Philip told Fergie she’d let down the Firm
November 10, 1989
DINE with [General] Derek Boorman at his house in Eaton Mews. Two of the fellow guests are Prince Andrew and his wife Sarah, Duchess of York. She is striking in a flamboyant way: redhaired, tall and very friendly in a slightly frenzied way. Within minutes she is calling me Kenneth and continues to do so again and again.
November 24, 1993
TO SUNNINGDALE to have tea with Sarah, Duchess of York. Her two sweet little girls join us and we have nursery tea in the dining room.
They are very well brought up by a Welsh nanny from Anglesey. They put their hands together and say grace. When one of them begins to get down before the other has quite finished, she is made to get back and begin all over again.
There is a vast spread on the table of sausage rolls, sandwiches and a chocolate cake. Also a pretty sauce boat with ketchup. I have the impression that Fergie misses Andrew dreadfully.
September 14, 1994
MOTOR down to see the Duchess of York. I am greeted with shouts of ‘Ken, Ken’ from Beatrice and Eugenie. There is the biggest, richest chocolate cake I have ever seen, and crumpets, sausages, sardines and fish fingers.
Fergie has both sides of her correspondence with Andrew: when he was away, she wrote to him every day. She also has the letters written to her by the Queen.
She goes on: ‘I also have Prince Philip’s letters, telling me that I have let down The Firm. In one of them, he wrote that he had been reading a book about Edwina Mountbatten [Lord Mountbatten’s wife, notorious for having had many lovers including, allegedly, Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India], and that my conduct reminded him of hers.’
April 27, 1995
I SEE Fergie again at Sunningdale. She realises she has made mistakes, and even that she is vulgar. ‘But if I am cheerful and noisy, it is not because I am overconfident but because I am insecure.’
She has adjusted to this in the face of hostility from all the Royal Family except the Queen. Her children are the best link she has with the Queen. ‘I have taught them to hug their granny when they see her.’