Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson are marking a surprising anniversary this week that many have forgotten about. As many royal fans know, it has been 39 years this week since the couple’s engagement was announced with a photocall at Buckingham Palace.
While the pair are no longer together, having split over two decades ago, they share a very close relationship with one another. As well as both being actively involved in their daughters Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie’s lives, Andrew, 65, and Sarah, 65 also still live under the same roof at Royal Lodge in Windsor. Although this may seem odd to some, The Duchess of York said not long ago that her and Andrew are a happy divorced couple and continue to support one another.
However, while the pair seem to have an ease about their relationship now, things were not always as smooth sailing for the couple, as recalled by Sarah in the past.
When discussing some of her earliest encounters with Andrew, the duchess said she was invited by the late Queen to stay at Windsor Castle for Ascot Week in June 1985, which was one of the first times she had seen the prince.
As reported by The Sun, it is believed the late Princess Diana had tried to set them up at a lunch where they were seated next to each other on this occasion.
Recalling the story in their engagement interview, Sarah said: “He (Andrew) made me eat chocolate profiteroles which I did not want to eat at all.”
The prince joked: “I then didn’t have any. So I got hit. And it [the relationship] started from there.”
Sarah also recalled in her autobiography titled ‘My Story’, published over 20 years ago, an awkward moment she and Andrew had on another of their early encounters. As reported by The Mirror, she wrote: “We had been invited to the same weekend at Floors Castle, the regal home of the Duke and Duchess of Roxburghe. I’d felt out of my depth, and when I walked down to Sunday breakfast I silently cursed my heels as they squeaked over the wooden floor. I entered the dining room, straight into a load of men with newspapers – and I longed to sit down quickly with my half-grapefruit and be ignored.
“I hurried toward a table with some newspapers, something I could hide behind… and there was Andrew, standing next to me. So much for safe havens! I was ultra-nervous now, and as he reached across the table to get a paper, I somehow thought he was leaning toward me for a good-morning kiss.
“So I gave him a peck, and I looked at me and said, ‘Oh, thank you very much!’ Oh, I didn’t mean to do that!’ I cried, which he must have found quite hilarious. It honestly hadn’t been deliberate, just another Fergie fiasco.”
After getting engaged in 1986, the couple married that same year. They separated in 1992 before getting officially divorced in 1996.