Last month Sarah Ferguson declared she and Prince Andrew were “the happiest divorced couple in the world” while speculation mounted they would soon remarry.
Now an insider tells New Idea the couple are secretly planning to elope in the new year!
“Andrew and Fergie have finally decided to make it official and they’re looking to get married as soon as possible,” a source close to the duchess reveals. “But this time around they don’t want to do anything formal or traditional. They just want to do something quiet and intimate.”
Despite divorcing more than 22 years ago, the couple have remained exceptionally close over the years and continued to share their marital house, the Royal Lodge, in Windsor.
So close, in fact, Sarah recently took to Instagram to share a photo of her former husband, along with the couple’s children, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, and new son-in-law Jack Brooksbank, to mark the festive season.
“Happy happy times this holiday season and big New Year celebrations… thank you for such a year of goodness to my family,” she captioned the black and white snap.
Last month, in an interview with UK newspaper The Daily Mail, the Duchess of York came close to confirming that she and Andrew are still together.
“We both say it. We are completely compatible. Our bywords are communication, compromise and compassion,” she revealed.
Sarah was also notably evasive when asked if they would remarry, saying, “So many people have asked me that, but we’re so happy with the way we are right now. We enjoy each other’s company; we allow each other to blossom.”
And the couple certainly appear inseparable. Despite once again being forced to spend Christmas apart due to royal protocol, just days before the festive celebrations Sarah was providing the Duke of York with what has become frequent stage-side support at his latest Pitch@Palace event to promote worldwide entrepreneurship.
Now it seems the couple have decided the time is right to make their relationship official again, having decided they want to grow old together.
“Eugenie’s wedding really made them realise that and while they’ve both had boyfriends and girlfriends over the years, they know that their love and their bond is unique and irreplaceable,” explains the insider.
“There’s been a lot of opposition to them rekindling their relationship over the years – mostly from senior palace officials and some royals – but they’ve decided to put all that to the side and do what makes them happy.”
However, their wedding will be notably different from their daughter’s formal Windsor nuptials.
“At this stage they’re thinking to do it somewhere warm and summery. Mexico is the top of their list,” says the insider.
And while their daughters Beatrice and Eugenie will be in attendance as they watch their parents exchange vows, Sarah and Andrew are hoping to keep their big day under wraps.
“They’re very conscious of not taking the limelight away from Eugenie’s big day – which was so memorable and special for the whole family – and have decided just to sneak off and elope.”
“They’ve had their big white wedding and really don’t want to make a big deal of their second wedding. They just want to do something quiet and intimate.”
It’s always been assumed that Andrew and Sarah would hold off getting remarried until after the Duke of Edinburgh’s death. While the Queen has always been more forgiving of Sarah’s past indiscretions – which included being photographed with her lover, Texan financier John Bryan in 1992, as well as her 2010 cash-for-access scandal – the 97-year-old duke is reportedly less fond of his former daughter-in-law.
Yet Sarah appeared to hint that Prince Philip may have softened his stance towards her in recent years.
Last month she described him as “an incredible man”, adding, “I have huge respect for him and always admired him”.
For the full story see this weeks issue of New Idea, on sale now.
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