A royal author claims that Sarah Ferguson is negotiating a pension deal with the Royal Family, while Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie have allegedly refused a financial audit request
Sarah Ferguson is claimed to be hunting for a “nice pension” from the Royal Family to stop her doing a blockbuster Oprah Winfrey-style chat, according to an author. The allegations come as Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie are dragged further into the York family chaos.
Royal biographer Andrew Lownie claims King Charles and Prince William demanded a financial audit into the sisters’ money, but the princesses blocked the probe. The updated version of Lownie’s biography, Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York, has now hit the shelves with a wave of fresh allegations.
Speaking ahead of the paperback release, Lownie laid bare the civil war gripping the Firm, warning that the sisters’ lifestyles are damaging the monarchy.
Lownie told the Mirror: “The daughters are clearly footballs in this thing. The fact that they are still swanning around the Middle East, using their titles…it doesn’t send out the right signals if you want to work your passage back. It’s confusing.”
He claims Fergie is currently locked in tense behind-the-scenes negotiations over her royal future and that her silence has a price tag.
The author said: “That may be what Fergie’s negotiating at the moment. Can she get a nice pension from them and not have to do an Oprah interview. I think it’s a very schizophrenic relationship at the moment with the royals and Beatrice and Eugenie.”
Lownie added: “One minute they’re very publicly being told they’re not going to be invited to Ascot, then they are going. You get the sense of distancing and I think there’s possibly two schools of thought here.
“There’s Camilla, William and Kate, who see the reputational damage and want to keep them at arm’s length, and then there’s Charles who is a bit sentimental and feels obligated to be protective.”
According to Lownie, King Charles’ soft spot for the sisters might be due to a secret pact made with Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor when he was booted out of Royal Lodge.
He said: “He might be under pressure from Andrew because I think a deal was done to get him out of Royal Lodge that said, ‘We’ll take care of your daughters’. So he would be kind of torn and can’t go back on that deal.”
He also pointed out a massive “double standard” in how the Palace treats the York women compared to Meghan Markle and Prince Harry.
Lownie said: “Poor old Meghan has watched Fergie for the last 40 years selling her jam and doing all sorts of things – and quietly doing it in the States. Sarah would argue she wasn’t a royal – but she was clearly living in Royal Lodge, and still semi royal.
“The Sussexes must have thought ‘well we can do the same’. They are double standards, the Royal Family don’t have much control over them.”
The Star has approached Sarah Ferguson and Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice for comment.
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