By Molly Claire Goddard
11:40am PST, Jan 21, 2026
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According to royal historian Kenneth Rose, Sarah Ferguson told him that her former father-in-law, Prince Philip, was upset after photos of millionaire John Bryan kissing and sucking her toes made headlines amid her separation from Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. "Fergie has both sides of her correspondence with Andrew: when he was away, she wrote to him every day. She also has the letters written to her by Queen Elizabeth II," he wrote in his memoir, Who Loses, Who Wins: The Journals of Kenneth Rose: Volume Two 1979-2014. "She goes on: 'I also have Prince Philip's letters, telling me that I have let down The Firm.' "
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"In one of them, he [Prince Philip] wrote that he had been reading a book about Edwina Mountbatten [Lord Mountbatten's wife, notorious for having had many lovers, including, allegedly, Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India], and that my conduct reminded him of her [Sarah Ferguson]," Kenneth Rose wrote.
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After Sarah Ferguson's separation from Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was announced in 1992, the former Duchess of York was
photographed packing on the PDA with John Bryan at a villa in France.
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Despite Prince Philip's disappointment, Sarah Ferguson shared kind words about the late royal during an appearance on the "
Life's a Beach" podcast in 2023. "It's quite interesting. The Duke of Edinburgh used to say, 'Remember, Sarah, you've got to be electable but never elected.' Resonates, right?" she said. "He came across as a very wise man. Very wise. You had to be on your best. If you asked a silly comment, you were certainly told it was a silly comment."
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Unfortunately, the intimate photos would not be Sarah Ferguson's biggest royal scandal. The 66-year-old was stripped of her titles and evicted from Royal Lodge due to her connection to Jeffrey Epstein.
