The Prince and Princess of Wales sent a clear message to Sarah Ferguson with a very public snub, which she later confessed it made her feel ‘ hurt’ and ‘worthless’
Sarah Ferguson’s life has spectacularly unravelled in recent months after the extent of her association with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein became clear.
She’s been stripped of her title, booted out of Royal Lodge along with former husband Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and now has gone into hiding – having not been seen in public for over five months. It now seems unlikely she will ever be welcomed back into the royal fold -despite less than a year ago, joining the King and other members of the Royal Family for the traditional Easter Sunday church service at Windsor Castle.
However, it is not the first time that Fergie has fallen foul of her former in-laws, and almost 15 years ago, was once on the receiving end of a brutal snub by Prince William and Princess Kate – something she later said made her feel ‘totally worthless’.
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READ MORE: ‘I partied with Fergie but then did something to upset her – her actions speak volumes’READ MORE: ‘Fragile’ Sarah Ferguson ‘spotted after going into hiding’ amid Epstein scandal
When the royal couple tied the knot in Westminster Abbey on 29 April 2011, there was a notable absentee – Sarah. She had not been invited to the big day, and the decision hit hard. In an interview with Oprah Winfrey a short time after the royal wedding, Sarah said: “I was not invited, and I chose to go and be in Thailand in a place called Camelia and… the jungle embraced me.”
She continued: “It was so difficult. 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.”
“When Andrew went with the girls, we were talking all morning and he was saying, ‘It’s OK. Just remember we had such a good day. Our wedding was so perfect,'” she added. “He made me feel very part of the day on April the 29th.”
Sarah said she had to live with to William and Kate’s decision, having previously been caught offering an undercover reporter access to her former husband for £500,000 – a scandal that pushed her into a negative spotlight. But she said she still felt hurt and ‘worthless’ by the snub.
“I went through the phase of feeling so totally worthless and that [it] was quite right they didn’t invite me,” she told Oprah. “Why would they – why would they invite me? “I felt that I ostracised myself by my behaviour, 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?”
Sarah also drew comparisons between herself and Princess Diana, explaining they had both missed out on William and Kate’s wedding day. “I really love the feeling that sort of Diana and I both weren’t there,” she said. “But I’m here to say how proud she would have been and Kate looked utterly beautiful.”
The former Duchess of York has not been seen in public since just before the release of files relating to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, which revealed her association with him longer than she had previously stated. It has been speculated that she had fled the UK, with reports she has been in the United Arab Emirates as well as staying at a Swiss wellness retreat since she became embroiled in the scandal over five months ago.
However earlier this week, according to the Daily Mail, Fergie, who has been described as fragile, spent time at another retreat – this time in Donegal on Ireland’s west coast.
The publication reports that she had been staying at the Ballyliffin Lodge & Spa in Donegal, where rooms start from £113 per night, and had been spotted at a local airport earlier this month. A source said: “Last time Sarah visited Donegal she spoke about how it was somewhere she could escape to when things were ‘overwhelming’ – and they can’t ever have been more overwhelming for her than they have been in recent weeks.
“And just as she did with the Zurich trip, she knew what she was going to in Donegal as she’d been there before and that it was very remote and very discrete so there was minimal chance of her presence becoming known to the wider world. She seems to be very keen indeed to avoid being seen while she works out what to do next.”
She has not been seen at Sandringham since her ex-husband Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor moved there just before his arrest last week – with one source suggesting that she wants to ‘keep her distance’ from her former spouse.
