Sarah Ferguson will pilot a helicopter across Australia for a nature TV show called Duchess Down Under
Sarah Ferguson has revealed she is brushing up on her flying skills in preparation for a television show to be filmed in Australia.
The Duchess of York, 61, said she will be piloting a helicopter in the program that will feature her talking to residents about the country’s culture and natural world.
Interviewed in the latest edition of Saga magazine, the duchess said: ‘I’m working on a screen venture that is a bit like Challenge Anneka, if you remember that 1990s BBC reality program. Mine will be called Duchess Down Under.’
Back in the pilot’s seat: Sarah Ferguson (pictured in 2003) has revealed she is brushing up on her helicopter flying skills in preparation for a television show to be filmed in Australia
She added: ‘Instead of being in the helicopter, as Anneka was, I’ll be flying it – I’m retaking my helicopter test and renewing my licence. I’ll be talking to people in Australia about the culture, the flora and fauna of their nation.’
The duchess has published her debut Mills & Boon novel and hopes it will be adapted into a TV drama because ‘everything that’s written she can already see,’ her co-author has said.
The Duke of York’s ex-wife described the book – Her Heart for a Compass – as a ‘sweeping, fabulous, historical novel’ set in the 1870s and said her heroine Lady Margaret is ‘a very rebellious lady’.
!['Duchess Down Under': She will be piloting a helicopter in the program that will feature her talking to residents about the Australia's culture and natural world. Pictured in Sydney in 2003](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/08/09/23/46484167-9878183-image-a-23_1628548862025.jpg)
‘Duchess Down Under’: She will be piloting a helicopter in the program that will feature her talking to residents about the Australia’s culture and natural world. Pictured in Sydney in 2003
The book, which draws on Sarah’s own life journey and incorporates research into her ancestry, is a fictional account of the life of the duchess’s great-great-aunt Lady Margaret Montagu Douglas-Scott.
Sarah co-wrote the book with Marguerite Kaye, who has written more than 50 novels for Mills & Boon set in a variety of historical eras.
During an appearance on ITV’s Loose Women, Sarah described how she and Diana, Princess of Wales would discuss the impact of being in the public eye.
![New project: 'I'm working on a screen venture that is a bit like Challenge Anneka, if you remember that 1990s BBC reality program. Mine will be called Duchess Down Under,' she said. The Duchess of York is pictured with her ex-husband Prince Andrew in June 2019](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/08/09/23/46223713-9871439-Sarah_Ferguson_says_that_her_ex_husband_Prince_Andrew_who_retire-a-4_1628548970207.jpg)
New project: ‘I’m working on a screen venture that is a bit like Challenge Anneka, if you remember that 1990s BBC reality program. Mine will be called Duchess Down Under,’ she said. The Duchess of York is pictured with her ex-husband Prince Andrew in June 2019
She told the presenters: ‘I do address the eating disorder issue with Lady Margaret in the book. Diana and I used to talk about it a lot, what it is to be on the front pages and people judging about the size you are.
‘I speak openly that it’s okay, just be who you are, keep fighting on and don’t give up. I’m still a work in progress, too.’
Talking about who would play her novel’s lead male, Sarah said: ‘I think Colin Firth is just phenomenal as Darcy… coming out of the lake. I love James Norton but Aidan Turner takes the top spot for me. I thought he was brilliant as Leonardo and Poldark.’
![Great outdoors: 'Instead of being in the helicopter, as Anneka was, I'll be flying it - I'm retaking my helicopter test and renewing my licence,' she said. 'I'll be talking to people in Australia about the culture, the flora and fauna of their nation.' Pictured in August](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/08/09/23/46396481-9871439-Sarah_Ferguson_has_described_herself_as_a_guest_at_her_Royal_Lod-a-2_1628548970156.jpg)
Great outdoors: ‘Instead of being in the helicopter, as Anneka was, I’ll be flying it – I’m retaking my helicopter test and renewing my licence,’ she said. ‘I’ll be talking to people in Australia about the culture, the flora and fauna of their nation.’ Pictured in August