Sarah, Duchess of York, once candidly opened up about not being invited to Prince William and Princess Kate’s wedding in 2011. While her ex-husband, Prince Andrew and their two daughters Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie attended the wedding at Westminster Abbey; the Duchess was out of the country.
As reported by Town & Country, Sarah explained how she felt about the royal wedding ban. She said: “I didn’t think I was probably worthy to go to their wedding. I took myself to Thailand, actually, to be far away from it so that I could try and heal.”
Prince William married Kate at the Abbey on April 29, 2011, and there were seven months between the couple announcing their engagement and the day of the wedding.
Seven years later, however, the Duchess attended Prince Harry and Meghan Markle‘s wedding at St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle.
Fergie explained she had received the invitation from the late Queen. Speaking on Good Morning Britain in 2018, she said, “What an icon to the country, and one of the finest people in the world I’ve ever met. And I think that Her Majesty leads by such an example and is so inclusive — to include me is a wonderful gesture.”
She explained: “Her Majesty knew me from when I was a little naughty age 10 … I can’t thank Her Majesty enough for being so steadfast to me.”
Andrew and Sarah were introduced to each other in June 1985 by Diana, Princess of Wales and embarked on a whirlwind romance, getting engaged in February 1986 and marrying that July.
Despite their divorce in 1996, the Duke and Duchess of York continue to share a close bond, and the former couple live together at Royal Lodge, a £30 million property in the heart of Windsor Great Park in Berkshire.
The couple have lived at the royal residence since 2004 when his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, granted the Duke to lease to the property the year prior, under the expectation that renovations would be undertaken to “repair, renew, uphold, clean and keep in repair and where necessary rebuild” the home.
Royal Lodge, a 19th-century Grade-II listed building, sits on 90 acres of land and has more than 30 rooms, including seven bedrooms.