Sarah Ferguson is officially a duchess no more – and she knows it.
The ex-wife of Britain’s Prince Andrew removed the royal moniker from her social media, days after Buckingham Palace announced her former spouse would be giving up his titles.
Fergie, as she’s popularly known, has since changed her Twitter handle from “@SarahTheDuchess” to “@sarahMFergie15.”
Even though the couple divorced in 1996, the London native had continued to use Duchess of York as a courtesy title throughout her professional pursuits.
Fergie’s move comes after Andrew made the shocking announcement on Oct 17 that he would relinquish his royal titles, including the Duke of York, amid ongoing allegations over his ties to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“In discussion with The King, and my immediate and wider family, we have concluded the continued accusations about me distract from the work of His Majesty and the Royal Family,” the 65-year-old said in the statement. “I have decided, as I always have, to put my duty to my family and country first.”
The second-youngest of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip’s four children, Andrew previously announced in 2019 that he would step back from public life over his links to Epstein, despite his denials of wrongdoing.
“With His Majesty’s agreement, we feel I must now go a step further. I will therefore no longer use my title or the honours which have been conferred upon me,” the embattled royal continued. “As I have said previously, I vigorously deny the accusations against me.”
Andrew’s alleged connection to Epstein has recently returned to the headlines amid the release of abuse accuser Virginia Giuffre’s posthumous memoir. In it, Giuffre, who died by suicide in April, maintains her claims that she was trafficked by Epstein and paid to have sex with Prince Andrew when she was 17.
The prince has maintained his innocence, but settled a lawsuit with Giuffre in 2022, which included filing a statement in court in which he acknowledged Epstein “trafficked countless young girls” and that Giuffre was “an established victim of abuse.”
Ferguson, 66, recently faced blowback when her own close ties to the convicted sex offender came to light with a surfaced email in which she referred to Epstein as her “steadfast, generous and supreme friend.”
She has subsequently been dropped from multiple charities for which she served as an ambassador or patron. – New York Daily News/Tribune News Service
