Sarah Fergusonis facing renewed scrutiny after a new book claimed the former Duchess of York usedPrincess Beatrice's credit card and once paid a psychic in cigarettes. The allegations, reported in British and US outlets and attributed to royal biographerAndrew Lownie, focus on Ferguson's finances and behaviour in the years after her divorce from Prince Andrew.
The claims arrive after decades of attention on Ferguson's money troubles and commercial ventures following the end of her marriage in 1996. Lownie's book,Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York, is chiefly about Andrew's downfall, but it also examines Ferguson's approach to money. For years, she has been portrayed as a royal living on the edge of privilege, no longer fully inside the institution but still closely tied to its world of luxury.
InEntitled, Lownie writes that Ferguson 'rarely paid for anything, expecting to be given products for free or be entertained by friends,' a pattern he says unsettled people around her. According to excerpts cited byHello!, he alleges that she borrowed couture and did not always return it, ordered clothes and failed to pay for them, and at times relied on staff to meet costs on their personal credit cards.
Lownie also claims it is 'unclear' whether those aides were ever repaid, leaving resentment among people in her orbit. The most striking allegation concerns her daughters. He writes that 'Sarah herself drew on Beatrice's credit card constantly and paid one psychic in cigarettes,' suggesting blurred financial boundaries within the family.
The picture that emerges goes beyond unpaid bills or borrowed designer items. Lownie presents Ferguson as someone who remained attached to a costly lifestyle long after leaving the formal protection of royal life. Ferguson has not publicly addressed the specific anecdotes, and the claims have not been independently verified.
Ferguson's financial strain did not begin with this book. Her divorce from Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, then still Prince Andrew, was settled in 1996. According toPeople, she received around 475,000 US dollars, including a lump sum and other provisions. The same report contrasted that with the roughly 22 million US dollars, plus allowances, received by the late Princess Diana after her split from then Prince Charles.
That gap helps explain why money remained such a persistent issue. Royal author Robert Jobson toldPeoplethat Ferguson 'was introduced to this lifestyle and kept living it,' adding that 'she was desperate for money.' The suggestion is that a relatively modest settlement, by royal standards, clashed with the expectations and habits of high society.
In an effort to bridge that gap, Ferguson has pursued commercial projects ranging from endorsements to children's books and adult fiction. Lownie's book suggests that this public hustle may have sat alongside a private dependence on the generosity of others, including friends, staff and, at times, family.
Royal commentator Ingrid Seward is also quoted as arguing that any York branded comeback now faces a colder climate. 'This time no one is going to give her the airspace,' she said, pointing to the damage caused by Andrew's association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Those are judgments from commentators rather than settled facts, but they underline how narrow Ferguson's options may now be.
Recent tabloid reports have added another layer to that picture. An April 2026 report claimedFerguson had been staying in an upscale chalet in Austria, but suggested she may have been based in staff accommodation rather than paying full price. One unnamed source said there was 'a growing belief that she is actually based in staff accommodation, which would explain how she is managing to remain there without the kind of expense people would expect'.
Source: International Business Times UK
