Sarah Ferguson recently sold a lavish London property in one of the city’s most affluent neighbourhoods
Sarah Ferguson is said to be “on the edge” with “nowhere to go” as she struggles with the scandal looming over her family. Fergie and her ex-husband Prince Andrew have been facing fresh scrutiny over their scandalous relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in recent months.
The former couple relinquished their royal titles earlier this month amid the backlash against them but it appears the furore is far from over.
Mounting pressure for the pair to move out of the 30-room Royal Lodge in Windsor has reached an all-time high, but the former Duke and Duchess of York are reportedly refusing to evict themselves unless they are given two new royal properties in return.
The disgraced 65-year-old prince signed a lease with the Crown Estate for Royal Lodge in 2003, which means it’s legally his property for 75 years unless he chooses to willingly move out.
This is something that King Charles has been reportedly pushing for years but Andrew has been digging his heels in.
Little is known about Andrew’s finances and how he covers the costs of his royal lifestyle after first stepping down from his official duties and public life in November 2019, the Mirror reports.
Meanwhile, his ex-wife Sarah, whom he lives with at Royal Lodge, has undertaken many public business ventures over the years, including her work as an author.
She sold a lavish London townhouse earlier this year, just before the fresh scandals broke, that she had only bought in 2022. The townhouse in Belgravia, which she bought for £4.2million, had been reportedly rented out to tenants for a whopping £4,000 a week.
However, she suffered a major blow when selling the home this summer, having to accept £400,000 under the price she paid for it, according to Land Registry documents, the Daily Mail reports.
Her spokesperson said that Sarah “wasn’t looking to sell it,” but this year she “was asked by the tenant to buy it, and it seemed like a good time to sell.”
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They continued: “It’s an investment property for her girls, and so the monies will be reinvested accordingly.”
However, the Mail reports other insiders claim the money from the house sale may have been intended to be used to help finance Andrew and Sarah’s continued life at Royal Lodge.
Royal expert Jennie Bond said the former couple’s alleged request for two homes “beggars belief”, and that “Andrew and Sarah are grown-ups with their own money and resources.”
She added: “They should be made to fend for themselves and not rely on the King and the goodwill of the Crown Estate. I think it would be a serious mistake if the King and the Palace agreed to such a brazen demand.
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“You have to ask yourself whether Andrew and Sarah are completely deaf to public opinion. There is genuine outrage from the public and, indeed several prominent members of Parliament about the fact that they have lied about their friendship with Jeffrey Epstein.
“And yet they seem to think they are entitled to not just one, but two, magnificent homes in the extremely royal surroundings of Windsor Great Park, almost in the shadow of the Castle itself. It is an audacious demand —and one that the Palace should outright reject.”
However, a source close to the former Duke and Duchess has rubbished these reports, claiming that the offer was “misrepresentative of the truth” and it has “been on the table for months.”