Sarah Ferguson comes across as fun and energetic to Americans, but she doesn’t have the best reputation in the UK, and there’s a reason for that, claims one royal expert.
Royal biographer Andrew Lownie says Fergie has been taking advantage of her position as a royal and using her royal title for personal gain in her publishing and business ventures.
Lownie, author of Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York, explains the difference between the American and British perspectives, with Americans being long-distance royal watchers and Brits having a front-row seat.
Lownie said: “Americans have a completely false view of her, they think she’s a kooky, kind, energetic, victim, who is amazing, and she’s really a very manipulative woman who gets other people to do all the work.”
He added: “The British perception is that she is a limpet on the Royal Family, she’s very vulgar, she’s exploited her royal position, and she’s a bit of a fraud.”
Lownie provided an assessment of what he’s seeing and how it’s deemed inappropriate. He believes Sarah is taking advantage of her title and the Royal Family.
He explained: “She uses the title Duchess, and she’s not been married to the Duke for almost 30 years, and she still uses the title, in fact, she was using the HRH (Her Royal Highness), which she was deprived of when they got divorced, and all of her marketing is around The Duchess Collection, and stuff like that.”
He put it bluntly: “She is absolutely blatantly exploiting being a royal for commercial gain.”