The Duchess of York has insisted she is the ‘most persecuted’ woman in the history of the royal family in an interview with a French magazine.
Sarah Ferguson, 62, compared herself to ‘a reed that won’t break’ during the interview with Madame Figaro, saying it is ‘in her DNA’ to overcome adversity.
Fergie also confessed she still loves Prince Andrew, 61, and that she stands by him, even in the face of sexual assault accusations made by Victoria Giuffre, 38, which the Prince denies.
Giuffre has claimed the Duke forced her to have sex at the London home of former Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, and abused her at Epstein’s homes in Manhattan and the U.S. Virgin Islands. She was 17 at the time of the alleged abuse.
Sarah’s comments come as Ghislaine Maxwell, former friend of the late peadophile Jeffrey Epstein, faces a sex trafficking trial in New York, in which Prince Andrew has been named several times.
The Duchess of York, 62, told French magazine Madame Figaro that she still loves and stands by her former husband Prince Andrew, 61. Pictured with their daughters Princess Beatrice, 33, left and Eugenie, 31, right
Referring to the negative media coverage she suffered for years following her separation from Prince Andrew in 1992, Fergie explained: ‘I was maybe the most persecuted woman in the history of the royal family, but I’m still here.
‘The bruised reed that doesn’t break is in my DNA.’
Speaking of her ex-husband, with whom she still lives with at Royal Lodge in Windsor, she said her wedding day was the most beautiful day of her life.
She added: ‘I loved him and I still love him today, I will stay by his side, because I believe in him, it is a good man.’
The mother-of-two said her daughters are her priority, and added she never misses any of their calls ,always ready to lend them a compassionate ear.
Speaking to French press, the mother-of-two, pictured in Paris in November, said she is a ‘bruised reed that won’t break’
She said being a mother was the one thing she has done best in her life and suggested it was because she did not have a motherly figure in her own mother.
Susan Barrantes divorced Fergie’s father in 1974 and moved to Latin America where she raised horses before her death in 1998.
Speaking of her latest novel Her Heart for a Compass, the Duchess of York said writing it during lockdown was therapeutic and boosted her self-esteem.
She mused she would like to see it made into a French movie starring Lea Seydoux as the heroine Margaret.
She said she has approached French production company about her novel’s movie rights.
Sarah’s latest comments come as Maxwell faces allegations of recruiting minors for the late peadophile Epstein to sexually abuse from 1994 to 2004.
Andrew has been mentioned three times in the trial so far – by Jeffrey Epstein’s pilot – who said he flew with the disgraced financier – by one of the victims Jane – who said he remembered Andrew on the plane – and his former housekeeper – who said Andrew was ‘always polite and a very nice guy. He was the only guy who left us a tip’.
Andrew has been accused by Epstein ‘sex slave’ Virginia Giuffre of raping her, allegations which he denies.
Giuffre, who has filed a related civil lawsuit against Andrew but is not part of the criminal case against Maxwell, has described Epstein’s former ‘madam’ as a ‘Mary Poppins’ figure who made young girls feel comfortable as they were being lured into the paedophile’s web.
Maxwell is known to have introduced the prince to Epstein.
Ms Giuffre has sued the duke in New York, alleging he had sex with her more than 20 years ago when she was a minor under US law.
That civil lawsuit is expected to be heard before a jury in late 2022. Andrew has not been criminally charged and has ‘unequivocally’ denied the allegations.
On October 11, Scotland Yard decided to take no further action over accuser Virginia Roberts’s allegation that she was trafficked to London as a 17-year-old and forced to have sex with Andrew, after its officers reportedly spoke with her.
It will also take no further action over claims that financier Epstein groomed and abused other young women in Britain.