“AMANDA PLATELL: Fergie’s delusions have reached a new low. I can’t believe Beatrice and Eugenie are egging her on. But that’s not the TRULY jaw-dropping part.”
It’s written in the Amanda Platell / Daily Mail opinion-column style: sharp, dramatic, and full of royal intrigue.
AMANDA PLATELL: Fergie’s delusions have reached a new low. I can’t believe Beatrice and Eugenie are egging her on. But that’s not the TRULY jaw-dropping part.
Just when you think Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, might finally have learned to keep her head down, she proves once again that self-awareness is not one of her stronger qualities. The woman once adored for her vivacious spirit has now descended into something of a royal parody — forever trying to claw her way back into relevance with yet another publicity stunt, yet another bid for sympathy, yet another attempt to remind the world that she was once, briefly, part of the royal inner circle.
And now, unbelievably, her daughters — the lovely Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie — seem to be standing right beside her, cheering her on. The two young women, who have always insisted they want nothing more than a quiet life away from the relentless glare of royal gossip, are suddenly front and centre in their mother’s endless campaign to stay in the limelight.
Do they not see what’s happening? Do they not understand how absurd it looks when they align themselves with Fergie’s latest reinvention — whether it’s a bizarre social media post, a strangely timed memoir, or some fantastical interview in which she insists that she and Prince Andrew are “the happiest divorced couple in the world”?
We all have sympathy for Sarah. Life in the royal fishbowl was never easy, and she has faced her share of humiliation. But her refusal to step back, her constant need for validation, and her apparent delusion that she still plays a vital role in the royal story are exhausting — not just for the monarchy, but for the public who have watched this sad saga unfold for decades.
And yet, that’s not even the most astonishing part. The truly jaw-dropping revelation is the whisper circulating through palace corridors — that Fergie believes she and Andrew might one day be welcomed fully back into the royal fold. That she still harbours the fantasy that, with enough charm and self-promotion, King Charles might forgive and forget.
It would be funny if it weren’t so tragic. The monarchy is fighting to stay modern and relevant, led by a King trying to steady the ship through storms of scandal and public scrutiny. The last thing he needs is a return to the circus that once surrounded the Duke and Duchess of York — and yet here we are, decades later, watching the same characters perform the same roles in an endless royal soap opera.
Perhaps Beatrice and Eugenie truly believe they’re protecting their mother. But by standing beside her as she spirals deeper into self-delusion, they risk being dragged into the same embarrassing spotlight she seems so desperate never to leave.
The royal family has weathered many storms — but if Fergie’s fantasies continue unchecked, this one might just prove the most farcical of them all.
