Despite finalizing their divorce in May 1996, Sarah Ferguson and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor remained extremely close; they even lived together until their eviction from Royal Lodge. Ferguson also maintained a relationship with her mother-in-law, Queen Elizabeth II, and was entrusted with the late monarch's beloved corgis upon her death. However, one royal expert believes the former Duchess of York actually betrayed the former Queen.Speaking to the Daily Mail, royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams explained, "Betrayal is a truly horrible characteristic. To betray the person to whom one owes loyalty and the institution into which she was welcomed is shameful, but Sarah Ferguson knows no shame."The expert referenced the recent release of a slew of emails between Ferguson and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as evidence of the ex-duchess's "shameful" behavior."Queen Elizabeth II, a monarch whose rule will go down as one of the finest in our history, was kind to her," Fitzwilliams told the outlet. "We now know that Ferguson's groveling emails to the deceased pedophile Jeffrey Epstein are proof of her culpability and greed."
According to Fitzwilliams, Elizabeth and Sarah were polar opposites in many ways, but that didn't stop the monarch from supporting her daughter-in-law for decades after the divorce."The Queen was naturally frugal by nature," Fitzwilliams noted. "Ferguson's extravagances reached bizarre heights time and again, and the palace even issued a statement that they would no longer be paid."Ferguson publicly shamed the Royal Family by being photographed in an infamous "toe-sucking" clinch with her alleged "financial adviser" John Bryan, the royal expert shared. "[She] made the Royal Family look ridiculous," Fitzwilliams explained.
"She was clearly beyond the pale and a disgrace to the Royal Family," Fitzwilliams claimed to the outlet. "Yet The Queen had a soft spot for her, almost as though she was a mother figure trying to resurrect someone who was clearly utterly irresponsible."
Fitzwilliams also alluded to the former Duchess of York's "amazing ability to bounce back from disasters" and "use her energy and resilience to charm."Basically, it appears as though, until her death in 2022, Queen Elizabeth II continued to support Ferguson. But as Fitzwilliams has suggested, perhaps the late monarch didn't know the full extent of Ferguson's association with Epstein.
