Sarah Ferguson Reacted to News That Ex-Prince Andrew Would Be Home More During Naval Career By "Putting Her Napkin Over Her Head"

Sarah Ferguson wearing a blue skirt and hat and yellow floral top standing on the stairs of a plane next to Prince Andrew in a naval uniform .

At one point, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's public perception was quite different than it is today, especially after his return from serving in the Falklands War. The former Prince Andrew's naval career kept him busy—and away from home—during much of his marriage to Sarah Ferguson, and in his new book Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York, author Andrew Lownie describes how this absence impacted their relationship.

Andrew enrolled at The Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth, England, in 1979, and by 1989, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip's son had not earned a favorable image amongst his military colleagues. Lownie writes that one man thought Andrew was "petulant, entitled and extremely arrogant," although he also could be "pleasant and good company."

Another of his naval colleagues, Gary Clark, said, "There's no doubt that Andrew received favouritism. He never mixed with the likes of us. Basically, he could do what he liked."

The former Duke and Duchess of York are pictured on their 1987 tour to Mauritius. (Image credit: Getty Images)

It was in the summer of 1990 that Tony Hogg, who worked closely in managing the former prince's naval career, drew a line when it came to Andrew's future in the military. Per Lownie, Hogg felt the royal was "immature" and "unreliable," adding that Andrew "played fast and loose with his private life and was not always honest."

And in terms of his private life, his marriage wasn't going well. Princess Beatrice was born in 1988, but it did little to help the relationship. In the book, Lownie quotes Ferguson as telling a friend, "I'd write to him almost every day and eagerly await the post for his return letters, but they never came..."

So when Hogg sat down with Andrew and Ferguson to talk about the future of the then-prince's career, it should have come as a relief that he was going to be moving closer to home. However, Ferguson was already carrying on an affair with Texan businessman Steve Wyatt at the time, despite just having welcomed second daughter Princess Eugenie in March 1990.

The couple watched fireworks aboard a Royal Australian Navy ship in 1988. (Image credit: Getty Images)

During their meeting, Hogg said "that he thought Andrew would benefit greatly from a year at the Army Staff College," per Lownie. "The duchess's response was immediate: 'Which one?'"

"On being told Camberley, near their home in Ascot, she exclaimed, 'Oh no, he's going to be at home,' and promptly put her napkin over her head."

The couple would go on to announce their separation two years later, on March 19, 1992.