Hello, do you like the background? Is it too bright, or not bright enough?” Sarah, the Duchess of York asks excitably. “Are you happy with the windows, or do you want me to close the curtains?” The duchess, who was affectionately nicknamed Fergie when she married into the royal family in 1986, is sitting in the study at Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park, her ex-husband Prince Andrew’s residence. It’s a home she has shared with the Duke of York on and off for many years, despite the fact they separated in 1992 and divorced in 1996, but it’s a sprawling pad that she clearly doesn’t call home sweet home, any more than she does the Mayfair mews she bought last year. For years now, she has lived a peripatetic, transatlantic life between the US and the UK.
“I’m very lucky to be a guest here at Royal Lodge,” the 63-year-old says in a disarming fashion. She sips on a cup of tea from a Wedgwood china cup, showing me the matching teapot, decorated with pink peonies, given to her by her daughters, the Princesses Beatrice, 34, and Eugenie, 33. Dressed in an emerald-green top, with her trademark flaming red hair toned down to more glossy hues of auburn, the duchess is just as fun and vivacious as she was in the 1980s, when the former chalet girl became a royal wife and won headlines with her oversized hair bows and outlandish bold outfits.
