Sarah Ferguson has broken her silence on Royal Family disputes amid the long-standing feud between King Charles and Prince Andrew over finances.
According to Royal author Robert Hardman, Charles severed financial ties with his younger brother after Andrew refused to vacate the Royal Lodge in Windsor, resulting in the withdrawal of his £1 million annual living allowance.
This development marks another attempt by Charles to publicly distance himself from Andrew following the Duke of York’s association with Jeffrey Epstein.
As Andrew’s ex-wife, Sarah, who remained close to him after their marriage from 1986 to 1992, has spoken about the significance of family traditions and shared her approach to dealing with family conflicts.
“The three C’s: communicate, compromise, compassion. Family is the most important thing,” she told Bella magazine.
Despite divorcing in 1996, Sarah and Andrew have maintained a close relationship, even spending Christmas together, and are co-parents to Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, as well as grandparents to their children, including Beatrice’s daughter Sienna, three, and stepson Wolfie, and Eugenie’s sons August, three, and one year old Ernest.
Sarah has enjoyed several Christmases with the Royal Family but remains tight-lipped about their holiday customs. “I’ve been very lucky to be invited to spend Christmas with the Royal Family in recent years, but I wouldn’t dream of talking about that,” she said.
She also refrained from commenting on the relationship between Andrew and his brother, following claims in Robert Hardman’s new book that the Duke of York’s allowance had been cut off. After Andrew allegedly refused to vacate the 30-room Royal Lodge for Frogmore Cottage, Charles reportedly directed the keeper of the privy purse to “sever his living allowance”.
Andrew, who has resided at the lodge since 2003, is described by Robert as no longer being a financial burden on the King. The Duke of York has depended on Charles’s support since he withdrew from Royal duties in 2019 amid a scandal sparked by his infamous BBC Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis, reports the Mirror.
The interview dealt with Virginia Roberts Giuffre’s sexual abuse allegations, which he denied, and his association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who died in 2019. Despite denying the claims, Andrew settled Virginia’s lawsuit out of court in 2022.
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