Princess Eugenie’s wedding to Jack Brooksbank on a blustery Friday morning was the most high-profile moment in years for Prince Andrew’s branch of the British royal family—and, two decades after Andrew and Sarah Ferguson’s tabloid-heavy divorce scandal, one of the happiest. Though Andrew and Sarah have been a remarkably happy divorced couple, their family story has included all manner of P.R. disaster and Palace embarrassment, ranging from sting operation to alleged sex scandal involving a billionaire criminal. Herewith, a look back at all the drama that led to Friday’s much happier royal wedding into better context.
“Randy Andy:” Before Prince Andrew married Ferguson in 1986, the royal earned the nickname “Randy Andy” because of his zest for the opposite sex. One infamous early paramour was Koo Stark, an American actress who managed to get an invitation to Balmoral to meet the Queen. After press reported that Stark had taken part in racy sex scenes in a 1976 R-rated film called Emily—the stills of which were splashed across tabloids—Andrew broke off the relationship. And Buckingham Palace was forced to awkwardly address the meeting between the monarch and the actress, saying, “We do not know if the Queen was aware of the girl’s acting career before she was invited to Balmoral.”
Fergie’s Extramarital Indiscretions: It has been estimated by royal biographer Sally Bedell Smith that Prince Andrew’s naval career kept him away from his wife for all but 42 days a year during his marriage. While her husband was away, Ferguson was photographed at night clubs and taking vacations alongside men like 35-year-old Texas millionaire Steve Wyatt, the photographic evidence of which were published by tabloids. The coup de grâce was a front-page tabloid exposé that ran in 1992. Headlined “Fergie’s Stolen Kisses,” the feature contained 10 photos of the Duchess cavorting with her “financial adviser,” John Bryan, in the South of France. One picture showed Ferguson sunbathing topless, with her male companion kissing her toes. Another showed Ferguson and the man embracing, while a two-year-old Eugenie watched.
Making matters worse, the photographs were printed while Ferguson was on holiday with Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip at Balmoral.
“It would be accurate to report that the porridge was getting cold,” Fergie wrote in her memoir, remembering the morning the newspapers were delivered. “Eyes wide and mouths ajar, the adults were flipping through the Daily Mirror and the rest of the tabloids . . . I had been exposed for what I truly was. Worthless. Unfit. A national disgrace.”
Prince Philip has never forgiven his former daughter-in-law for disgracing the royal family while the Queen—tolerant as she is—eventually mended her relationship with Ferguson.
Sex Scandal: In 2011, Prince Andrew found himself entrenched in an unsavory sex scandal involving one of his most problematic friends: Jeffrey Epstein, the billionaire money manager and convicted sex offender. That year, in a lawsuit filed against Epstein, a young woman named Virginia Roberts claimed that she had worked as an under-age prostitute for the money manager, who allegedly “forced” her “to have sexual relations” on three occasions with “a member of the British Royal Family, Prince Andrew.” Photographic evidence and flight logs proved that the royal and Roberts were in the same cities when the alleged encounters took place. But the Palace vehemently denied “any form of sexual contact or relationship” between Andrew and his accuser, claiming that “the allegations made are false and without any foundation.”
Vanity Fair contributor Edward Klein reported in 2011 that, according to “Juan Alessi, a former employee at Epstein’s Palm Beach estate, Andrew attended naked pool parties and was treated to massages by a harem of adolescent girls.” But Prince Andrew insisted that he never attended nor was aware of any naked pool parties.
That same year, Ferguson admitted that Epstein had helped pay off some of her debt. In light of the scandal, Ferguson released an apology, stating, “I personally, on behalf of myself, deeply regret that Jeffrey Epstein became involved in any way with me. I abhor pedophilia and any sexual abuse of children and know that this was a gigantic error of judgment on my behalf. . . . Whenever I can I will repay the money and will have nothing ever to do with Jeffrey Epstein ever again.”
More Unsavory Ties: Before resigning from his post as the United Kingdom’s Special Trade Representative following the Epstein scandal, Andrew had been accused of myriad murky business dealings. Among them, according to Klein:
Palace spokespeople have had to work full-time to rebut such allegations—explaining that the Duke of York took a helicopter to ensure he could take part in “a busy, full program of engagements across four locations,” and that the decision was made in consideration with “effective use of time, security, and minimizing the impact on others.”
Cash for Access: In 2010, after her finances imploded, Ferguson was allegedly entrapped in a sting operation by News of the World reporter Mazher Mahmood. In a meeting caught on hidden camera, Mahmood posed as an Indian businessman willing to pay Ferguson £500,000 ($718,000) in exchange for access to her ex-husband. The entire, humiliating hand off—in which Fergie appeared to accept a $40,000 cash down payment, and tells Mahmood that Andrew “never does accept a penny for anything” and that she simply wanted “a lick of the spoon”—was promptly uploaded to the Internet.
“I was so out of control with desperation where I’d reached the point of no return,” Ferguson later told Oprah Winfrey in an interview. “There aren’t really many words to describe an act of such gross stupidity.”
Both Ferguson and the Palace insisted that Prince Andrew had been unaware of the meeting. After consulting with Queen Elizabeth, Prince Andrew helped mitigate his ex-wife’s debt.
Since then, Ferguson has written that her daughters are actually “grateful for the . . . entrapment, as it has saved their Mummy” from her complacency.
Beatrice’s Bad Boy: Eugenie’s older sister Beatrice made news in 2006 when the then-17-year-old dated a Long Islander named Paolo Liuzzo. A background check on Beatrice’s boyfriend revealed that four years earlier, in 2002, Liuzzo had been charged with manslaughter “after a Worcester, Massachusetts, apartment brawl led to the death of a fellow student at the College of the Holy Cross, where he was a sophomore,” according to People. “In exchange for pleading to assault and battery, he received three years probation and 100 hours community service and last fall was allowed to work in the U.K. for a now defunct nonprofit.” The relationship ended that same year.
