Sarah Ferguson: the outspoken and often outrageous duchess who can’t stop putting her foot in it. And her other half, Prince Andrew, the Queen’s second son and by all accounts her favourite. Together they make up the most controversial couple in the royal family. High profile problems have plagued them. They reeled from one disaster to the next. So why has it gone so wrong for this royal couple? Is it about craving attention? Or are they just out of touch? Fergie & Andrew: The Duke & Duchess of Disaster, Channel 5 2021
‘One of Andrews biggest biggest failings is his singular lack of judgment. And that’s bound up in a sense of entitlement and arrogance that he’s always had frankly.’ ibid. Richard Kay, Daily Mail
The Ferguson family always had close links to the royal family. Her father, Major Ron, was polo manager initially to the Duke of Edinburgh and later Charles. Sarah and Prince Andrew were friends as youngsters. ibid.
Fergie threw herself into London life; she went on to have serious relationships … She enjoyed the jet-set lifestyle. ibid.
In 1985 she found her prince … Randy Andy … He was one of the country’s most eligible bachelors. ibid.
On a hot July day in 1986 the country celebrated: Fergie’s 17-foot train had the initials A & S intertwined and sewn in silver beads. ibid.
In 1987 she took part in the now infamous It’s a Royal Knockout. ibid.
A new controversial chapter in his life was about to start … For over a decade, Prince Andrew has been engulfed by the biggest controversy of his Royal life, a life that’s been beset by scandals. ibid.
Despite the grainy and low quality image, she can be heard offering access to Prince Andrew … ‘Five hundred thousand pounds, when you can, to me … open doors.’ ibid. Fergie
We’ve all heard the stories: the spoilt couple, the tantrums, the split. But there are two sides to every story. Tonight, we hear Meghan and Harry’s side. What caused the rifts? And who is to blame? Was Harry really as unhappy as is claimed? Were Meghan and Kate really at war? Or did the couple simply demand too much? Meghan & Harry: The New Revelations, 5 Star 2021
At the heart of the rift is Harry and Meghan’s decision to step down as senior royals. There are many reasons given but crucially we are told they were fed up being controlled by the royal institution. ibid.
Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Family. ibid. the book
The couple made their shock Instagram announcement. ibid.
The new book also gives us into an insight into Harry and William’s relationship. ibid.
By November Harry had had enough and issued an extraordinary statement asking the press to leave his girlfriend alone. ibid.
Finding Freedom details a conversation that supposedly took place just before Harry proposed to Meghan. William is quoted as saying. ‘Don’t feel you need to rush this … Take as much time as you need to know this girl.’ ibid.
Whatever the truth, Meghan and Kate’s relationship soon became a favourite topic for the tabloids. ibid.
Did Meghan really know what she was letting herself in for when she married into the Royal Family? Some stories show how she struggled to get to grips with royal life. ibid.
Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, potential future Queen and consort. On the surface a conventional royal partner always destined to be by Charles’s side. But her story is much more Hollywood than Highgrove. Who is the woman who Charles risked everything for? Why did her relationship with the future King mysteriously falter? How did she go from Britain’s most hated woman to a loved royal? Camilla: Making of a Mistress aka Camilla Before Charles, Channel 5 201
Camilla Parker Bowles was married herself but remained a close friend with Charles ... Prior to the wedding with Charles, had Diana known how close Charles & Camilla truly been? ibid.
Worse was to come: in January 1993 The People newspaper published the transcripts of Charles and Camilla first recorded in 1989. ibid.
Charles’s interview was just the curtain-raiser to the interview Diana gave Martin Bashir a year later. ibid.
1960s swinging London is in full flow and 18-year-old Camilla Shand is said to dive head-first into the party scene. ibid.
By the late 1970s Camilla was said to be seeing Charles again. ibid.
Wallis Simpson: scheming seductress or history’s most ill-judged woman? Twice divorced and once Britain’s biggest hate figure, for ever portrayed as the woman who made the King give up his Crown. Shunned, shamed and forced to live in exile with her husband, but who was the real Wallis? Wallis Simpson: Femme Fatale aka Wallis Before Edward, Channel 5 2021
‘She was accused of being a whore and a harlot, a Nazi and a gold-digger.’ ibid. writer
Immediately, the object of Edward’s affection became the focal point of hysteria and hatred. ibid.
By age 16 Wallis had persuaded her Uncle Saul to send her to the prestigious boarding school Oldfields. ibid.
Wallis was trapped with a man she didn’t want to be with and by a family who refused to let her leave. In 1924 in what she described her lotus year she escaped to Shanghai. It was during her time in China that Wallis is rumoured to have had relationships with various distinguished men. ibid.
Wallis had created an apparently stable life for herself with Earnest but it wasn’t long before everything changed. ibid.
Did Wallis set out to seduce the future King or was she simply determined to improve her social standing? ibid.
She would later describe Edward as an open-sesame to a new glittering world. ibid.
‘What he really liked was American society and American women.’ ibid.
‘That night I drank the dregs of my defeat.’ ibid. night of abdication, cites writer
The abdication left Wallis & Edward cut off from their social circles and from their political advisers. ibid.
Viewed as Nazi sympathisers, the government wanted them banished. ibid.
The Windsors remained in Bermuda for the rest of the War. But there were no more official roles. ibid.
Unwanted in England, Wallis and Edward settled in Paris. ibid.
It’s a significant moment when your family marries into a new circle. But becoming part of the House of Windsor is an altogether different matter. What is it like to suddenly have your family intimately within the royal orbit? When Fergie Met the Monarchy, Channel 5 2021
When Fergie met the Monarchy it elevated her family to royalty. But two families coming together brings with it palace politics. ibid.
When the Fergusons brought scandal to the House of Windsor we discover what happened to the Royals’ new relatives. And if there is any way back. ibid.
Fergie’s outgoing nature began to charm the Windsors. ibid.
With Andrew away in the Navy, Sarah’s friendships with other men began to be scrutinized … The Duchess was becoming tabloid fodder. ibid.
Princess Margaret, a rebel, a sometime rebel and the runner-up. But there was one place, 4,000 miles away, where Princess Margaret came first – the Caribbean island of Mustique … But her glitzy Mustique lifestyle would come at a price. And Margaret’s decadent island life put her in the public spotlight for all the wrong reasons. Princess Margaret: Queen of Mustique, Channel 5 2021
Back home Margaret’s marriage to Tony Armstrong Jones or Lord Snowden as he was also known had broken down. He had had numerous affairs and Margaret needed to get away from London and from him. ibid.
The island was owned by Colin Tennant, later known as Lord Glenconner, who had bought it in 1958 for £45,000. ibid.
The star-studded party was the epitome of opulence and a world away from the stuffy life of the royals back in the UK. ibid.
‘He [Snowden] was furious because it looked like he had been cuckolded by a younger man [Roddy Llewyellyn] and that didn’t appeal to his vanity.’ ibid. royal watcher
In 1977 the Queen paid a visit to her sister on Mustique. ibid.
‘She [Margaret] ended up having having a couple of strokes while on Mustique.’ ibid. royal watcher #2
138,361. Zara Tindall: a royal without a royal title, fun-loving, colourful, upbeat, Zara is one royal unconstrained by old-fashioned protocols … Has Zara been given the life Anne always wanted to live? Zara & Anne: Like Mother, Like Daughter? Channel 5 2021
On 15th February 2021 Harry & Meghan dropped a bombshell. With the Queen also set to address the nation, both sides are now engaged in a war of words. The relationship between the Markles and the Windsors seemed like a fairytale. With the interview and now allegations of bullying by Meghan inside the palace which she strongly denies, it appears to be over. Harry & Meghan vs The Monarchy, Channel 5 2021
‘The engagement interview was when things really started to sour.’ ibid. Ashley Pearson, royal commentator
‘His family has been so welcoming.’ ibid. Meghan, TV interview