The Prince Andrew And Fergie are they back together? Since the Duke and Duchess of York divorced in 1996, royal observers have wondered if the two exes will tie the knot for the second time. The Yorks have given the public plenty of reasons to speculate. The controversial and scandal-prone couple still live under the same roof in the Royal Lodge and have even adopted the late Queen Elizabeth’s corgis, Muick and Sandy. It is about “they lived happily ever after” declined by the “happiest divorced couple in the world”. “We enjoy each other’s company, allowing each other to blossom,” Fergie once said. “I know it sounds like a fairy tale, but that’s how we are.”
1985: Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson begin dating
Although they played tag along as children, it is Princess Diana who ignites the romantic relationship between Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson.
Princess Diana reportedly believes her friend Fergie, daughter of Prince Charles’ polo manager, outgoing and fun-loving, will get along very well with Prince Andrew, the Queen’s favorite son, whose sloppy ways are I earned the nickname “Randy Andy”. And he’s right. On June 18, 1985, Prince Andrew and Fergie sat together at a luncheon at Windsor Castle during Royal Ascot week. The two get along like a house on fire. “He offered her profiteroles and she patted him on her arm, saying they made her fat,” she writes. Kitty Kelly in The Royals. “He tried to put them in her mouth and she, laughing, threatened him.”
Thus begins a whirlwind romance. «In Andrea I found my ideal man and my soulmate. He was relaxed and infinitely charming, prankster like me, but solid and kind », writes Fergie in Finding Sarah: A Duchess’s Journey to Finding Herself. «I think Andrea saw a wild flower in me: a bubbly and outspoken woman, without pretensions or goals. Together we were like well-matched bookends, pleasant to look at and supportive of each other.”
1986: the engagement
On February 19, 1986, Prince Andrew proposed to Fergie at Floors Castle, Scotland. Second The Royalsthe marriage proposal is presented in the couple’s typical cheeky manner:
During a game of hide and seek, Andrea hid under a table and Sarah, who was blindfolded, crawled across the floor looking for her. When she found him, she gave him a hard pinch on the butt. “Stop!” he shouted. “You’re still not allowed to pinch the royal butt!” Later that night, he asked her to marry him. Sarah replied, “When you wake up in the morning, you can tell me this is all a huge joke.” The following morning Andrea propositioned her again and gave her a $37,000 ruby ring.
The engagement of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson was publicly announced on March 19, 1986. “I know that the decision to marry Sarah was, and always will be, the best decision I have made or will ever make in my life,” says the prince Andrew.
1986: the wedding
On July 23, 1986, Prince Andrew and Fergie were married at Westminster Abbey in London. The ceremony is seen by around 500 million people around the world. Despite the enormous public interest, the new Duchess of York intimately defines it as “the happiest day of my life”.
“With nearly a million people en route, Dad was in a frenzy. But I was simply parading between two wings of the crowd. It was fun,” Fergie recalled. “On my wedding day, all I knew or cared about was that Fergie was very popular.”
Prince Andrew and Fergie, both 26, made everyone’s hearts flutter with a passionate kiss on the balcony of Buckingham Palace. “Tens of thousands of people shouted: ‘Kiss!’ And so we kissed,” Fergie recalls. “I was so attached to him, so deeply in love. I didn’t realize that to have my prince I would have to give up so many things, not least the man himself.’
1988: Princess Beatrice is born
While Prince Andrew is at sea with the Royal Navy, the Duchess of York faces her first pregnancy and gains weight attracting the attention of the media, some of which will not be long in giving her the malicious and cruel nickname of “Duchess of Pork”. («Duchess of the Pig»).
But Fergie and Andrea are delighted when on August 8, 1988 she gives birth to their first daughter, the Princess Beatriceat the Portland Hospital in London. “During the first five years of our marriage, I only saw my beloved Andrew forty days a year,” Fergie notes. “In August, Andrea returned home on two weeks’ leave and our daughter’s delivery was induced on 8 August to fit into Royal Navy schedules. I’m eternally grateful that Andrea was always there and held my hand.”
1990: Princess Eugenie is born
The second daughter of the Yorks, Eugenie Victoriawas born on March 23, 1990, also at Portland Hospital. Again Prince Andrew rushes home to be present at the birth.
1992: The Duke and Duchess of York separate
In the early 1990s, Prince Andrew and Fergie’s relationship is said to be in crisis. According to the Duchess of York, the frequent absences of her husband are at the basis of the separation. “We rarely saw each other, and you can’t build a foundation without the bricks and mortar of being together and communicating,” she writes.
However, there is more to the story, including Fergie’s alleged affair with the Texan oilman Steve Wyatt, which in real circles seems to be an open secret. Prince Andrew and Fergie formally announce their separation on March 19, 1992. One of the many that occurred that year within the royal family, to the point of inducing the Queen to define 1992 as an “annus horribilis”.
1992: Toegate («the scandal of the finger»)
On August 20, 1992 the Daily Mirror posts photos of Fergie topless while chatting with the financial advisor John Bryananother Texas bigwig, while vacationing on the French Riviera.
The outrageous photos include images of Fergie and Bryan kissing in a pool while Princess Beatrice and Eugenie are reportedly frolicking nearby. In one shot, John Bryan appears to be kissing or sucking on the Duchess of York’s toe.
On the day of the publication of the photos, Prince Andrew and Fergie are at Balmoral. According to accounts, a (momentarily) sympathetic Prince Philip condoled to his daughter-in-law, saying, “All we have left is the grace of God.”
1996: divorce
The divorce between the Duke and Duchess of York was finalized on May 30, 1996. According to Fergie, the decision to divorce is basically financial in nature. “I wanted to work; it is not right for a princess of the royal house to do this », she writes. «So I and Andrea decided to formalize the divorce so that I could go and look for a job».
But despite Fergie’s numerous business ventures, she and Prince Andrew continue to live together. “We always say that we are the happiest divorced couple in the world,” explains Fergie. “We are divorced from each other, not from each other.”
2010: The scandal of News of the World
May 13, 2010 News of the World publish a bombshell. The report shows a video in which Fergie, in debt and apparently drunk, promises a «businessman» (actually Mazher Mahmoodan undercover journalist known as a ‘false sheik’) access to Prince Andrew for £500,000.
The palace is furious, and Fergie quickly absolves Prince Andrew of all blame. “I can confirm that the Duke of York was neither aware of nor involved in any of the conversations that took place,” she said in a statement. “I am sincerely sorry for my actions.”
Despite the scandal, Prince Andrew is at Fergie’s side. “After the scandal of the false sheik, Andrea has always been close to me,” writes Fergie. «He is solid, loyal and sincere. He’s always seen the real Sarah – and that’s why he still loves me so much.”
2019: Andrea in disgrace
Over the years, even the life of Prince Andrew, told as obnoxious and presumptuous, has been sifted and scrutinized by the media, like that of his ex-wife. He is nicknamed “Air Miles Andy” for his lavish lifestyle as a traveling trade ambassador for Great Britain. But his longtime friendship with sexual predator Jeffery Epstein turns his life upside down.
In August 2019, court documents revealing Epstein’s victim’s allegations are released, Virginia Giuffre, who accuses the Duke of York of sexually assaulting her when she was a minor. In the same month, Prince Andrew gives a disastrous interview to Newsnight denying the charges. The repercussions are not long in coming and Buckingham Palace announces that Prince Andrew will no longer have any royal public office.
2022: through hardships
In 2022, a cash-strapped Prince Andrew strikes an out-of-court settlement (reportedly thanks to direct intervention from the Queen) with Giuffre, though he continues to deny all wrongdoing. He is also formally stripped of all his royal patronages and military titles.
Following the Queen’s death in September 2022, Prince Andrew is faced with an increasingly uncertain future, with his brother, King Charles III, apparently fed up with his wayward younger brother. Fergie, however, continues to be his biggest supporter.
“We’ve always been there for each other. When I’ve gone through really bad times in the past, Andrea has always been there,” says Fergie Good Morning America in March 2023. «He is extraordinarily kind and is a very, very good grandfather. For girls, he is a solid point of reference. We are women who had to witness the disappearance of a very strong man, and that was really hard to see.”
To put it simply, they are family. “We’re a close-knit family,” Fergie said. “No one can divide the York family.”
Source: Vanity Fair
I’m Susan Karen, a professional writer and editor at World Stock Market. I specialize in Entertainment news, writing stories that keep readers informed on all the latest developments in the industry. With over five years of experience in creating engaging content and copywriting for various media outlets, I have grown to become an invaluable asset to any team.
