For years she was affectionately mocked — but behind the nickname lay a financial reality so extreme it would eventually spiral into scandal.
Fresh revelations have once again dragged Sarah Ferguson’s extravagant past back into the spotlight, exposing the astonishing scale of her spending at Sunninghill Park — and offering new context for why money from Jeffrey Epstein later became part of her life.
Nicknamed the “Duchess of Excess”, Ferguson’s appetite for luxury saw her accumulate debts of more than £3.7 million by 1994 — long before the Epstein connection emerged.
A household run on indulgence
Life inside Sunninghill Park, the 12-bedroom Ascot mansion she shared with Prince Andrew, was governed by rigid personal rituals and relentless excess.
According to biographers Chris Hutchins and Peter Thompson, staff were required to iron every item of her underwear — including knickers, bras and tights. If the laundry failed to smell of her preferred fabric conditioner, the entire load was sent back to be washed again.
Her nightly routine was just as precise. Two hot water bottles had to be placed beside her king-sized bed — with staff ordered to measure the temperature to ensure it was exactly right. Each morning, freshly squeezed orange juice had to be prepared only when she sat down.
“She could tell if it had been squeezed earlier and refused to touch it,” the authors revealed.
Even the dog lived like royalty
The excess extended well beyond Ferguson herself. Weekly food bills reportedly included £300 on vegetables alone at Waitrose, while freezers were packed with rarely touched ice creams.
Even the family’s Jack Russell, Bendicks, enjoyed a life of luxury. Staff were instructed to cook him “proper dinners” — liver or sausages with gravy — while household energy use frequently sparked rows, with Andrew switching off lights only for Ferguson to defiantly turn them back on.
Sunninghill Park: ‘SouthYork’
The Ascot estate — nicknamed “SouthYork”, a nod to Dallas’ Southfork Ranch — was a palace of indulgence.
The mansion featured:
- A vast marble bathtub known as “HMS Fergie”
- A private cinema and swimming pool
- A helicopter landing pad and bomb shelter
- Panic buttons in bedrooms
- Around 20 rooms for staff
Even the towels, soap and toilet paper were embossed with the initials “A & S”, while annual security costs alone reportedly reached £300,000.
One spare bedroom became known as the “Money Room”, decorated with ape-print wallpaper, while another — described as an “Aladdin’s cave” — was stacked floor-to-ceiling with unopened gifts: hundreds of silver dishes, thousands of crystal glasses and vases worth up to £600 each.
Excess followed her abroad
Lavish living didn’t stop at the gates of Sunninghill.
In the summer of 1994, Ferguson rented the Domaine La Fontaine villa near Cannes for £20,000 — despite it being officially self-catering. She still arrived with a full entourage: a butler, two housekeepers, a personal dresser, a general assistant, a nanny and a friend nicknamed “Sherpa” Yeltsin.
Her daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, were accompanied by two Scotland Yard protection officers. Assistants flew in and out, a truck drove from England with sun loungers and pool toys, and five extra phone lines were installed.
Wine flowed freely — Laurent-Perrier rosé champagne and £50-a-bottle Puligny-Montrachet were delivered daily, often opened and left untouched. Celebrity-filled parties reportedly cost over £100,000.
The Epstein connection
By the mid-1990s, the debts were already staggering. Years later, the picture became darker.
It later emerged that Ferguson accepted a £15,000 loan from Epstein in 2011, with reports suggesting the disgraced financier quietly supported her for up to 15 years. Newly released Epstein-related documents show he arranged accommodation for her in the US and was even asked to fund flights costing nearly $15,000 for Ferguson and her daughters — just 48 hours after his release from prison.
The revelations have reignited uncomfortable questions about how desperate her financial situation had become — and why such money was accepted.
The fall from excess
After her divorce from Andrew in 1996, Ferguson remained at Sunninghill with her daughters until 2006. The mansion was eventually sold in 2007 for £15 million to Timur Kulibayev, son-in-law of Kazakhstan’s former president.
Today, friends paint a far bleaker picture. With the Duke of York forced to vacate Royal Lodge and Epstein’s legacy casting a long shadow, Ferguson is said to be facing a renewed housing crisis.
“The honest truth is she has nowhere to go and no one to go with,” one source claimed.
“Her future is hanging in the balance.”
For critics, the question now feels unavoidable:
With a lifestyle this extreme, was it ever surprising that she turned to Epstein’s money?
Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/
