Fergie leans on her ex and Tramp gang on ski break
WITH Prince Andrew deluged by unwelcome headlines back home, it was left to the Duchess of York to gather the rest of the family for their annual skiing holiday in Verbier over the New Year.
Fergie, 62, and her daughters Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie – along with their husbands Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi and Jack Brooksbank – enjoyed a last hurrah at the Prince’s soon-to-be-sold £17.5million chalet at the Swiss resort.
But the Duchess was not without company – now I can reveal she sought comfort from ex-boyfriend and confidant Paddy McNally on the trip. Paddy, an Irish autosports businessman worth a reported £610million, invited Fergie and her gang to a New Year’s Eve party and paid for an expensive fireworks display at his lavish chalet, known as ‘the Castle’.
It may have brought back romantic memories for Fergie – Paddy, 87, was her first serious boyfriend and she first met him at the Castle when she was a wide-eyed twentysomething in the 1980s. She later dumped Paddy for Andrew, but they have remained chums ever since.
Widower Paddy is now in poor health but he still managed to gather a gaggle of high-society friends for the bash, arranged by his girlfriend and carer Sarah Tyzac.
Several members of Prince Andrew’s ‘Tramp set’ – including Fi Fi Sangster and George Mountbatten, the Marquess of Milford Haven – were there. This crowd was with Prince Andrew at London club Tramp on March 13, 2001 – 72 hours after Jeffrey Epstein victim Virginia
Giuffre alleges she danced with him at the same venue, before he, she claims, had sex with her. The Prince strenuously denies this.
Fi Fi’s family are among the group pictured above enjoying fondue at the Castle during the recent holiday.
A source says: ‘Paddy spent a lot of time with Fergie, rallying round her by putting on a lavish fireworks display for her family, minus Andrew of course. Most of Andrew’s remaining friends, the ones who used to go to Tramp with him, were there.
‘Fergie enjoyed spending time with her dear friend Paddy, whom she adores.’