “disappointed.”

According to royal biographer Andrew Lownie, in his book “Entitled” published last year, the Queen suggested the couple “wait six months before making a decision.”

Yet, the Queen’s hopes for reconciliation were dashed when scandalous photos of Fergie with Texan oil magnate Steve Wyatt came to light, forcing her to reconsider.

Lownie detailed how Fergie experienced a breakdown during a flight to the UK upon learning that images of her and Wyatt, taken on a holiday four years earlier, had been leaked to the media.

Horrified by the scandal, which raised questions about the ‘complex’ nature of Fergie’s relationship with the late American businessman, the Queen instructed Fergie to cease all contact with Wyatt immediately. 

Fergie is believed to have disobeyed the Queen’s direct order as an urgent summit was called at Sandringham on January 26, 1992, amid fears the ex-Duchess was having a ‘nervous breakdown’, Mr Lownie wrote.  

When Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Sarah Ferguson (right) came to the late Queen to discuss the prospect of divorce at Balmoral in December 1991, she was heavily ‘disappointed’ and advised them to ‘wait six months before making a decision’, according to Andrew Lownie 

As senior royals gathered at Sandringham to discuss the state of Fergie and Andrew’s failing marriage, and the custody of their daughters Beatrice and Eugenie, ‘the assumption was that the Duchess was having a nervous breakdown’, Mr Lownie wrote. 

‘Sarah herself, according to her friend Madamme Vasso, believed “it was all part of a plot to try to take the children away from her and (she) believed there were people who wanted to discredit her, to make out that she was mentally unstable and incapable of bringing up the girls”,’ he added.

Just five years after they tied the knot, Fergie and Andrew reached out to the Queen to discuss getting a divorce, when she advised them to hold off. 

However, the breakdown of their relationship was accelerated just a few weeks later, when a tranche of 120 images of Sarah and Wyatt on holiday in Morocco was leaked to the press. 

While seemingly innocent, the snaps raised serious questions about Fergie and Wyatt’s friendship – especially after one picture showed then-one-year-old Princess Beatrice sitting on the businessman’s knee.

Fergie was first informed about the photos as she was about to board a flight to the UK.

‘After an hour, she regained her spirits, throwing a wet flannel at her father’s new partner Lesley Player (who she had made a lady-in-waiting to help facilitate the affair), who was sitting across the aisle,’ Mr Lownie revealed.

As both wet towels and tissues were sent ‘whizzing around the cabin’, the former Duchess then proceeded to throw ‘peanuts, followed by sachets of sugar and bread rolls’ while ‘pulling faces’ at other passengers onboard. 

Fergie then ‘cut eyeholes in an airsick bag and wore it on her head while making telephone noises’, added the royal author.

‘The assumption was that the Duchess was having a nervous breakdown,’ wrote Lownie in his tell-all book Entitled. Meanwhile, Sarah told close friend Madamme Vasso that ‘it was all part of a plot to try to take the children away from her’

But the photos were no laughing matter; instead they were ‘the final straw for the Royal Family’, according to Mr Lownie.

The Queen acted swiftly and ordered Fergie to sever all ties with Wyatt in a bid to contain the damage from the photos. 

However, Fergie’s decision to ‘ignore’ the ‘royal warning’ eventually prompted the urgent family summit at Sandringham, spearheaded by the now rather concerned sovereign.

Prince Philip, the Queen Mother, Prince Andrew, Prince Charles, Princess Diana and Robert Fellowes were all in attendance for the notorious meeting. 

‘Neither Philip nor Charles – never a fan of his younger brother – were sympathetic, the latter because, having initially been supportive of Sarah, he felt she was a bad influence on Diana,’ wrote Me Lownie. 

At the forefront of discussions was the issue of separation and divorce, alongside the custody of young Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, then aged three and one. 

However, the royal family were said to have ‘assumed’ that Fergie was ‘having a mental breakdown’.

The former Duchess was also allegedly under the belief that they were conspiring ‘to take the children away from her’, according to her close friend Madamme Vasso. 

Just a few weeks after the Queen had advised Fergie and Andrew to hold off separating, a tranche of 120 images were leaked to the press of Sarah and American playboy Steve Wyatt, including a picture of young Princess Beatrice sat on his knee (above) 

The former Duchess was said to have believed that the Royal Family were trying to ‘make out that she was mentally unstable and incapable of bringing up the girls’, according to her former friend Madamme Vasso

On January 26, 1992, an urgent family summit was held at Sandringham to discuss the state of Sarah and Andrew’s failing marriage, including the issue of who would get custody over Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie (both pictured in 1992) in the case of separation or divorce

Fergie had first forged a close friendship with the Greek clairvoyant in the early Nineties as she navigated her marriage troubles with Andrew.

After she first consulted the faith healer, the former Duchess and Ms Vasso were said to have sat underneath a giant blue pyramid to become ‘cleansed’. 

However, Ms Vasso later betrayed Fergie by releasing a book which aired the secrets of her alleged extramarital affairs, the squalid state of her finances and her views on her in-laws.

Already obsessed with the paranormal, Fergie was portrayed as being dependent on her ‘little Greek friend’ – ringing at all hours of the day and night, begging her to get out the tarot cards and predict her future.

Just three days after the family summit, Andrew and Fergie returned to Sandringham to inform the Queen that their marriage was over.

On March 19, 1992, they publicly announced their separation.

‘Last week, lawyers acting for the Duchess of York initiated discussions about a formal separation for the Duke and Duchess,’ a statement released on behalf of Her Majesty read. 

‘These discussions are not yet completed and nothing will be said until they are.’

In a desperate bid to manage the damning impact of the ensuing scandal, the Queen ordered Fergie to cut all contact with Mr Wyatt. However, she allegedly ignored this request

Andrew and Fergie (pictured at Sandringham in December 1991) first broached the idea of separation with Her Majesty following the festive period 

Just five months after her and Andrew’s separation was publicly announced, Sarah began an alleged relationship with her financial advisor and cousin by marriage, John Bryan (pictured)

Just five months later, Sarah began an alleged relationship with her financial advisor and cousin by marriage, John Bryan. 

In August 1992, the former Duchess flew by private jet to the French Riviera with Mr Bryan and her young daughters. 

The holiday would culminate in a scandal so vast that it would later draw comparisons to the Abdication Crisis that had rocked the Royal Family 60 years earlier.

Lying on a sunbed in St Tropez, Mr Bryan was pictured kissing and sucking Fergie’s toes under the damning headline: ‘Fergie’s Stolen Kisses: Truth About the Duchess and the Texas Millionaire’.

It remains unknown who tipped off the paparazzi about the pair’s location, but the damning photographs had grave implications for a rather distraught Fergie. 

Indeed, according to Princess Diana’s former butler Paul Burrell, the late Prince Philip was so enraged by the images that he temporarily ‘banned’ the former Duchess from all of the royal residences. 

In 1996, Andrew and Fergie’s divorce was officially finalised, with the former Duke and Duchess now free to go their separate ways entirely.

In an interview with Harper’s Bazaar shortly after, Fergie detailed the reasons for their divorce.

She explained: ‘I wanted to work; it’s not right for a princess of the royal house to be commercial, so Andrew and I decided to make the divorce official so I could go off and get a job.’

In August 1992, Fergie and John Bryan became embroiled in the notorious ‘toe sucking’ scandal that saw the former Duchess’s public image thrown into further disarray. (Pictured: Fergie appeared tearful at her first public appearance after the controversy erupted) 

In an interview with The Daily Mail in 2018, the former Duchess made her fond feelings for her ex-husband abundantly clear and described her and Andrew as ‘the happiest divorced couple in the world’

Despite the tumultuous final few years of their marriage, Andrew and Fergie have continued to spend ample amounts of time together, and have even lived in the same residence, Windsor’s Royal Lodge, since 2008.

This arrangement will, however, soon come to an end. After King Charles stripped Andrew of his royal titles due to his friendship with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein in October, both he and Fergie were ordered to vacate the 30-room Grade II listed mansion. 

In an interview with The Daily Mail in 2018, the former Duchess made her fond feelings for her ex-husband abundantly clear and described her and Andrew as ‘the happiest divorced couple in the world’.

‘July 23, 1986, was the happiest day of my life. Andrew is the best man I know. What he does for Britain is incredible; no one knows how hard he works for his country,’ she added.

‘My duty is to him. I am so proud of him. I stand by him and always will. The way we are is our fairy tale. Although we are not a couple, we really believe in each other. The Yorks are a united family.’