Brutal reality that 'destroyed' Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson's marriage

Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson would have been married for 39 years on July 23, 2025, but the duo is still a model example of an amicable separation as they still remain close friends. The pair married at Westminster Abbey on July 23, 1986, but the difficult realities of being married into the Royal Family soon surfaced for Sarah Ferguson.

Speaking to US TV host Ernie Manouse in 2010, the Duchess of York said: "My deal was that I was marrying my man, who happened to be a prince and a naval officer. But what I got was not the man, I got the palace and didn't get him. For our marriage, I saw him 40 days a year."

The duke had a 22-year career in the Royal Navy and served as a helicopter pilot during the 1982 Falklands War. He also commanded the mine countermeasures vessel HMS Cottesmore.

Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson met as children but didn't see each other as adults until 1985 at Royal Ascot, in a meeting reportedly orchestrated by Princess Diana. Less than a year after they met, Andrew proposed on February 19, 1986, at Floors Castle in Scotland on his 26th birthday.

Despite the pair having two daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, the couple sadly announced their separation in 1992 and finalised their divorce four years later in 1996. They have co-parented their daughters amicably and often appear together at family events.

Speaking to Good Morning America, Fergie once shared that their wedding day was "the best day of [her] life". She explained: "He is a great man and [our wedding day] was the best day of my life."

In a piece for the Sunday Times, Sarah explained why she continues to stay at Royal Lodge in Windsor with her ex-husband: "I travel a lot and I've always been able to make wherever I am home. If I am staying in a hotel I have the same family photographs and scented candles around me.

"When I'm in the UK I'm lucky enough to stay at Royal Lodge. I wouldn't call it my home as that would be presumptuous."

After retiring from the Navy, Prince Andrew served as the UK's special representative for trade and investment for 10 years.

However, all his military appointments were suspended after he stepped back from public duties in 2019, following the controversial BBC Newsnight interview about his association with the late financier Jeffrey Epstein.

The late Virginia Giuffre sued the Duke of York for sexual abuse in August 2021, which the BBC also questioned in the programme. Virginia Giuffre had stated Andrew had sex with her when she was 17 and had been trafficked by his friend, the billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

The duke has repeatedly denied the claims, and he has not been charged with any criminal offences.