Long before they married into royalty, Diana, Princess of Wales and Sarah “Fergie” Ferguson were inseparable friends.
They had known each other since their teenage years, moved in the same social circles, and later faced the glare of royal life together. Diana even quietly helped bring Fergie and Andrew together – a match that eventually made them sisters-in-law.
By the early 1990s, both marriages were falling apart. Diana separated from Charles III in 1992 – the same year Fergie and Andrew split – and both of their divorces were finalised in 1996.
On the surface, their shared experiences seemed to draw them closer. But behind palace walls, cracks were beginning to show.
For years, the media painted Diana and Fergie as rivals. Fergie later dismissed that idea, saying they never truly saw each other that way. Even so, she admitted their friendship had its difficult patches.
In her 2011 memoir, Finding Sarah: A Duchess’s Journey to Find Herself, Fergie wrote that their relationship went through periods of strain. Like many close friendships, it had highs and lows. What few people realised was just how serious the final break would be.
By 1997, the once inseparable pair were no longer speaking. When Diana died in Paris that August, they had been out of contact for almost a year.
Fergie later said she never fully understood what caused the rift. She wrote letters in an effort to make peace, believing whatever had happened could be sorted out. She later recalled that Diana had even spoken about wanting to reconnect shortly before her death.
But that reunion never came.
Although Fergie initially claimed she didn’t know what went wrong, royal biographers have linked the fallout to a story in her earlier memoir, My Story: Sarah, the Duchess of York.
In the book, she fondly remembered their early days in London, noting that she and Diana wore the same shoe size. She joked that along with borrowing Diana’s shoes, she had also picked up a case of plantar warts.
The remark was meant to be playful and self-mocking, but it reportedly hit a nerve. Royal author Tina Brown later wrote in The Diana Chronicles that the single line proved “fatal”.
According to Tina, while the memoir was otherwise kind, that offhand comment crossed a line. “Goddesses don’t get warts,” she observed, suggesting Diana may have felt exposed or betrayed.
“Despite Fergie’s pleading apologies, Diana never spoke to her again.”
Even so, Fergie has continued to speak warmly about Diana in the years since. She has described her as radiant, funny and unforgettable.
In later interviews, Fergie reflected on how lonely royal life could feel, saying Diana was one of the few people who truly understood that world.
Speaking to Hello! in 2021, she said: “I think about her most days because she’s the only other person who knew and was around at that time in the ’80s, when we all wore those very strange clothes. She was in the family before me and we had such fun.”
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