From writing children’s books to promoting cranberry juice, Sarah Ferguson has spent decades working on money-making schemes to bring in some much-needed cash.
The Duchess of York, also known for hosting reality shows and interviewing stars for money, has often found herself on the verge of bankruptcy despite her royal status.
She has been on an insatiable quest for cash through a series of business ventures since divorcing Prince Andrew in 1996, despite being left with £3million at the time.
This included £1.4million to set up a trust fund for Beatrice and Eugenie, £500,000 from the Queen to buy a new house for her and her children and £350,000 in cash.
While Sarah got a modest monthly allowance based on Andrew’s salary as a Royal Navy officer, she also had a £4.2million overdraft at royal bankers Coutts & Co.
The Daily Mail has taken a look at her efforts to boost her finances over the years after charities dropped her on Monday following the disclosure of a bombshell email to paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein which described him as a ‘supreme friend’.
Children’s author – how ‘bland’ Budgie helped Fergie earn £4.6m
After giving birth to her first daughter Princess Beatrice, Sarah turned her hand to writing children’s books.
Panned by some critics as ‘ghastly’ and ‘bland’, her 1996 debut novel Budgie the Little Helicopter, followed by Budgie at Bendick’s Point, sold 100,000 copies, netting Fergie more than £140,000 in US serialisation rights and a newspaper deal.
Sarah stands next to a ‘Budgie the Little Helicopter’ ride at Bloomingdale’s in New York in 1995
The duchess claimed the books were inspired by her own helicopter lessons but she was later accused of copying the idea from an out-of-print 1964 book Hector the Helicopter by Arthur W Baldwin. She denied the claim.
Despite the adverse publicity, she went on to land a £3 million TV deal for an animated series which ran for 39 episodes on ITV and went onto air in the States and Canada.
The lucrative deal is believed to have been negotiated by her American financial advisor at the time, Johnny Bryan, at the Cannes Film Festival.
‘Budgie the Little Helicopter’ and ‘Budgie at Bendick’s Point’ on display in London in 1989
And what happened? He was snapped apparently sucking her toes as she sunbathed topless on the French Riviera.
The first series attracted 1.5 million viewers but it was the money-spinning marketing deals, including Budgie fridge magnets, Easter eggs, underwear, cutlery, bubble bath, soft-pile rugs, foil balloons and chocolate cake, that made Fergie a fortune.
The overall merchandising deal was estimated at £8 million of which Fergie received £1.6 million.
Film producer and Royal biographer – Fergie in the archives
After visiting Osborne House, Queen Victoria’s home on the Isle of Wight, Fergie was inspired to write a book about her husband’s great-great-great grandparents, Victoria and Albert.
Fergie co-produced The Young Victoria, and her daughter Beatrice played a lady-in-waiting
She teamed up with artist and biographer Benita Stoney to delve into the Royal Archives to produce a pitch which was then picked up by 20th Century Fox for the 2009 film The Young Victoria.
Fergie was a co-producer on the film, which was written by Julian Fellowes, starred Emily Blunt, Rupert Friend and Jim Broadbent and featured Princess Beatrice as a lady-in-waiting.
It is not known how much the duchess made from the venture, but the profits from the film premiere went to a charity she founded. Children in Crisis.
A 1996 divorce from Prince Andrew left her with £3 million
After getting divorced from Andrew on May 30, 1996, the Duchess intimated that she had been financially cut adrift by the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh.
But it later emerged that she had received £500,000 from the Queen to buy a new house for her and her children; £350,000 in cash; £1.4 million to set up a trust fund for Beatrice and Eugenie; and a modest monthly allowance based on the Duke of York’s salary as a Royal Navy officer.
Sarah and Prince Andrew attend Royal Ascot at Ascot Racecourse on June 21, 2019
Prince Andrew met the cost of his daughters’ school and university fees.
Although the total, estimated to be around £3 million, was dwarfed by Princess Diana’s £17 million settlement, Fergie, unlike Diana, didn’t sign a confidentiality agreement.
The autobiography – protocol ignored for £1 million
Fergie reportedly had a £4.2 million overdraft at Royal bankers Coutts & Co at the time of her divorce so needed to earn money fast.
In 1996, with the ink barely dry on her decree absolute, she threw protocol to the wind and began writing her autobiography, My Story, co-authored by New Yorker writer Jeff Coplon.
Sarah Ferguson released her autobiography in 1996, soon after her divorce from Andrew
It earned her an advance of £800,000 and made it into the top three in American bestseller lists.
She also cashed in on serial rights around the world: a letter from her publisher Simon and Schuster revealed that she had spurned an offer of £250,000 and was looking for free TV advertising as well.
Hello! eventually landed the scoop, which they covered over 17 glossy pages in the magazine.
Two redheaded heroines and a £500,000 payday
In a burst of creativity, Fergie returned to writing children’s books soon after her autobiography.
She signed a deal worth an estimated £500,000 with New York publishers Delacorte Press for two books, The Royal Switch, and Bright Lights.
Fergie’s children’s books The Royal Switch and Bright Lights featured illustrations which seemed to pay an uncanny tribute to the duchess herself
Dedicated to her ‘best friends’ daughters Eugenie and Beatrice, and published in 1996, the novels follow the adventures of two red-headed girls – one an English princess, the other her identical American friend Emily – with illustrations that pay an uncanny tribute to the Duchess herself.
Reports from critics were less than glowing, with one writing: ‘Sarah Ferguson’s latest efforts will raise new concerns about her literary prowess.’
Undeterred, she was still writing a decade later.
Sarah teamed up with New York Times bestselling illustrator Robin Preiss Glasser for her 2008 children’s book Tea for Ruby.
Sarah teamed up with illustrator Robin Preiss Glasser for her 2008 book Tea for Ruby
Hold the front page – for £300,000
Fergie accepted £84,000 from Paris Match magazine in damages after it published topless poolside photographs of her with Texan adviser John Bryan in 1992.
But the duchess had no qualms in signing a deal with the same magazine to work as a roving reporter – interviewing the rich and famous around the world.
Commissioned to do six pieces a year, she was expected to earn around £50,000 an article.
The bit between her teeth, Fergie then signed a 1998 syndication contract with The New York Times to distribute a weekly diary of anecdotes to publications worldwide.
Her words of wisdom were co-written with Jeff Coplon, co-author of her biography.
But her career as a newspaper columnist was soon in tatters after newspapers such as the Toronto Sun and Chicago Sun-Times dropped the column.
Endorsed by Fergie, the £600,000 Rent-a-Royal…
After her divorce, Fergie signed a series of commercial deals to decrease her overdraft.
In 1997, she promoted the Japanese camera brand Olympus, photographed holding the camera aloft on a yacht alongside New York’s most famous landmark, the Statue of Liberty.
Fergie’s advertisement in Austria for the camera Olympus contained an allusion to the fling she had with Austrian tennis star Thomas Muster (pictured)
She was paid £20,000 and given a first-class return ticket to New York but still asked if she could keep the cashmere coat she wore in the photograph. When Olympus refused, she bought it for £1,500.
Sadly, Fergie failed to check for any potential embarrassment in the small print: the advertisement, which was launched in Austria, contained an allusion to the fling she had with Austrian tennis star Thomas Muster.
Its strapline contained the German word Musterbeispiel, which means steadfastness or perseverance, a play on his surname.
The same year, Fergie pocketed £500,000 for filming Ocean Spray’s 30-second commercial for cranberry juice but reportedly managed to fluff her lines 102 times.
That didn’t stop Austrian tycoon Richard Lugner from inviting Fergie to be guest of honour at Vienna’s famous Opera Ball in 1997 – or paying her up to £57,000 for a book-signing in his shopping centre.
From ‘Duchess of Pork’ to Diet Queen and £22 million
In 1996, Fergie landed a 11-year £1-million-a-year deal making her diet queen of America – and slimming her overdraft in the process.
Fergie lost four stones cutting calories and exercising with personal trainer Josh Saltzman
She wrote a series of lifestyle books with Weight Watchers including Dieting with The Duchess
Weight Watchers employed Fergie, who was cruelly dubbed the ‘Duchess of Pork’, to promote their diet after she lost four stone cutting the calories and working out with personal trainer Josh Saltzman.
But she still faced a £700,000 unpaid tax bill from the Inland Revenue. Over the next decade she wrote a series of lifestyle books with Weight Watchers including Dieting with The Duchess and Dining with the Duchess.
£500,000 for promoting Wedgwood china in America
Sarah Ferguson smiles during an opening of a Wedgwood store in Moscow in July 2002
After the success of her Weight Watchers’ deal, its owner, Irish billionaire Tony O’Reilly, approached Fergie to represent another of his interests, British pottery and china firm Wedgwood.
Despite having a Royal Warrant from The Queen, Fergie made a secret pilot film for the company before landing her £500,000 contract in 1999 to promote the brand in America.
High-tech Fergie becomes a £1 million Internet ambassador
Fergie jumped at the chance to become an official ambassador for the Internet Company World Online in 1999 when its boss, her personal friend Nina Brink, asked her to get involved.
She had top-level meetings in South Africa with the Dutch-based communications’ firm before securing a £1 million deal.
She then had to have lessons at home in Sunninghill, Berkshire, on how to use the Net.
Her Little Red rag doll won hearts, minds – and a £1m, five-book deal
Fergie’s £10 rag doll, Little Red, was sold exclusively by New York’s toy giant FAO Schwarz to raise money for her US children’s charity Chances For Children.
One of Sarah Ferguson’s Little Red rag dolls was found by a New York fireman amid the ruins of the World Trade Centre. She received an estimated £1 million for writing books about Little Red
One of the dolls was found by a New York fireman amid the ruins of the World Trade Centre after 9/11.
‘The fireman said the doll is a sign that we must continue to fight, that we must go forward,’ she said at the time.
‘Now I carry her around everywhere with me because I want children to know that there’s a future and it’s not just about devastation and anthrax. I will go on, and I will support more children.’
However, she was later accused of cashing in on the attack by signing an estimated £1 million to write five books about the doll. The first book Little Red was published in 2003.
Fergie goes to Hollywood
Fergie voiced the role of the Queen in Walt Disney’s The Cat That Looked at a King DVD
Despite her seeming lack of qualifications, Fergie was invited by Universal Studios to conduct filmed interviews with the cast of Peter Pan for a 2004 DVD. The production starred Richard Briers, Olivia Williams, and Lynn Redgrave.
The same year, she saw no problem in voicing the role of the Queen in Walt Disney’s DVD The Cat That Looked at A King. It’s not known how much she was paid.
Documentary maker – Sarah visits the ‘Shameless’ estate
When Fergie took part in two fly-on-the-wall documentaries, she split audiences.
Some praised her for tackling difficult subjects; others accused her of being patronising.
In 2009, Fergie filmed Duchess on the Estate in Wythenshawe, Manchester, famous for being where Channel 4’s Shameless was filmed
Fergie took part in two fly on the wall documentaries, including Duchess in Hull (pictured)
Sarah lived on a council estate and advised the Sargerson family on changing their diet
In the first, The Duchess in Hull, which was aired on ITV1 in 2008, Sarah lived on a council estate and advised the family of Tonia and Mick Sargerson on changing their diet.
The following year, she went to the Wythenshawe estate in Manchester, where Channel 4’s comedy-drama Shameless was filmed, to make The Duchess on the Estate. The idea was to help transform it into a thriving local community.
She drew a degree of ridicule for ‘hoodie hunting’ in the evenings, as she put it, in an attempt to meet the locals.
‘You toffee-nosed git,’ was one of the politer greetings.
Around the same time Sarah made Duchess and Daughters, Their Secret Mission, roping in Beatrice and Eugenie to travel with her to Romania and Turkey to investigate their treatment of children in orphanages.
But the programme, which aired on ITV on November 6, 2008, caused a diplomatic row when Turkish officials accused her of launching a ‘smearing campaign’ against the country.
Sarah Ferguson wore a disguise while filming Duchess and Daughters, Their Secret Mission
Beatrice and Eugenie (pictured centre left) travelled with the Duchess to Romania and Turkey
Disguised in a wig and headscarf, the Duchess and her entourage gained access to the Saray institution near Ankara, where more than 700 disabled children are housed, by posing as potential donors.
ITV reporter Chris Rogers, who accompanied her on the trip, wrote in The Mail on Sunday: ‘In every corner, a child showed signs of distress, with many exhibiting the violent rocking of the institutionalised.’
It’s not known how much she earned from the TV ventures.
Sarah hits rock bottom by falling for a £500,000 sting…
Fergie’s rollercoaster business career reached an all-time low when she was filmed by the now defunct News of the World’s ‘Fake Sheik’ Mazher Mahmood offering access to Britain’s Trade Ambassador Prince Andrew for £500,000.
Not only did she take away a briefcase containing £27,600 in cash but she is heard saying: ‘£500,000 when you can, to me, open doors.’
After the 2010 sting, the duchess launched an audacious lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch for more than £25 million over her damaged reputation. It failed.
Mahmood was later jailed for conspiring to pervert the course of justice in an unrelated case.
…then tells us all about it in a £200,000 reality show
How to respond to such an ignominious downfall – not to mention debts of £4million? With a warts-and-all’ television series, of course.
Sarah is pictured with her daughter Beatrice (right) on Oprah Winfrey Network’s Finding Sarah
Fergie hosted Finding Sarah, a six-part documentary on Oprah Winfrey’s new cable network OWN.
The duchess spoke to experts including a psychologist, a financier, and a life coach about her troubles, covering her parents’ divorce, her relationships, weight problems and the cash-for-access scandal.
‘I’m doing this because I need to heal my mind, body and spirit,’ she said at the time.
She claimed that she regretted divorcing Prince Andrew and disclosed that her mother had criticised her as a toddler telling her: ‘You’ve got the sign of the Devil.’
The TV show was accompanied by a book Finding Sarah: A Duchess’s Journey to Find Herself
The 2011 TV show, for which she was reportedly paid £200,000, was accompanied by a book Finding Sarah: A Duchess’s Journey to Find Herself.
However, she sold fewer than 1,000 copies of the book, according to figures released by Nielsen BookScan, which monitors sales in the publishing world.
Her debts were eventually paid after the Duke of York mounted an operation to save her from bankruptcy.
The debts were repaid at an average rate of 25 pence in the pound and included a £15,000 payment to Johnny O’Sullivan – a former assistant to the Duchess – made by the late Jeffrey Epstein, millionaire financier and convicted paedophile .
In a grovelling apology, duchess said it had been a ‘gigantic error of judgment’ to accept the cash and promised to repay it.
Emulsified food is the way ahead (she tells American TV)
The next time Fergie popped up on American television was in 2015 when she was plugging a blender, bizarrely named the Fusion Xcelerator Food Emulsifier, in a 28-minute infomercial entitled Duchess Discoveries.
She later appeared on the QVC shopping channel to plug the brand.
In 2015, Fergie was on US TV plugging a blender named the Fusion Xcelerator Food Emulsifier
The £65 blender, which came with Sarah’s meal plan, claimed to break down foods
The £65 blender, which came with Sarah’s meal plan, claimed to break down foods into a ‘micro-cellular pre-digestive state’ and capture ‘all of the essential vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and phyto-nutrients’ to ensure the healthiest smoothies.
But it was criticised by some dieticians.
Around the same time, she launched a range of flavoured teas.
Back to writing. This time it’s an ‘Enchanted Tree’
The financial pressure grew tighter still when Prince Andrew – with whom she still lives, despite the divorce – was forced to step back from royal duties.
(His disgrace was precipitated by a catastrophic Newsnight interview in 2019, an attempt to clear his name which provoked widespread incredulity – and outrage from victims of Andrew’s former friend, Jeffrey Epstein).
Financial pressure grew ever tighter when Prince Andrew was forced to step back from Royal duties after his disastrous Newsnight interview in 2019
A few months later, she landed a 22-book deal for novels based on her own life with Australian publisher Serenity Press.
Aimed at young adults, the books included Genie Gems Meets Arthur Fantastic, based on her daughter Eugenie, Puddle Boots and The Enchanted Oak Tree.
Fergie penned one book a month for a year for the publisher’s Kindness Collection and donated 20 per cent of the profits to her charity Sarah’s Trust.
Could gold-nibbed, nature-inspired fountain pens do the trick?
Fergie teamed up with the Montegrappa brand to bring out a range of fountain pens inspired by the colours of nature
When Fergie signed her book deal, she used a £1,742 fountain pen, made by Italian luxury goods brand Montegrappa.
She has since teamed up with the company to bring out a new range of fountain pens inspired by the colours of nature.
The 18-carat gold nib on each pen is engraved with her personal monogram S.
‘I’m old-fashioned and almost always work in long hand,’ she wrote on social media, explaining that all her words flow onto the page from Montegrappa nibs.
The Duchess gets a small royalty for her name and gives a percentage to the charity Street Child.
‘Aimiable tosh’! But Fergie’s romance novels sell thousands
Fergie was inspired by her great-great-aunt Lady Margaret Montagu Douglas Scott, who was a bridesmaid to Queen Victoria’s daughter Princess Helena, to write her first adult novel Her Heart For a Compass.
The book, penned with historical romance author Marguerite Kaye, emerged on the Sunday Times bestseller list and sold more than 1,000 hardback copies in its first week, despite being dubbed ‘a slog’ by one critic and ‘amiable tosh’ by another.
She later revealed that she had presented her ‘mother’ and ‘wonderful best friend’ The Queen with a preview copy of her book in French but told her she didn’t have to read it.
Fergie says she was inspired by her great-great-aunt, Lady Margaret Montagu Douglas Scott, to write her first adult novel, titled Her Heart For a Compass
Fergie’s Her Heart for a Compass was followed by a sequel titled A Most Intriguing Lady (right)
Sarah promotes her new novel at the London Book Fair, held at Olympia in April 2023
Her second Mills & Boon, also written with Marguerite, was the sequel A Most Intriguing Lady, published in March 2023.
The book revolves around Lady Mary and her husband the Honourable Walter Rodolph Trefusis, who was a lieutenant colonel in the Scots Guards.
After a whirlwind tour of international television studios, Fergie made an appearance at last week’s London Book Fair to promote the book. She is now in talks with a number of streaming services over TV adaptations.
Now it’s digital ‘art’ and NFTs
One of Fergie’s most recent money-making forays was making digital art, in which her ‘spoken word’ poetry is overlaid with visual interpretations of the story by other artists.
Sarah Ferguson has launched a gallery of digital art featuring her own spoken-word poetry
She has collaborated with the Nifty Gateway platform to sell nonfungible tokens, or NFTs
It was revealed in December 2022 that she had set up a company and collaborated with the Nifty Gateway platform to sell nonfungible tokens, or NFTs.
Her first work, Gateway to the Self, was performed with actor Laurence Fuller.
Getting behind the microphone for ‘Tea Talks’ podcast
Sarah entered the podcast business in 2023 with ‘Tea Talks with the Duchess and Sarah’, alongside Sarah Thomson, the founder of children’s newspaper First News.
Sarah launched the ‘Tea Talks with the Duchess and Sarah’ podcast alongside Sarah Thomson
The podcast series, which ran for 13 episodes across one season, promised ‘candid conversations as they spill the tea on the rollercoaster of life’ .
She spoke about her breast cancer diagnosis in one episode, and in another told how loyalty, kindness and integrity feature in her own personal ‘rule book’.
380,000 changed a minute: Moving into the nappy business
Sarah told the Mail last month that she had created an ‘eco-friendly nappy’ or ‘compostable diaper’ in a project called the ‘Greater Good’.
She said at the time: ‘I think it’s very exciting, being a grandmother, because the more grandchildren I have, the more urgency there is for compostable diapers.’
The creation emerged from a collaboration with Dr Jason Graham-Nye and his wife Kim – once named among Fortune magazine’s Ten Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs.
She said its capacity to decompose in ‘compostable’ fashion means that unlike most disposable nappies, often laden with microplastics, it need not be dumped in landfill.
‘There are 380,000 nappies changed a minute, so it’s a really good solution,’ Sarah said, added that the products were being produced in Samoa.
This article is an updated version of a piece first published by the Mail in April 2023
