Sarah Ferguson is lying low in Portugal at a luxury mansion owned by her daughter Princess Eugenie and son-in-law Jack Brooksbank, seeking refuge from months of scrutiny over her ties to Jeffrey Epstein. The 66-year-old former Duchess of York has been in self-imposed exile since further details about her friendship with Epstein emerged at the start of the year.
Secret bolthole near exclusive golf club
The property is located near the Costa Terra Golf and Ocean Club on the Alentejo coast, offering total privacy away from paparazzi. The move comes after Eugenie, 36, welcomed her third child and first daughter, Adelaide Elizabeth Annina Brooksbank, on August 3. While sources indicate Sarah was not in Portugal in time for the birth, she arrived shortly after to stay with the family.
A source told royal expert Duncan Larcombe: "Sarah is still very keen to keep her whereabouts a secret. She has technically been in self-imposed exile since further details came out about her friendship with Epstein at the start of this year."
Family rift reports dismissed
The source added: "There'd been reports that Eugenie was angry with her mother, but these seem to have been wide of the mark. Blood is thicker than water, and Eugenie had few reservations about throwing her mother a much-needed lifeline."
The getaway marks the latest chapter in Sarah's attempts to stay out of the public eye following the release of unsealed documents linking her to Epstein earlier this year. Millions of pages released by the US Department of Justice exposed private email exchanges between Sarah and the convicted sex offender, revealing she called him "a supreme friend" and the "brother [she] always wished for" long after his 2008 conviction.
Impact of Epstein revelations
The resulting outcry led organisations such as the Teenage Cancer Trust to drop her as patron, while her own foundation, Sarah's Trust, was forced to shut down.
In September 2025, Sarah attended the funeral of Katharine, Duchess of Kent, at Westminster Cathedral, which marked her last major public event in the UK. By January 2026, she jetted off to Austria to retreat to the £14,000-a-day Paracelsus wellness resort, where she was spotted covered up in sunglasses.
In April, she was photographed keeping a low profile in a baseball cap and jacket, a brief sighting that ended a 213-day period out of the public eye. However, reports suggest her stay in Portugal may be only temporary, as updates from late summer indicate that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's ex-wife is quietly planning to return to the UK to rent a property in the Home Counties.
