Sarah Ferguson has told how she shared a “moving” moment with her ex-husband while on a dog walk when he confessed that he feels “lonely” since his parents died on her podcast.
The 63-year-old told how she and the Duke of York had been walking the late Queen Elizabeth’s corgis when she asked if he was coping without the late Queen and Prince Philip.
Speaking on the latest episode of Tea Talks, released on Thursday, the Duchess revealed that Prince Andrew struggles, adding that he is “human like everyone else”.
Andrew’s parents died in quick succession with the Monarch passing away in September last year, a little over a year after the former Duke of Edinburgh, who died at the age of 99 in April the previous year.
The Duke and Duchess took a trip down memory lane while walking on a woodland path in Windsor that was specially created for the late Monarch.
She said: “It was actually very wonderful to have a moment to really remember because this time last year the Queen would have been going to Balmoral.
“And we would have walked exactly where we walked yesterday together and then the Queen would have said: ‘See you up in Scotland’.
“It was very moving actually and at one stage, Andrew and I just sat quietly under some really beautiful trees and I asked him if he was alright without his mum and dad.”
The Duke then candidly told her that he thinks of his parents often but has been left feeling “lonely”.
She continued: “He said that it’s lonely — he thinks about it a lot. People process grief in their own way and it’s not just him, he’s human like everybody else.
“And I process my grief and my loss my way… I think grief is a really interesting thing, it comes up in tidal waves…”
Prince Andrew would visit the Queen every day before her death, driving five miles each time to see her.
Insiders told the Mirror in May last year, that he travelled to “make sure she is comfortable and looked after” with royal staff saying it was like clockwork as you “could set your watch” by Andrew’s pre-lunch visits.
Fergie noted that Andrew losing his parents in quick succession was “hard”, adding: “Maybe his grief must be even more of a huge gap.”
Andrew was widely reported to be the late Queen’s “favourite” child, having formed an “unbreakable bond” with her during his childhood, according to royal author Phil Dampier.
Mr Dampier, who has written about the Royal Family for some 26 years, told MailOnline in the wake of the Monarch’s passing: “Prince Andrew will be devastated by the Queen’s death because he was always her favourite child. Although he was in disgrace because of his involvement in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, he still saw more of her in private than his siblings.
“Living at Royal Lodge just a short distance from Windsor Castle, he would see her on an almost daily basis. He supported her when she was more frail, and was always there for her in person or on the phone whenever she needed him.”
All episodes of Tea Talks are available here.
