Move Over Diana: Introducing Sarah Ferguson
Royal Women & The Rags: Part 3 of a Multi-Part Series
Royal Women & the Rags is a Multi-Part series looking into the formulaic way the British media reports on women who marry into the British Royal Family. If you missed it, here’s parts 1 and 2.
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Unlike Diana, Sarah Ferguson, affectionately known as Fergie, entered the royal family as a bubbly, vivacious 26-year-old redhead. Fergie was a commoner, but a wealthy one. Like other upper-crust families, her circle often overlapped with the royal one. She had known Diana growing up and over the years the two had reconnected. In fact it was Diana’s 1985 invitation to the Royal Ascot where Fergie met Prince Andrew, the Queen’s second son. The two hit it off immediately and, after a speedy courtship, were married in July of 1986.
The public was thrilled by the Duchess of York and excited for a new shiny toy that made the old one, Diana, seem dull. “Fergie Takes a Front Seat”, one headline read, declaring that Sarah was the bright new star of the royal family months before her July 1986 nuptials to Prince Andrew. “Snow queen Fergie puts Di in shade”, another paper remarked, noting the superior skiing skills of Sarah over Diana. “First Class Fergie”, one paper exclaimed, naming her their “Personality of the Year”, after her July 1986 wedding. It’s noted that she has, “started to outdo her glamorous sister-in-law, Princess Diana.” When one star shines, another must dim.
As individuals, Fergie and Diana couldn’t have been more different. Nonetheless, they were both young women married to the Queen’s sons and that necessitated comparison, however reductive it was. The personable redhead didn’t seem daunted at all and Diana wasn’t sure how to take it, especially with her husband telling her, “I wish you would be like Fergie–all jolly. Why are you always so miserable?” They were both jealous of each other in the normal way women are conditioned to compare themselves to any other female who enters their orbit.
Despite the setup, Fergie and Diana were friends. Even the papers couldn’t entirely ignore the very real way Diana helped smooth Fergie’s path, guiding her through her first public appearance with the royal family. Diana probably recalled how she could have used this kind of help as a teen entering the royal family. The May 4th 1986 edition of Sunday Mirror mentioned that Fergie wore Diana’s black and white checked coat in February when she went to visit her then boyfriend on the HMS Brazen. They also choose to point out that, recently at the Royal Ascot, Fergie wore another of Diana’s hand-me-downs, shocked that a “curvy 14” could fit into Diana’s clothing, even at her heaviest, a size “10”. Papers seem unable to discuss Fergie without mentioning her “curvy size” and/or the diet she must be on leading up to the royal wedding.
Diana predicted that eventually the glamor of the royal family and the press coverage would fade and Fergie would turn to her and say, “How on earth have you survived all these years?” In the early 90s, that happened.