Sarah Ferguson, the ex-wife of Prince Andrew and mother of Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, has called herself the “most persecuted woman” in royal history in a new interview.
The Duchess of York compared herself to “a reed that won’t break” in the interview with French magazine Madame Figaro, and also confessed that she still loves her ex-husband and will stand by him amid the sexual assault allegations made by Virginia Giuffre.
Giuffre claimed that she was forced to have sex with Prince Andrew at former Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell’s home in London when she was just 17. Maxwell is currently on trial for sex trafficking in New York. Andrew denies the allegations.
Maxwell faces allegations of recruiting minors for Epstein to sexually abuse for a decade, from 1994 to 2004. Andrew’s name has been mentioned three times so far during the trial – first by Epstein’s pilot, who said the prince flew with Epstein, then by one of Epstein’s victims, who said she remembered seeing Andrew on the plane, and finally, by Epstein’s former housekeeper, who said Andrew was “always polite and a very nice guy. He was the only guy who left us a tip.”
Speaking to the magazine about the years following her split from Andrew in 1992, and the negative media coverage she received, Ferguson said, “I was maybe the most persecuted woman in the history of the royal family, but I’m still here. The bruised reed that doesn’t break is in my DNA.”
As for her relationship with Andrew, Ferguson described their wedding day as the most beautiful day of her life. The couple still live together in Windsor. She told the magazine, “I loved him and I still love him today, I will stay by his side, because I believe in him, he is a good man.”
She added that her daughters are now her priority, claiming she never misses their calls and is always on hand to provide advice. She said that being a mum was the one thing she had done best in her life, despite the fact she did not have a strong maternal figure in her own mum, who divorced her father in 1974 and moved to Latin America to raise horses before dying in 1998.
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