REVEALED: Sarah Ferguson’s shock omission from a royal wedding – and the 64 other surprise facts as Duchess of York celebrates her 65th birthday

After being diagnosed with cancer twice in 12 months, Sarah Ferguson has experienced a lot in her 65 years. 

She recently wrote in The Sun how she had  felt her breast cancer was a ‘death sentence,’ before discovering she also had malignant melanoma. 

She said her ‘treatment has been successful’ but has been told she ‘shouldn’t use the phrase cancer free’.

The Duchess of York has seen plenty of highs, lows and even scandals in her life so far. 

As she celebrates her 65th birthday today, read on to find out 65 facts about Sarah Ferguson. 

1. She is a trained helicopter pilot

The Duchess was awarded her wings by Prince Andrew in 1987 after being inspired to learn by her husband’s role as a helicopter pilot in the Royal Navy. 

Sarah put her skill to some use and in October 1987, made the front page of The Daily Mail when she ‘executed a near faultless take off’ from RAF Benson in Oxfordshire. 

Sarah was photographed sitting in the Jet Ranger alongside her instructor.

2. Sarah is said to be the first woman in the Royal Family to have a hen party 

Before her wedding to Andrew in 1986 Fergie went out on a hen night.

Princess Diana was part of the antics as the entourage dressed up as police officers for an evening in London.

Donning grey wigs, they pretended to arrest one of their friends outside Buckingham Palace but ended up getting caught by the real police and driven away in a police van.

3. She made an appearance on Friends 

 Sarah made a cameo appearance during series four of Friends, in the 1990s, in an episode filmed in London.

It was previously revealed that she was apparently nervous about her scene and Matthew Perry offered to stand nearby for support. 

4. A political protestor tried to attack Fergie 

An IRA supporter holding a 6ft flagpole lunged towards Sarah when she stepped out of a car outside of her hotel in New York in 1988.

The Mail reported at the time how the man shouted ‘murderer, murderer’ and ‘moved towards her with furled green flag’.

Sarah was pregnant with Princess Beatrice at the time and had just been to the theatre.

5. Her mother moved away to Argentina in 1975

Sarah’s parents, Susan Barrantes and Major Ronald Ferguson, separated in 1974.

Afterwards, her mother remarried and moved to Argentina with her new husband, leaving Sarah and her sister in England. 

6. She has written more 35 books

Sarah published her first book, Budgie The Little Helicopter, in 1989 and has gone on to write many more. 

The tale was even made into a children’s television series that aired from 1994 to 1996. 

Though she started out as a children’s author, more recently she has tried her hand at historical romance.  

7. She has her own podcast

Fergie started her podcast, Tea Talks With The Duchess & Sarah, last year and released five episodes.

They consisted of candid conversations with entrepreneur Sarah Thomson about their lives.

8. Andrew proposed on his 26th birthday

Prince Andrew proposed to Sarah with an oval-cut Burmese ruby surrounded by ten diamonds in on his 26th birthday in 1986.  

Following the pair’s divorce in 1996, the ring was later passed down to their daughter, Princess Eugenie. 

9. She wore the York Diamond Tiara on her wedding day

When Sarah married Andrew in 1986, she walked down the aisle to her new husband with a tiara specially commissioned by Queen Elizabeth.

The floral five-carat headpiece is thought to be worth hundreds of thousands of pounds. 

Princess Beatrice wore the tiara at a wedding banquet for Crown Prince Hussein and Princess Rajwa of Jordan in 2023. 

10. Fergie and Andrew first met when they were children

The couple allegedly first met at the side of the polo field when they were around three years old, the Washington Post reported. 

11. Princess Diana re-introduced them as adults

Princess Diana was her friend from a young age and was the one to officially reintroduce Andrew and Fergie in the 1980s.

12. Fergie only saw her husband for 40 days in a year during their early marriage

Andrew was a helicopter pilot in the Royal Navy which proved to be a demanding job for the young couple to manage.

Fergie revealed that the couple only saw each other for 40 days a year during the first five years of their marriage.

‘I spent my entire first pregnancy alone,’ Sarah later told Harper’s Bazaar of Andrew’s absence. ‘When Beatrice was born, Andrew got 10 days shore leave.’

13. Andrew and Sarah divorced after ten years of marriage

The couple separated in 1992 and divorced in 1996.

Their two children, Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice, were around six and eight years old at the time of the divorce.

14. After the divorce, Sarah lost the title Her Royal Highness

When the divorce was finalised in May 1996, Sarah no longer held the title of Her Royal Highness.

She did, however, remain the Duchess of York. 

15. She lives with her ex-husband

Sarah lives at Royal Lodge with Prince Andrew in Windsor despite the pair being divorced for nearly two decades.

16. Sarah and Andrew inherited the Queen’s corgis

When the Queen passed away in September 2022, Andrew and Sarah were chosen to take care of two the late monarch’s corgis – Muick and Sandy. 

She previously told Hello magazine: ‘The corgis are very nice and very polite and well trained.

‘I am their favourite but everybody always says it’s just because I feed them gravy bones. I love everything about them and I spoil them the most.’

17. Since divorcing, she has been on holiday with her ex-husband several tomes

In 2019, the pair enjoyed a holiday together in Sotogrande, in the southern Spanish region of Andalusia.

They also enjoyed holidays as a family with their children, including in 2001 when the couple took Eugenie and Beatrice on a ski trip to Verbier.

18. Social media royalty: Sarah has over 700,000 followers on Instagram

She actively uses social media and regularly posts on her Instagram account.

Sarah often includes candid shots on special occasions including her daughters’ birthdays – sharing glimpses of her life. 

19. She was not invited to King Charles’s Coronation

Despite being the mother to two of the King’s nieces, Sarah was not invited to the Coronation in 2023.

Instead, the Duchess congratulated the newly crowned monarch on social media.

20. But she did attend the Coronation concert

The Duchess was at Windsor Castle for the Coronation concert with Eugenie, Beatrice and Andrew.

21. She also wasn’t invited to Prince William and Princess Kate’s wedding

When William and Kate wed in 2011, Sarah did not receive an invitation.

Friends of the Duchess claimed at the time she ‘never expected’ to be asked and would have missed the ceremony anyway owing to ‘private plans overseas’. 

22. But, Fergie was invited to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding

When Harry and Meghan wed in 2018, Fergie was one of the 600 guests invited to the ceremony in St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle and a reception immediately afterwards. 

23. She had a complicated relationship with Princess Diana

Sarah and Diana had a friendship with many ups and downs.

The pair were often pitted against each other both by the press and members of the Royal Family and Diana once said, ‘I got terribly jealous and she got jealous of me’. 

More recently, Sarah has spoken positively about her friendship with the late princess and in July this year wished Happy Birthday to her ‘dear friend’ Princess Diana.

24. Sarah had a nickname for Diana 

Sarah previously told People how her and Diana were ‘best friends’ and that she called the Princess of Wales ‘Duch’. 

She said: ‘We promised each other we would always be together – there was never any daylight between us,

‘But everybody wanted that because we were so strong together. People want to break something so strong.’

25. Her mother died in a car accident

Sarah’s mother, Susan Barrantes, passed away just one year after Princess Diana in strikingly similar circumstances.

She was involved in a car incident in Argentina in 1998. 

Susan had been travelling with her nephew Raphael. He survived, sustaining only minor injuries. 

26. She has four siblings

Fergie has one older sister – Jane Ferguson – who is the Duchess’s only full sibling.

When their father, Major Ferguson, remarried to Susan Deptford in 1976 he had three more children – Andrew, Alice, and Elizabeth. 

27. The Duchess was a spokesperson for Weight Watchers for 11 years

In 1997, Sarah was appointed a £1 million-a-year ‘ambassador’ for Weight Watchers.

It came after she slimmed down to a size 10 and lost nearly  5st 10lb following her divorce. 

She previously said: ‘The points system completely changed my life because I was able to eat well, while changing the behaviours that were at the root of my lifelong struggle with weight.’ 

28.  Her debut novel, Budgie The Little Helicopter, sold 100,000 copies

The publication made Sarah more than £140,000 in US serialisation rights and a newspaper deal.

29. She landed a television deal for her book

An £3million animated television series was made inspired by Sarah’s Budgie The Little Helicopter book.

It consisted of 39 episodes on ITV and went on to air in America and Canada. 

30. After her divorce, she wrote her autobiography My Story

The book was published in 1996 and was co-authored by New Yorker writer Jeff Coplon. 

31. Her autobiography became a bestseller in America

The book earned Sarah an advance of £800,000 and featured in the top three in American bestseller lists.

32.  The Duchess promoted a Japanese camera brand

In 1997 she was photographed holding an Olympus camera on a yacht. The image featured the Statue of Liberty in the background. 

Sarah was paid £20,000 for the deal as well as a first-class return ticket to New York. 

33. She also made a cranberry juice advertisement

In 1997, the Duchess featured on Ocean Spray’s 30-second advert and made £500,000 from the gig.

She also reportedly fluffed her lines 102 times

34. Sarah promoted Wedgwood china 

Pottery manufacturer Wedgwood has had a Royal Warrant, granted by Queen Elizabeth, since 1995.

Sarah made a secret pilot film for the company and then signed a £500,000 contract in 1999.

The deal was for the promotion of the fine china manufacturer in America.

35. She attended a boarding school

Sarah boarded weekly at Hurst Lodge School in Ascot in the 1970s.

The fees would have cost around £3,000 a year when the Duchess was there.

In her O-Levels she achieved an A in spoken English and a C in art, as well as Ds in English language, English literature and biology, which then counted as a fail. 

Sarah also failed French and geography.

36. The Duchess left school at 16

When Sarah was 16 years old, she left Hurst Lodge School and enrolled at Queen’s Secretarial College.

During her time there, she studied shorthand, typing and bookkeeping.

37. She called Andrew her ‘handsome prince’ years after their divorce

Despite finalising their divorce in 1996, Sarah said: ‘He’ll always be my handsome prince,’ at a book festival in 2013. 

38. Sarah’s younger daughter has spoken out about their divorce

 Princess Eugenie once told the BBC: ‘They are the best divorced couple I know.’

39. She was caught up in a ‘toe sucking’ scandal

In August 1992, Sarah – who had recently separated from Andrew at the time – jetted off to spend a week away to the French Riviera with financial adviser John Bryan and her young daughters.

During the holiday she was photographed by Daniel Angeli. The pictures showed Sarah letting Mr Bryan kiss or lick her toes.

They were published by the Mirror and caused a great scandal and the Queen reportedly summoned the Duchess to explain herself.

40. Fergie’s former dresser was convicted of murder

Sarah’s former dresser, Jane Andrews, was jailed for life in 2001 after battering and stabbing her millionaire boyfriend, Tom Cressman, to death with a cricket bat and knife after he refused to marry her.

She was released from prison in 2015, 14 years into her life term.

Andrews  worked for the Duchess of York for nine years between 1988 and 1997.

41. The Duchess accepted cash for access to her husband

Sarah previously accepted a £27,000 cash down payment from an undercover reporter and agreed to a full amount of £500,000 to introduce him to Andrew.

Afterwards, she apologised for the incident and admitted she only accepted the money because she was in financial difficulty. 

42. The Duchess has been interviewed by Oprah Winfrey

In 1996, Sarah sat down with Oprah Winfrey for her first interview with the American television host and opened up about her struggles with royal life.

Then in 2010, Fergie was interviewed by Oprah again and explained why she accepted money for access to her husband.

At the time, she was criticised for taking a similar approach to Diana’s tell-all Panorama interview.

43. She has founded her own charities

Sarah has founded multiple charities including Children in Crisis which she launched in 1993.

It provided support to children around the world and merged with another charity, Street Child, in 2018.

44. The Duchess founded Sarah’s Trust in 2020

The charity helped to provide relief during the pandemic and aid to refugees from Ukraine.

45. She once reportedly had a multi-million overdraft

At the time of her divorce to Prince Andrew, Sarah reportedly had a £4.2 million overdraft at Royal bankers Coutts & Co.

46. Her father was King Charles’s polo manager

Sarah’s father, Major Ronald Ferguson, was Charles’s polo manager for 21 years.

Before that, he was also Prince Philip’s.

47. She started her own YouTube channel in 2020

Sarah launched Storytime With Fergie And Friends during the Covid pandemic in 2020.

She read children’s stories almost daily to ‘help keep them entertained during lockdown,’ she wrote on an Instagram post.

Sarah temporarily stopped uploading videos in early 2022. 

48. The Duchess then relaunched the channel in March 2022 

She returned to her YouTube channel in 2022 to show support to the children of Ukraine.

49. She is a grandmother

Sarah has three grandchildren – Sienna, August and Ernest – as well as a step-grandson, Woolfie.

The Duchess will be welcoming another grandchild next year after Princess Beatrice announced she was pregnant recently.

50. She has a close relationship with her daughters

Sarah is very close to her two daughters – Eugenie and Beatrice – and has frequently spoken about their tight bond.

 ‘I am very proud of them and they are very proud of me. We are a tripod of women and the best way to empower people is to lead by example,’ she previously told Hello! magazine. 

51. She was diagnosed with breast cancer last year 

The mother-of-two was diagnosed with breast cancer last year following a routine mammogram.

The Duchess of York then underwent a single mastectomy and breast reconstruction.

52. Sarah was then diagnosed with skin cancer

In 2024, the Duchess announced she’d been diagnosed with malignant melanoma, a form of skin cancer. 

She then underwent further surgery, around the edges of the site of the mole and lymph nodes.

53. She is patron of a breast cancer charity

Writing in The Sun, Sarah revealed how she had become a patron of Prevent Breast Cancer.

She said she ‘will do all I can to help spread the word about the importance of early detection’. 

54. Sarah is friendly with a Coronation Street actress

Sally Dynevor, who plays Sally Metcalfe in Coronation Street, told the Duchess about the Prevent Breast Cancer charity when she appeared on Loose Women.

Sarah joined forces with the Loose Women panel to launch its inaugural ‘Don’t Skip Your Screening’ campaign earlier this year. 

55. She attended Charles and Diana’s wedding before even meeting her husband

Sarah attended Charles and Diana’s wedding as a friend of the Princess of Wales in 1981.

However, the Duchess did not meet her royal husband until 1985.

56. Her father once participated in the Queen’s Trooping the Colour birthday parade

Major Ferguson had a 19-year military career and once captained the Sovereign’s Escort during the Queen’s Trooping the Colour birthday parade. 

57. Sarah’s grandchildren have a sweet name for her

The Duchess’s grandchildren call her Gigi, speaking on Loose Women she said: ‘It really annoys me though, when people say, ‘oh you’re a granny now, you’re a mummy now’.

‘I say, no I’m a woman, I’m strong, I’ve got a voice and I’m an author. I’m starting a new job – and also I am a new grandma and I am a mum.

‘But actually they call me Gigi… like the film.’

58. She went to a dog whisperer after the Queen passed away

The Duchess once revealed on Loose Women how she sought out a ‘dog whisperer’ to ask about how the late Queen’s corgis were ‘grieving’ their loss.

‘I went to a dog whisperer and said, ‘Now tell me about grief’,’ Sarah said. ‘And he said, “Just at night just make sure they have their own space”. 

‘Yeah, so I do. Because I think they were grieving… their little tails went down. And I wanted to make them have waggy tails.’ 

59. Sarah wanted teddy bears and helicopters on her wedding dress

The Duchess’s wedding dress had a 17ft 6in train which was designed by Lindka Cierach.

However, the designer previously revealed she had to reject some of the bride’s dress requests, including decorative teddy bears and helicopters. 

60. Prince William was a page boy at her wedding

Prince William, who was just four years old at the time, was a page boy at Sarah and Andrew’s wedding in July 1986.

61. She was once given money from Jeffrey Epstein to pay her debts 

Around 2010 the Duchess was given £15,000 from paedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein to help pay off her debts. She later said she deeply regretted it.

62. She worked as a cleaner and a waitress

In 2016, while appearing on the  Skavlan TV show, in Stockholm, Sweden, Sarah revealed the jobs she had before marrying into the royal family.

She told the show: ‘You won’t believe it but when I was 18, I cleaned very good mirrors.

‘I cleaned lavatories when I was 18 and graduates’ bedrooms; they all left it very messy.

‘And then I waitressed in a strudel house. I don’t cook, I just took the strudel out of the deep freezer and put it in the oven; that’s cooking!

‘Then I married a prince, it was great!’

63. The Duchess enrolled Eugenie at a Montessori nursery

She sent Princess Eugenie to a Montessori nursery in Windsor. 

The Duchess told Hello! magazine: ‘I was really impressed by the way the school was.’

She added: ‘And it suited Eugenie, absolutely down to a tee, because she’s a very strong character, and I wonder whether her love of History of Art came from an early age. She loves to see something aesthetically. I’m sure it came from her nursery.’ 

64. She dedicated her most recent book to her grandchildren

Her new children’s book, titled ‘Flora And Fern: Wonder In The Woods’, was released earlier this month.

The Mail on Sunday revealed the Duchess had dedicated it to her grandchildren.

She said: ‘I wrote Flora and Fern for my grandchildren and also my step grandson Wolfie. It is a special little story encouraging children to enjoy and respect nature and use their imagination to play.

‘The names Flora and Fern are chosen to encourage more understanding of how important nature is.’

65. Five hundred million people watched her wedding

According to the BBC, 500 million people watched Sarah’s wedding to Prince Andrew on television in 1986.