A new biography has claimed that Princess Anne was left so furious with Sarah Ferguson over a scandal that she came close to physically confronting her. According to Andrew Lownie's book 'Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York', the Princess Royal was said to have been on the verge of throttling her former sister-in-law during a tense stay at Balmoral Castle in the early 1990s.
The incident centred on photographs published in August 1992 showing Ferguson having her toes sucked by her American financial advisor John Bryan while on holiday in France. The images caused outrage within the royal family, and Lownie writes that when Ferguson arrived at Balmoral to join her then-husband Prince Andrew and other royals, she walked into breakfast to find everyone reading about the affair.
One person present reportedly told Ferguson's biographer, Chris Hutchins, that Princess Anne 'came close to throttling' Sarah, and later at dinner made her feelings clear. The account states that no one raised their voice against Anne, while Prince Andrew's anger turned to sadness and he absorbed himself in special reports compiled for the Queen.
A servant at Balmoral during the dramatic episode was quoted as saying that Ferguson acted in the strangest way, behaving as if she were the wronged party, and blaming photographers and newspaper editors for the scandal rather than her own actions.
Ferguson and Andrew formally separated in 1992, though their divorce was not finalised until several years later. They have remained close, with Ferguson continuing to live at Royal Lodge near Windsor Castle. However, after Andrew was persuaded to give up his lease on the property, he is expected to move to Norfolk, while Ferguson has not been invited to join him, with reports suggesting she may relocate to Portugal, where her daughter Princess Eugenie owns a home.
