Sarah Ferguson jets off on Christmas trip without Prince Andrew amid Royal Lodge money row and Beatrice’s ‘concerns’
SARAH Ferguson has jetted off on a Christmas trip without Prince Andrew, amid Beatrice’s ‘concerns’ for the Duke.
At the start of this week, the Duchess of York, 65, who is the latest royal to join TikTok, took to social media to announce her ‘new journey’.
Whilst Fergie still remains friends with the disgraced Duke of York, 64, after formally divorcing in 1996, it appears that amid the Royal Lodge money row, she has left the country in search of some Christmas cheer.
Posting online, Sarah shared a clip at Heathrow Airport, moments before her flight to the capital of Austria.
The clip was shared with the caption ‘Heading off to Vienna to kick start Christmas. Absolutely love this time of the year and seeing all the joy on peoples faces.’
The mum-of-two beamed: “It’s Monday and I decided that we need to get the Christmas spirit going.
“Heathrow Airport on my way to Vienna.
“And what am I doing in Vienna? I am going to see [the] Christmas fair.”
Clearly overjoyed, with Prince Andrew not in sight, she added: “The airports are just so exciting.
“It’s a new adventure, new day, new journey. Let’s go.”
The TikTok clip, which was posted on Sarah’s official account, @sarahtheduchess, has clearly left many open-mouthed as it was shared just two days ago but has quickly racked up 435,900 views.
Royal fans flocked to the comments to praise the down-to-earth Duchess, with many hailing her a ‘legend’.
One person said: “Love Fergie, she’s a legend, so down to earth.”
Another added: “My favourite royal.”
A third commented: “You are so cute Duchess.”
Beatrice’s concerns for Prince Andrew
But Sarah’s holiday comes just days after reports of her daughter’s concerns for Prince Andrew.
Whilst the disgraced Duke of York spends most of his time shut away at the “crumbling” Royal Lodge in Windsor, it was reported that he now leans on “protective” Princess Beatrice, 36, and Princess Eugenie, 34.
They seem to be quite protective towards him
Source
Five years after his divisive Newsnight interview triggered the end to his public life, a source tells HELLO! “The girls take the grandchildren to visit him most weekends.
“They are spending far more time with him now than they have done in recent years.
Inside Prince Andrew's 'crumbling' Royal Lodge
THE disgraced Duke of York resides at the £30million Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park, Berkshire - at least for now.
King Charles has redoubled his efforts to evict the Duke – with insiders branding the stand-off the “siege of Royal Lodge“.
Despite his divorce from Sarah Ferguson in 1996, Prince Andrew lives with his ex-wife at the countryside estate.
Prince Andrew‘s royal residence, with its eye-catching white exterior, boasts 30 rooms with plenty of space for entertaining, plus seven bedrooms spread across the two topmost floors.
The Duke of York is said to spend all day “watching TV in a dark room” like a prisoner at his “crumbling” home.
Royal Lodge is said to “need extensive repairs”, thought to be about £400,000 a year.
The monarch is said to be becoming increasingly frustrated at Andrew’s refusal to care for the colossal mansion.
Andrew is said to have promised King Charles he would take care of its expensive repairs – despite having no apparent source of income.
“They are quite close to their father; they seem to be quite protective towards him.”
The Duke of York – who shares his £30million, 30-bedroom home with ex wife Sarah Ferguson – is said to have found solace in his grandkids.
'There is no way back for Prince Andrew', claims PR guru
PRINCE Andrew’s reputation is damaged beyond repair and he will never be able to engineer a return to public life, according to one of Britain’s top PR gurus.
Brand and culture expert Nick Ede, who runs East of Eden PR agency, called the shamed royal “deluded” for thinking he could ever return to royal duties and urged him to give up and ‘enjoy his life’ in exile.
It follows the release of Scoop – a Netflix movie based on the 2019 interview he gave to Newsnight.
Nick said: “There is no way back for him.
“I think you know this perpetual idea that he could still be back. Nobody cares. He hasn’t got fans.
“There’s nobody out there who’s going ‘We want to see Prince Andrew’, not one single person. I think he has to realise that. But I think it’s going to take a long, long time for him to actually understand. It’s very deluded.
“In my opinion, the best thing that he could do is just enjoy his life. He’s got gorgeous daughters. He has a great relationship with Fergie, he has a lovely house.
“Just live a quiet life.”
Reflecting on the interview five years ago – the fallout of which saw Andrew step back from royal duties “for the foreseeable future” – Nick compared the fallout to Frost vs Nixon and said he would have urged him not to do it.
He said: “If I had been advising him, I would say, go quiet, be quiet, just go to ground. You know you’re a prince. Enjoy the life that you lead, but do not open this can of worms, because that’s what it is.
“There was no admission that a relationship with somebody like Epstein was terribly toxic. There was no idea that there were loads of victims of trafficking whose lives were completely ruined by Epstein. He didn’t seem to think that the association he had with that man was anything but positive.
“I think his worst gaffe was obviously being in that interview and agreeing to it in the first place, for not realising that he’s actually going to be interviewed by a very, very good journalist who is going to ask him questions which he might not like.
“But I think what this has done is really shown how archaic Prince Andrew is in his opinions and thoughts.
“Read the room. He’s never read a room at all.”
He has been seen driving Sienna Mapelli-Mozzi – the three-year-old daughter of Beatrice and husband Edoardo Mapelli-Mozzi – around the Windsor Estate.
Andrew has also been helping his young granddaughter take the reins as she learns to ride horses, which is a popular hobby in the royal family.
Royal Lodge row
The ‘arrogant’ Duke is said to be leaning on his children after feeling like he has ‘lost everything’ amid the Royal Lodge row.
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Whilst it has been reported that Andrew had shown Palace officials that he has the required funds to maintain upkeep of Royal Lodge – the £30m 30-room 19th century listed Windsor pad he shares with ex-wife Sarah Ferguson – Charles is said to have wanted Andrew out of the house for years.
But Andrew, who moved into Royal Lodge, the former home of the Queen Mother, in 2004, has refused to move, after taking on a lease that lasts until 2078.
Royal commentator Rupert Bell said: “[Andrew] feels like he lost everything and if he loses his house, well then he probably feels that even more has been taken away from him.
“One of the problems that Prince Andrew has is that he is occasionally convinced of his rightness, and he gets himself into hot water with his stubbornness and sometimes his own arrogance has caused him to create these problems.”