Sarah Ferguson's Time in the Royal Fold Was Shaped by 'Ambition' and Risky Spending: Book
For Sarah Ferguson, the past has a way of resurfacing when least convenient. Andrew Lownie’s Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York has now reopened uncomfortable questions about the former Duchess of York’s finances, dragging long-rumored spending habits back into public view. In this the author revisits Ferguson’s time inside the royal fold and has described a lifestyle shaped by spending sprees and privilege. Already causing ripples within royal circles, the latest revelation comes at a time when the finances of the family face sharper scrutiny than ever.
As per Lownie, the most detailed insight into Ferguson’s costly indulgence came from her former partner John Bryan, who allegedly disclosed private financial information to the British tabloid News of the World. According to the author, Bryan “revealed her £860,000 annual expenditure,” a figure that exposed the scale of her lifestyle. That sum reportedly included “£300,000 on staff, £150,000 on gifts, £50,000 on flowers, £50,000 on parties, and £150,000 on travel,” painting a picture of a household where money flowed freely and limits were loose at best.
Entitled also described the moments that captured the speed with which money appeared to leave Ferguson’s hands. Lownie claims she spent “£100,000 on clothes and £25,000 in a single hour at Bloomingdale’s.” These anecdotes are not presented as isolated lapses. Instead, the author frames her years in the royal fold as being "marked by ambition and financial recklessness." He also argued that her spending often ran ahead of any realistic attempt to rein it in.
Restrictions, Lownie suggests, did little to slow her down. “She also found ways and means of getting around her financial restrictions,” he wrote, pointing to her relationship with luxury retailers. One such example involved Mohamed Al-Fayed, the owner of Harrods, who never asked her to settle her accounts at the store, a practice Lownie argued “she exploited elsewhere.” A former employee of the store explained it bluntly by adding, “These accounts just never get paid, somehow. The shops don't complain because of who she is, or they never used to.”
Ferguson’s travel is also described as a constant drain. Lownie alleged that the former Duchess spent £14,000 (about $18,746) in one month with a London wine merchant and took repeated luxury trips to "Puerto Rico, Bermuda, Switzerland, Hong Kong, and Poland and four trips to America." Her visits to the United States reportedly included stays at the Carlyle Hotel, where even the cheapest suite cost £330 (about $442) per night. In the midst of this, the author also detailed that during a New York trip, Ferguson traveled with one car to the airport "and another for her ten suitcases."
These claims land at a time when Ferguson’s financial judgment is already under an unforgiving spotlight. Previously, while speaking to NewsNation, Lownie had disclosed that she had taken large amounts of money described as 'loans' but failed to repay them back. Together, the revelations reinforce a pattern that critics say has followed Ferguson long after her royal role ended.