Best friends from their teenage years, Princess Diana and Sarah Ferguson were in each other's lives long before they became sisters-in-law. The late Princess of Wales even played matchmaker for Sarah and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, a match that ultimately brought Sarah into the British royal family. Both women would go on to separate from their respective husbands in 1992 and finalize their divorces in 1996.
Though people tried to portray her and Diana "all the time as rivals," Sarah once wrote in an open letter for HELLO! that the two of them never "ever really felt" that way. While not rivals, the former Duchess of York acknowledged in her autobiography, Finding Sarah: A Duchess's Journey to Find Herself, that it was "true," her and Diana's "friendship was periodically strained".
Their friendship eventually ended in a falling out. At the time of Diana's death in 1997, the ex-wives of Queen Elizabeth's two elder sons were no longer on speaking terms.
A fall out that was never resolved
"Sadly, at the end we hadn't spoken for a year, though I never knew the reason, except that once Diana got something in her head, it stuck there for a while," Sarah penned in her 2011 book. "I wrote letters, thinking whatever happened didn't matter, let's sort it out. And I knew she'd come back. In fact, the day before she died she rang a friend of mine and said, 'Where's that Red? I want to talk to her.'"
"In any sibling relationship, there are ups and downs and peaks and troughs, but we were always steadfast in our friendship. We never let the sun go down on too many heated discussions. Our bond was never broken."
© Ken Goff/Getty ImagesBorrowed shoes led to a broken bond
Although Sarah claimed in her biography not to know the reason for the falling out, it's been traced back to an anecdote published in her earlier autobiography, My Story: Sarah, the Duchess of York. In the 1996 book, Andrew's ex revealed that she contracted plantar warts (verrucas) from shoes she borrowed from Diana.
"When I lived in Clapham, Diana helped me by giving me all her shoes (and, less happily, her plantar warts) - we wore the same size," Sarah recalled.
© Jayne Fincher/Princess Diana Archive/Getty ImagesThe line proved to be "fatal," according to author Tina Brown, sending Sarah to Siberia "for good". Tina penned in the 2007 biography The Diana Chronicles: "The divorced Duchess had cashed in with an anodyne memoir, which was full of nice comments about her sister-in-law - except for one fatal line. She wrote that when she borrowed a pair of Diana's shoes she had caught a verruca from them. Goddesses don't get warts."
"Despite Fergie's pleading apologies, Diana never spoke to her again."
Princess Diana and Sarah Ferguson's initial friendship
Princess Diana and Sarah shared a connection that pre-dated either of them marrying into the royal family; they were actually fourth cousins. Both were descended from William Cavendish, the 4th Duke of Devonshire, and grew up in the same aristocratic circles.
Their respective mothers, Frances Shand Kydd and Susan Barrantes, were school friends, and Diana and Sarah occasionally crossed paths as young girls at polo matches and equestrian events.
© Photo: Getty ImagesDiana and Sarah didn't become true friends until 1980, however, reconnecting through mutual friends in London when Diana was 19 and Fergie was 21.
Following her marriage to King Charles, the former Princess of Wales played an important part in introducing Sarah into the royal family. In 1985, Diana invited Sarah to a stay at Windsor Castle during Royal Ascot week and arranged for her to sit next to Prince Andrew at lunch.
The two hit it off immediately, started dating shortly after, and were married the following year in 1986, bringing the two close friends into the royal family together as sisters-in-law.
'Much-loved' sister-in-law
Estranged in the end, Sarah has nonetheless spoken warmly of her "much loved sister-in-law and dear friend" since her death. Speaking exclusively to HELLO! in 2021, the former Duchess admitted: "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," adding: "She was in the family before me and we had such fun."
© Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty ImagesSarah has also praised Diana, calling her "angelic, beautiful" and "so funny". She gushed: "There's nobody like her. I'll always remember her tinkling laughter and her being so naughty with her jokes. At dinner, she'd say something under her breath to me and then I would peal with laughter, and then uncontrollably not be able to stop it. And she would be able to control herself completely, so it looked like I was always naughty."
"There was a stage when I think people tried to separate us, and it made me so sad because I adored her. I still adore her," she said, before proclaiming, "I love her."
"So I always say, it doesn't matter what anyone thinks, if you love them, you love them," Sarah added. "So my heart is always with her."
