Sarah Ferguson has reportedly been seen at a remote wellness retreat in Ireland amid the ongoing fallout from her friendship with Jeffrey Epstein.
The former Duchess of York is said to have taken refuge at Ballyliffin Lodge & Spa in Donegal after she was spotted at a nearby airport earlier this month.
Her latest trip abroad comes after she and ex-husband Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor were stripped of their royal titles and evicted from their home, Royal Lodge, over their dealings with the convicted paedophile.
The 66-year-old has visited the four-star retreat before and spoke in 2024 about how the experience had “done wonders” for her during an “overwhelming” period.
“Last time Sarah visited Donegal she spoke about how it was somewhere she could escape to when things were ‘overwhelming’ – and they can’t ever have been more overwhelming for her than they have been in recent weeks,” a source told the Daily Mail.
“And just as she did with the Zurich trip, she knew what she was going to in Donegal as she’d been there before and that it was very remote and very discrete so there was minimal chance of her presence becoming known to the wider world.
“She seems to be very keen indeed to avoid being seen while she works out what to do next. “
The retreat is located just off the picturesque Wild Atlantic Way on the west coast of Ireland and charges between $214 to $260 per night for a room.
The scenic hotel and spa boasts a swimming pool, steam room and sauna, and guests can enjoy services like facials, body wraps, scrubs and massages.
In a video shared to TikTok in 2024, Ferguson filmed herself on a nearby beach in what was her second visit to the retreat in the space of six months.
“Hello everybody. I’m back here in Donegal and sometimes when I find things sometimes get overwhelming, I try and take myself off to the most beautiful, wonderful blast of fresh air,” she told her followers.
“Looking at the ocean, looking at the beach, looking at the shells, It’s great to be in the wind and just getting fresh air on my face. Thank you Donegal.”
Ferguson has not been seen in public since the christening of Princess Beatrice’s daughter, Athena, at St James’s Palace on December 12.
She is believed to have spent January at the $25k-a-day Paracelsus Recovery Clinic in Zurich, Switzerland, and took trips to the United Arab Emirates and Florida.
Following her eviction from Royal Lodge, the author was also thought to be “sofa-surfing” between friends in the UK, but royal experts have speculated whether she will end up living overseas permanently, with the Middle East seeming a viable option.
“In Britain, neither Sarah nor Andrew will be socially accepted again whatever they try to do or wherever they go. But in the Middle East no one will care about what they have got up to,” royal author Andrew Lownie told the aforementioned publication.
Both Ferguson and Andrew were named repeatedly in the US Department of Justice’s Epstein files – including emails reportedly showing the then-Duchess asking the convicted sex offender for financial assistance and for him to hire her as his “house assistant”.
Neither Ferguson nor Andrew have publicly commented on the allegations made in the documents.
The ex-prince was arrested last week on suspicion of misconduct in public office.
He spent nearly 12 hours in custody on his 66th birthday before being released under investigation.