Sarah Ferguson has come a long way from becoming a tabloid target. The Duchess of York, often known as “Fergie,” has published “A Most Intriguing Lady,” a historical fiction. The book is a sequel to her 2021 Victorian romance, “Her Heart for a Compass,” which was inspired by her great-great-great aunt’s life and loves.
She just completed a successful media tour in the United States, appearing on “Good Morning America,” “The View,” and “The Kelly Clarkson Show,” among other shows.
“When it comes to tabloid scrutiny, Sarah is a living example of ‘keep calm and carry on,'” Kinsey Schofield, host of the “To Di For Daily” podcast, told Fox News Digital. “The criticism hurt her, but it also motivated her, and she turned that disappointment into dollars!”
“Fergie’s decision to come to the United States to work was before the world of social media,” Schofield shared. “She intended to not embarrass or disrupt the royal family with her professional pursuits. She did so by pursuing employment in a foreign country. This was a thoughtful and clever solution to her financial woes.”
During a recent visit to New York City’s 92nd Street Y to promote her latest book, the 63-year-old admitted to having “a lot of mental problems” that she kept private.
“I’ve always managed to hide [them] very well,” said the mother of Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie. “People-pleasing, over-generosity, gift-giving, all that sort of stuff. [It was], ‘They can’t love me. I have no self-worth, therefore I must over-compensate.’ And it’s a thing I talk about very candidly.”
Ferguson is the daughter of Maj. Ronald Ferguson, a polo manager for the erstwhile Prince Charles. She was characterized as “a freckled, bouncy socialite” by the press. She is a descendant of King Charles II of the 17th century, and her maternal grandmother was a Montagu Douglas Scott from the Duke of Buccleuch’s dynasty.
Ferguson was working as a sales professional in a London graphics and printing firm when she and Prince Andrew, Charles’ younger brother, announced their engagement in 1986. At the time, the prince said they had known each other since “we were 4 or 5, but we only really noticed each other fairly recently.” Leading up to the engagement, Ferguson was dogged by reporters for weeks, just like her close friend Lady Diana Spencer in 1981.
“She faced intense scrutiny and criticism from the press in the early years of her marriage to Prince Andrew,” royal expert Hilary Fordwich told Fox News Digital. “She was ridiculed for her weight, her ill-fitting clothes, and her lack of fashion sense with it being referred to as a ‘no style zone.’ She endured being ridiculed as the ‘Duchess of Pork.'”
“While she has spoken at length about the judgmental cruel British press and the trauma the tabloids have caused her, she most certainly isn’t the only member of the royal family to either have received such treatment or to have overcome the scrutiny and criticism,” Fordwich pointed out. “There is a sort of nuanced ‘deal’ with the press. The royals are expected to serve, to work hard and not to expect a constant flow of positive publicity.”