Royal Fallout: Inside Princess Diana and Sarah Ferguson's Friendship — And Why It 'Was Never Repaired'

Princess Diana and Sarah Ferguson's friendship was anything but a fairy tale.

Long before their fallout, Diana and Ferguson were close friends after their mothers, Frances Shand Kydd and Susan Barrantes, introduced them as children.

"We were best friends from when she was 14, and I was 15," Ferguson confirmed her connection to Diana in a 2021 interview with People.

She also likened their bond to that of sisters in her 1996 autobiography, My Story, writing, "She was two years younger than I, and I strove to support and protect her as I would a younger sister — as I still do today, as a best friend."

Diana tied the knot with then-Prince Charles at St. Paul's Cathedral on July 29, 1981. After the "wedding of the century," the Princess of Wales introduced Ferguson to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.

"I said to her, 'Oh, Andrew's really good-looking,'" Ferguson recalled telling Diana. "And she said, 'Duh, Fergs!'"

On July 23, 1986, Ferguson had her own fairy-tale wedding when she exchanged vows with Andrew at Westminster Abbey.

However, the marriages of the "wives of Windsor" both came to an end. Ferguson and Andrew's marriage officially ended on May 30, 1996, while Diana finalized her divorce from Charles on August 28, 1996.

While navigating their lives as royals, Diana and Ferguson forged a close bond, finding common ground in their shared experiences and struggles.

In his book The Royal Insider, former royal butler Paul Burrell said the duo "would discuss the dour men in grey suits within the Royal Household, nicknamed 'the enemy within.'"

"Diana, having been in the royal family for five years, was able to offer Sarah some sage advice on the dos and don'ts, whom she could trust, and a rather lengthy list of those with whom she should be cautious," he added.

On the other hand, Ferguson said the media drove a wedge between her and Diana.

"In the '80s, it was Diana looking beautiful, and there was fat, frumpy Fergie," she told People. "We were just there for people to make a lot of money. At the time we both didn't realize that."

In the same interview, Ferguson revealed she and Diana faced their own mental health challenges and often confided in each other about their struggles.

"She said, 'Fergie, remember one thing: When you're at the top of the pedestal, it's so easy to fall off. And you're at the bottom. You just climb up,'" she shared. "We were positioned as saint and sinner. And the most important thing was to remain robust together, and we did, no matter what anyone wrote."

In a June 9 interview with Fox News, royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams said Diana assumed Ferguson was "selling stories" to the press.

The rift worsened following the release of Ferguson's My Story, with the People's Princess reportedly "angered by mentions of her sons [Prince Harry and Prince William] in her book."

"If [Diana] had wanted to renew their friendship, she would have," Fitzwilliams added.

Royal author Andrew Lownie also shared insights into Diana and Ferguson's friendship and explained how the memoir contributed to their falling-out.

"The two women — once close — had not spoken for months after Sarah had written about her sister-in-law against Diana's wishes in her memoir and made a joke about catching a verruca (wart) from one of Diana's shoes," Lownie penned in his book Entitled. "The two were fourth cousins and had known each other since they were teenagers — their mothers had been at school together — and shared the experience of their mothers being denied custody of their children."

The sentiment echoed comments by royal expert Helena Chard, who told Fox News that Diana had to "cut ties" because Ferguson's memoir "brought their private tensions into public view."

"It was the final straw, and alarm bells rang as Diana read conversations referring to her sons," said Chard, noting Diana viewed as a betrayal since Ferguson was "leaking personal information and trading on their conversations."

"Diana's privacy was her safety," Chard said. "She was fastidious about controlling her narrative. She used private information strategically."

In Finding Sarah, Ferguson confirmed she and Diana had not been in touch for a year before the Princess of Wales died in a high-speed car crash in France on August 31, 1997. She reportedly never understood the reason behind the estrangement, adding Diana was someone who would remain upset about an issue for an extended period.

"I wrote letters, thinking whatever happened didn't matter, let's sort it out," she further claimed. "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.'"

Ferguson wrote, "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."

In the 2007 book The Diana Chronicles, journalist Tina Brown noted Ferguson's memoir was "full of nice comments about her sister-in-law… but goddesses don't get warts."

According to Brown, Diana never spoke to Ferguson again despite the latter's "pleading apologies."

Meanwhile, Burrell said Ferguson's suggestion she had contracted verrucas from shoes given to her by Diana was not the cause of the breakdown.

"Diana felt used and refused to speak to Sarah," he wrote in The Royal Insider. "For the last six months of Diana's life, Fergie had no contact with Diana — and that was a shame, because they've been through so much together. Something happened in their personal lives which they found was impossible to hurdle."

Lownie shared the same opinion in a video, saying the reality was Diana "was very concerned that Sarah Ferguson might well be selling stories about her, and that relationship was never repaired, though Sarah Ferguson pretended it had."