An explosive new book is threatening to derail Sarah Ferguson's 'royal rehabilitation' with claims of outrageous spending, among other things.
Fergie, as she is affectionately known, has slowly been inching her way back into the royal spotlight after years in the wilderness, with a major turning point coming when she joined the rest of the family for the Christmas walkabout in 2023.
Now though, she might find herself back on the naughty step thanks to historian Andrew Lownie's book Entitled - The Rise And Fall Of The House Of York.
The book, which is serialised in the Daily Mail is based on four years of research and hundreds of interviews that have painted the Duchess in a whole new light.
Among the most damning claims are those about her spending, which are reportedly on a scale that would make Marie Antoinette blush and more than she could afford.
One incident highlighted in the book came two years after her separation from Prince Andrew when she reportedly rented out the Domaine La Fontaine in the summer of 1994.
The fee for renting the villa, located near Cannes in France, is said to have been £20,000, but that was just the alleged tip of the iceberg of her spending.
There was apparently a litany of staff, which included housekeepers and nannies as well as two assistants and two Scotland Yard Protection Officers, while a truck from England apparently brought sun loungers.
Elsewhere, five new phone lines were said to have been installed, including one by the pool.
The bill apparently kept jumping up with daily deliveries of wine, including champagne, which was allegedly opened regularly but not drunk. While the family was living it up in France, Fergie apparently took a call from her UK home where she was informed her power might be cut off over an outstanding bill she had apparently refused to sign off on before leaving.
Other spending claims set to be covered in the book include how Sarah indulged her passion for horses with regular weekends in Ireland and bought a top-of-the-range horse with an aim to compete in the Olympics, but a nasty tumble at the Dublin Horse Show meant it was put down.
The horse was bought by Clive Garrad whom she joined forces to launch a series of nursing homes that were billed as charity work but saw her receive £1 for each bed per night in each of the homes.
The book also documents Sarah's many holidays despite constantly bemoaning the state of her finances, and by 1995, she had amassed debts of £3.7m, and there were reports of her accounts at Harrods not being paid.
There were also questions raised about some of her charitable work. The Sarah Ferguson Foundation has claimed to support the Littlest Lamb orphanage and sent a sizeable donation to build a children's home in Cairo, but the director Mira Riad has said: 'She has never paid us .'
Despite her financial woes, Sarah apparently kept spending with an ex-staff member saying: 'Every night she demands a whole side of beef, a leg of lamb and a chicken which are laid out on the dining room table like a medieval banquet that would make Henry VIII proud.
'But often there is just her and her girls, Bea and Eugenie, and most of it is wasted. There is no attempt to keep it to have it cold the next day. It just sits there all night, and the next day it's thrown away.'
One friend has said that Sarah has long been in denial about her debts. They said: 'I have heard her throw an absolute screaming fit when one of her staff showed her a letter from the bank.
'She just doesn't want to know.'
