It might all have been so different. Instead of living out her life under a cloud at Royal Lodge, Windsor, she could have been First Lady of America, lording it in lavish splendour in the Washington White House.
In her dreams, at least.
It’s certainly true that Sarah, Duchess of York once had dreams of marrying John F. Kennedy Jnr, known as John-John, handsome son of the assassinated president.
On a trip to New York in the early 1990s, according to her close friend Allan Starkie, the Duchess – then on a break from Prince Andrew and frolicking with her Texan ‘financial advisor’ John Bryan – decided on impulse that she would marry Kennedy.
One slight problem – they’d never met.
‘She got one of her staff to telephone Kennedy’s apartment and finally tracked him down to ask whether he would come round to the Carlyle Hotel to have dinner,’ recalled successful US businessman Starkie in his memoirs.
‘She told me, “You know, I find him so attractive“.’
Surprisingly – for he barely knew who she was – Kennedy agreed to the tryst.
‘She was thrilled,’ said Starkie. ‘She came beaming to me about this great coup, the first step in her latest madcap ambition.’
Starkie felt bound to point out that, at this time, Kennedy was deep in a relationship with Splash! actress Daryl Hannah and whatever plan was formulating in Sarah’s mind, it was unlikely to bear fruit.
Sarah Ferguson with Texan financial advisor John Bryan leave a Manhattan hotel and head to London in 1992
JFK Jnr was in a relationship with Daryl Hannah for five years before he met and married his wife, Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy
Allan Starkie, author of Fergie Her Secret Life tried to warn the Duchess that JFK junior was in a relationship but she wasn’t deterred
‘Yes I know, Starkie, but that’s nothing,’ replied the duchess. ‘That’s not going to bother me!’
Two hours later a message came back from Kennedy’s staff saying he was suddenly busy and would have to cancel the date.
‘The Duchess was furious,’ recalled Starkie. ‘Turning to me she said, “It’s quite clear what happened – Darryl Hannah obviously looked at his appointment book, saw my name, freaked out – and made him cancel because she feels threatened“.’
Sarah, however, was not about to give up. ‘She spent a lot of time working out other ways of trying to get hold of him – “How do I get past this Darryl Hannah problem?“ she’d ask me.’
Starkie describes her actions as a ‘sad fantasy’ which turned decidedly spooky when he nearly lost his life. He quotes the duchess as saying to him, ‘Would you do me a favour? If you die, would you find JFK [the dead President] and explain to him that I am destined to marry John-John and become the First Lady of the United States? I would like him [the President] to approach John-John in his dreams and try to explain it to him and convince him.”
Starkie went on: ‘Her feelings for America’s crown prince only deepened when she heard that Princess Diana had expressed a desire to meet Kennedy.
‘The competition between these two women, which had lurked beneath the surface until this point, was suddenly made clear by Sarah’s anger and jealously at the fact that Diana might get to Kennedy before she did.
‘It was an absurd situation. Both women had marriages that were on the rocks, both were looking for suitable partners – both found the welcome and respect of the Americans infinitely preferable to those of their fellow countrymen. And both hankered for a new life in the United States.
‘But could it be true that both Diana and Sarah had fixed their ambitions on this one man?
‘According to Sarah, it was. But it was my guess that the unsuspecting Kennedy remained blissfully unaware that he might have taken his pick of Britain’s discarded princesses.’
The Duchess of York separated from Prince Andrew in 1992 but just five months later she was pictured in some compromising snaps with Texan millionaire John Bryan
Fergie’s feelings for America’s crown prince only deepened when she heard that Princess Diana had expressed a desire to meet Kennedy
Both Fergie and Diana had marriages that were on the rocks, prompting them to look for suitable partners and a new life in the United States
The Princess of Wales in animated conversation with the Duchess of York at a banquet at Claridge’s hotel in London
The handsome and desirable attorney and magazine publisher – once tipped to follow his father to the Presidency – dated Daryl Hannah for more than five years during the mid-1990s before marrying fashion industry figure Carolyn Bessette in 1996.
Both died in an airplane, piloted by Kennedy, which crashed into the sea near Hyannis Port, Massachusetts in 1999.
Sarah and Andrew had divorced in 1996 after ten years of marriage, and for a time the Duchess lived on with Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie at Sunninghill Park, the Yorks’ marital home on the Windsor estate, before moving to a rented place, Dolphin House at Englefield Green.
After a fire at the house in 2008, and having sufficiently reconciled with her ex-husband, Sarah moved into Royal Lodge which Andrew had inherited on the death of his grandmother the Queen Mother.
Today, it’s almost as if Andrew and Sarah had never parted – they’ve been together far longer than they were apart.
But along the way, after her failed fling with the toe-sucking John Bryan, she had relationships with Gaddo della Gherardesca from 1998 to 2001, and Thomas Muster from 1996 to 1998.
Today it’s almost as if Sarah Ferguson and Prince Andrew never parted as they still live together at Royal Lodge in Windsor
Sarah Ferguson briefly dated tennis player Thomas Muster from 1996 to 1998
The Italian Count Gaddo della Gherardesca dated the Duchess of York from 1998 to 2001
Recently the Duchess was quoted as comparing her relationship with Andrew to her childhood role of caring for her late father, Major Ronald Ferguson, after her mother walked out of the marriage when Sarah was just 14.
She told a newspaper: ‘I became a carer for Dad. I was left to look after a sad man – which is sort of what I’m doing now.”
Now aged 65, does she think back with regret to those surreal days when she thought she could find love with John-John Kennedy – a man she never met – and rise to become America’s First Lady?
Plaintively she says: ‘I know I’m all right because Beatrice, Eugenie and my sister love me.
‘I think Andrew too. I hope so.’
