Sarah Ferguson Was Blacklisted From Other Royal Weddings Before and After Prince William and Kate Middleton’s Nuptials
Sarah, Duchess of York married Prince Andrew in 1986 but two children and one toe-sucking scandal later they divorced. Over the last few years, Fergie has found her way back into the royal fold. For a while though she was blacklisted and left off the guest lists for a few royal weddings. She even spoke out about not being able to attend Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge‘s nuptials.
Here are the other royal weddings Sarah was banned from and who made sure she was left off the guest list to one reception probably isn’t who you think.
What Fergie said about not being invited to William and Kate’s wedding
On April 29, 2011, William and Kate said “I do” in front of around 1,900 guests but the Duchess of York wasn’t one of them. While Fergie is the mother of blood princesses, Beatrice and Eugenie, she is also Prince Andrew’s ex-wife so she’s technically not a member of the royal family anymore. Therefore, there’s no protocol dictating that she needs to receive an invite to such events.
Fergie still took it as a snub and opened up to Oprah Winfrey about how difficult it was not being allowed to attend the affair.
“I wanted to be there with my girls … to be getting them dressed and to go as a family,” Fergie said (per The Metro). “Also, it was so hard, because the last bride up that aisle [at Westminster Abby] was me.”
Fergie added that it was actually her ex-husband who tried to cheer her up and told her: “’It’s OK. Just remember we had such a good day. Our wedding was so perfect.’ [Andrew] made me feel part of the day on April the 29th.”
The duchess was banned from these weddings too
If you thought Will and Kate’s wedding was the only one Sarah was banned from think again. The duchess was not invited to the weddings of some lesser-known royals such as Princess Anne’s children.
Anne’s son, Peter Phillips, married Autumn Kelly on May 17, 2008, and Sarah was not on the guest list.
The same was true for when Anne’s daughter, Zara, married Mike Tindall on July 30, 2011.
It’s believed that the Duchess of York wasn’t included on those guest lists because of Prince Philip’s loathe for her, or because Princess Anne doesn’t really care for her, or both.
Sarah was at Meghan and Harry’s wedding, but not the reception
In 2018, things changed for Sarah when she was invited to Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex’s wedding. She stated that she was “honored” and “grateful” to score an invite to see the prince and former Suits star say “I do.”
While Fergie was very happy to attend that wedding she was only invited to the actual ceremony, not the private reception later that evening which was thrown by Harry’s father.
The Prince of Wales did, however, invite his brother as well as Andrew and Fergie’s daughters. Some thought that Prince Philip was the reason Sarah wasn’t permitted to attend the evening affair but a source told the Daily Mail that not inviting her to the reception was Prince Charles’ choice.
“She is not a member of the royal family anymore and Prince Charles simply doesn’t have time for her,” the insider said. “He just can’t see why she is still such a big part of his brother’s life.”
