Sarah Ferguson seems in nice spirits on the Cannes Film Festival

Sarah Ferguson  appeared in great spirits on Thursday night as she attended the amFAR gala at the 77th Cannes Film Festival donning a bracelet with her daughters names on it.

The Duchess of York, 64, appeared in great spirits as she waved enthusiastically to the press and was very animated as pictures were taken. 

The royal, affectionately known as ‘Fergie’, looked dazzling in a custom-made £13,202 Lilith Cocktail Dress embellished with striking wispy sleeves and jewels made to look like raindrops. 

The intricate floral design made for an elegant look, as she matched her pearl earrings to the stunning fabric.  

She swept her signature red hair back from her face, and sported a gold bracelet emblazoned with the names of her daughter, Beatrice and Eugenie.

Wearing jewellery engraved with children’s names is a favourite look of Meghan Markle, while Kate Middleton has also worn jewellery with her children’s initials.  

The Duchess looked well after a series of health woes, she appeared in great spirits as she beamed for snaps. 

She then added a white clutch bag to accessorise and sparkling silver heels, adding to the radiant effect of the outfit. 

The appearance comes just a day after Princess Beatrice gushed about her ‘incredible’ mother  as she visited school children in south London.

The royal, 35, read to children in Reception and Year One during a surprise trip to West Thornton Primary School in Croydon, where she praised the Duchess of York and spoke about her extensive collection of children’s’ books. 

‘I grew up with an incredible mum as a children’s author, so stories really created that sense of imagination,’ the mother-of-one said.

She joined the likes of Bella Thorne and Kelly Rowland, Heidi Klum and her daughter Leni at the star-studded gathering. 

The Duchess revealed that she was diagnosed with skin cancer in January, just months after having a mastectomy for breast cancer. 

The mother-of-two had a number of moles removed while undergoing breast reconstruction surgery last year, one of which was found to be malignant.

The duchess was described as being in ‘good spirits’ after the ‘distressing’ news, which was broken to her just days after Christmas.

A melanoma is a type of skin cancer that can spread to other areas of the body, mainly caused by exposure to ultraviolet light from the sun or sunbeds.

People with paler skin, a large number of moles and family history of skin cancer tend to be more at risk of developing this.

Friends at the time said Fergie is the ‘most resilient’ person they know and was already planning to pick up her television career again soon to encourage others to get themselves checked out.

One friend told the Mail that the duchess had been informed she would need ‘further investigations’ to make sure it has been caught at the early stages.

‘Everyone is hoping this is the case and the doctors are hopeful they have got it early, but melanoma is aggressive and they need to double check everything,’ they said.

They added of Sarah: ‘She’s very resilient and she does bounce back from things quite quickly but two diagnoses of cancer in six months, particularly when she thought she had just got over the breast cancer, is a lot for anyone to deal with and process.

‘You hope you’ve beaten it and then get something like this.

‘That’s why she wanted to take herself off to Austria for a couple of weeks, to get her head around everything. She’s back home now and the family have been very supportive.’

They also praised ‘her girls’ – Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie – who they said have been ‘fantastic over the last six months’.

‘They really have been brilliant over her breast cancer diagnosis. And they are already rallying around her,’ they said.

But in recent weeks, she’s been increasing her public appearances, even travelling as far as Samoa to visit women’s leadership groups last month.

Each year, the gala held in Cannes brings a slew of A-listers to the south of France in order to bring awareness and raise funds for the nonprofit. 

Cannes is the world’s biggest film festival, first conceived in 1939 as an alternative to the then-fascist-influenced Venice Film Festival.

It has been held annually since 1946 except in 1948 and 1950, when it was cancelled due to lack of funds.

The festival is known for its carefully selected programme of films that have gone on to Oscar glory or launched the careers of directors like Quentin Tarantino.

Cannes’ top prize is the Palme d’Or, or Golden Palm, whose past winners include Taxi Driver, Apocalypse Now, Pulp Fiction, The Pianist and Parasite.

Jane Campion became the first female director to win in 1993 with The Piano, followed by a nearly three-decade gap until Julia Ducournau received the award for Titane in 2021.

Justine Triet became only the third female director to take the prize last year with Anatomy of a Fall.

There is also an honorary Palme d’Or, which is awarded in recognition of notable bodies of work, with past recipients including Harrison Ford, Jane Fonda and Clint Eastwood.

There are two honorary winners this year: George Lucas of ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Indiana Jones’ fame, and Japanese animation legend Studio Ghibli, the first group to receive the prize.

Other awards include the Grand Prix, jury prize, best director, best actor, best actress, best screenplay and best short film.

The Cannes Film Festival officially kicked off on Tuesday night as celebrities walked the red carpet into the plush Grand Theatre Lumiere to honour Hollywood actor Meryl Streep before settling in to watch this year’s opening film, The Second Act.

Almost as prestigious as winning the Palme d’Or, the Cannes Film Festival’s top prize, is being on the jury that picks the winner.

Artists from around the world who have made a name for themselves in their respective field are picked to sit on the jury, with one member designated as jury president.

This year’s jury president, U.S. director Greta Gerwig, comes to Cannes after the massive success last summer of Barbie.

She is the first female U.S. director to serve as jury president, taking the baton from the head of the 2023 jury, Triangle of Sadness director and two-time Palme d’Or winner, Ruben Ostlund of Sweden.

The breakout star of Martin Scorsese‘s Killers of the Flower Moon, Lily Gladstone returns to Cannes after becoming the first Native American woman to be nominated for an Oscar and winning a Golden Globe award for her performance.