Inside Sarah Ferguson’s ‘deep unhappiness’ during marriage to Andrew

Sarah Ferguson once harboured serious concerns about her marriage to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, according to a broadcaster who met the former Duchess of York just three years after her wedding.

Despite the couple’s fairytale union in 1986, new insight suggests that cracks were already beginning to show behind palace walls.

The pair married on July 23, 1986, in a ceremony watched by millions around the world. While they would later divorce in 1996, they remained on friendly terms and continued living together at Royal Lodge in Windsor for many years.

However, an interview conducted in 1989 paints a very different picture of the early years of their marriage.

Veteran broadcaster Dame Jenni Murray has recalled meeting Sarah Ferguson during that period, describing the former duchess as “lonely” and “deeply unhappy”.

Writing in Saga Magazine, Dame Jenni reflected on the encounter, explaining that Sarah appeared candid and forthcoming when the cameras were off.

She described being ushered into a palace sitting room overlooking Queen Victoria’s statue, where a young woman dressed in a pinny and mob cap entered.

“I thought she was a maid,” Dame Jenni wrote, before realising it was Sarah herself. She added that it quickly became clear she was speaking to “a lonely, deeply unhappy woman” who privately voiced her worries about her husband.

At the time, Andrew’s demanding career in the Royal Navy kept him away from home for long stretches.

According to Dame Jenni, Sarah was rarely invited to join him on his travels and was left largely alone caring for their eldest daughter.

Reflecting on the marriage years later, Dame Jenni wrote that the eventual separation came as little surprise to her.