The Prince of Wales is rumoured to have long had frosty relations with Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and his ex wife Sarah Ferguson, reportedly referring to his uncle as a ‘tosser’ even before the disgraced Duke’s recent arrest amidst the latest tranche of the Epstein files.
And the historic tensions could go back as far as childhood, with Andrew making ‘disrespectful’ remarks about William’s mother Diana shortly after her death; while her once-friend Sarah betrayed the late royal’s wishes in a tell-all memoir just months before her passing.
While Andrew and Diana knew each other from when they were children, towards her later years, the Princess appeared to distance herself from the ex-Duke and Duchess.
In 2019, presenter Denise Welch recounted how she had ‘never liked’ the King’s younger brother after meeting him at a royal gala event because of comments he had made about King Charles’s ex-wife.
The broadcaster said she attended the dinner with her ex-husband Tim Healy and several others, including an unnamed actress and a cricketer.
‘Myself and this cricketer, who I won’t name, had made a decision not to mention Princess Diana because she had only recently died,’ she told the Loose Women programme.
‘I have never met Diana but loved her so much and was mortified when she died, like a lot of people. Anyway, Prince Andrew was very keen to talk about her and he brought it up.
‘He began to say things that really upset me and to me were very disrespectful to someone he shouldn’t have been sharing this information with.’
It is not clear exactly what was said, but Denise was left ‘very, very cross’ and told Andrew as much.
She continued: ‘Back in the day I enjoyed a vodka or two… by the time he got up to leave he put his hand on my husband’s shoulder and said “rather you than me sir”.’
While Andrew and Diana knew each other from when they were children, towards her later years, the Princess appeared to distance herself from the ex-Duke and Duchess. Diana and Andrew in 1990
The Prince of Wales is rumoured to have long had frosty relations with Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and his ex wife Sarah Ferguson , reportedly referring to his uncle as a ‘tosser’ even before the disgraced Duke’s recent arrest amidst the latest tranche of the Epstein files. William, Kate and Andrew at the Duchess of Kent’s funeral last year
It seems that even before her death in 1997, Diana and Andrew seldom saw eye to eye.
‘He was very, very noisy and loud,’ the Princess – who was only a few months younger than her ex brother-in-law had once said. ‘It occurred to me that there was something troubling him.
‘He wasn’t for me. Andrew was very happy to sit in front of the television all day watching cartoons and videos because he’s not a doer.’
And while Sarah and Diana were dear friends in their youth, later years appear to have marred their relationship with jealousy on both sides.
The Duchess of York Uncensored – written by her psychic Vasso Kortesis (despite Sarah’s attempts to stop it) – alleged that Andrew’s ex wife struggled with her envy of Diana’s image.
‘Sarah tried to hide it, even from me, but for a brief time she became incredibly jealous of Diana,’ Kortesis penned.
‘It grated on her that whenever there was controversy surrounding Dianna’s marriage, the press and public always seemed to take her side but when Sarah’s marriage came under the spotlight, fun loving Fergie was always the one to blame.’
Lownie too elaborated on how the stark comparisons made by the public attributed to a drift.
‘There had also been an element of jealousy and competitiveness. Sarah called Diana Blondie, Little Miss Perfect or Miss Goody Two Shoes. Diana called her Dutch,’ he explained.
‘Sarah felt the Princess of Wales, more popular and more stylish, was able to get away with behaviour she could not.
‘Diana envied Ferguson’s more relaxed and closer relationship with the Queen and initially with the rest of the Royal Family thanks to her equine interests and talents and love of country pursuits.’
In 1996, despite Diana reportedly asking her sister-in-law not to mention gossip about her in the Duchess’s tell all memoir, My Story – Sarah had joked about catching a verruca after wearing one of the Princess’s shoes.
According to historian Andrew Lownie, in his latest book, Entitled, Simon & Schuster announced how, that very month, they had bought a memoir with the rumoured advance being anywhere from £800,000 to £1.5 million.
However, the author said, ‘it was revealed that she had also told the publishers, “See me right and I’ll get you Di as well”, and they had offered her another £1 million if she could persuade Diana into doing a book.’
‘A Simon & Schuster executive claimed: “The Di idea just grew out of the discussion. We explained we would expect Fergie to deliver an account of her close friendship with Diana. She then said maybe she could get Diana to write her own story for us.”‘
The following year – around the time of Diana’s death – the women had reportedly not been speaking to one another for a year.
In the aftermath of the tragic car crash, Fergie had also penned a ‘”long, rambling and very emotional” letter to Charles, which found its way to the Sun newspaper’, and shortly after it was rumoured that Sarah had met with Hello! director Eduardo Sánchez Junco to discuss ‘how she might fill the yawning gap left by the death of the Princess.
A source told Lownie that she ‘basically agreed to give Hello! everything about her for a monthly retainer’ worth some £100,000 a month.
By the time 2011 came around, Sarah had penned another book – Finding Sarah – where she alleged she never knew the reason behind her and Diana’s fallout.
‘Once Diana got something in her head it stuck there for a while,’ she remarked.
Elsewhere, insiders have claimed that William ‘loathes’ Fergie and ‘couldn’t wait’ to see her and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor kicked out of Royal Lodge, after tensions between the future king and his aunt grew long before the latest Jeffrey Epstein files came to light.
The royal, 43, excluded the former Duchess from his and Kate’s 2011 wedding after Sarah was involved in a ‘cash for access scandal’ the year prior; when she was filmed by the now-closed News Of The World newspaper offering access to Andrew for £500,000 to an undercover reporter posing as an Indian businessman.
In 1996, despite Diana reportedly asking her sister-in-law not to mention gossip about her in the Duchess’s tell all memoir, My Story – Sarah had joked about catching a verruca after wearing one of the Princess’s shoes
While Sarah and Diana were dear friends in their youth, later years appear to have marred their relationship with jealousy on both sides. Both pictured in 1983
Lownie also spoke to Palace Insiders who alleged King Charles‘s son has for a while now held animosity towards Sarah, who his grandmother, the late Queen, reportedly branded ‘The Duchess of Deceit’ – according to the author’s Substack; seemingly due to a string of financial scandals over the decades.
A source close to the royal told Lownie: ‘There have been tensions between [William and Andrew] for years, partly occasioned by Andrew being rude about Kate, and William has long worked behind the scenes to evict his uncle from Royal Lodge: He thinks Andy is abusing the property and his privilege there. He also loathes Sarah Ferguson.’
They added that William ‘can’t wait for the day when Charles throws them both out’.
‘If Charles doesn’t, I guarantee you the first thing William does when he eventually becomes king is to get them evicted,’ they said. ‘William refers to Andy as a ‘tosser’, perhaps not as bad as the vile names his brother Harry uses.’
Sarah has herself been open about facing the consequences of her own actions when it came to her relationship with the royals.
Remarking on her absence from William and Kate’s 2011 royal wedding on Oprah that year, she said: ‘I was not invited, and I chose to go and be in Thailand in a place called Kamalaya and… the jungle embraced me.
‘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.’
She added: ‘I felt that I ostracised myself by my behavior, 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? So I did spend a good three hours on that.’
Lownie however pointed out that the Thai wellness sanctuary was far from a humble abode in the thick of the jungle – as ‘detox breaks at the five-star retreat cost around £300 a night’.
It comes amid a turbulent time for the Royal Family. In the latest developments following the tranche of explosive Epstein file revelations, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was pictured leaving police custody, following his arrest on Thursday on suspicion of misconduct in public office.
The former prince looked shellshocked as he cowered in the back of a car, leaving Aylsham police station in Norfolk shortly after 7pm on his return to Sandringham.
Andrew, who turned 66 last week, was detained by officers during an 8am raid on his new home at Wood Farm. In events that rocked the Royal Family, he became the first senior royal to be arrested in modern times.
Thames Valley Police confirmed the disgraced former prince had been taken into custody just after 10am on Thursday, marking one of the worst days for the family in recent history.
In a statement put out just minutes after Andrew’s departure, Thames Valley Police said ‘a man in his sixties’ has been released under investigation – as images showed how the royal seemed to be trying to evade photographers following his bruising day in the cells.
Wide-eyed and with his hands clasped in front of him, Andrew cut a lonely figure as he ditched his traditional suit and tie attire in favour of a shirt and cardigan more suited to the setting that is so far removed from the upper echelons of luxury he is used to.
The photograph of the former prince, now stripped of all his titles and privileges, is sure to haunt the Royal Family in the days and weeks to come.
Police added that searches being conducted in Norfolk, relating to Andrew’s new residence, Wood Farm, have concluded.
It is understood the former Duke of York was arrested in relation to allegations he passed sensitive information to convicted paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein while acting as a trade envoy for the British government.
King Charles issued an unprecedented statement confirming his ‘wholehearted support and co-operation’ with the investigation into Andrew just hours after he was detained on Thursday – with Buckingham Palace understood not to have known the former Duke of York would be arrested.
The statement said: ‘I have learned with the deepest concern the news about Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and suspicion of misconduct in public office.
‘What now follows is the full, fair and proper process by which this issue is investigated in the appropriate manner and by the appropriate authorities. In this, as I have said before, they have our full and wholehearted support and co-operation.
‘Let me state clearly: the law must take its course.’
William and Kate are understood to support the King.