The one royal Prince Philip refuses to share a room with
Prince Philip has refused to be in the same room with a royal family member after a scandal broke out more than two decades ago.
According to royal correspondent James Whitaker, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II declines to share a room with Sarah ‘Fergie’ Ferguson, the former wife of Prince Andrew.
Whitaker said the Duke of Edinburgh was left riling after the infamous pictures of Ferguson sunbathing topless while her financial adviser John Bryan sucked her toes in Saint-Tropez came out on the Daily Mirror newspaper in 1992.
“It happened in front of the whole family at the Queen’s country residence in Scotland,” Whitaker said of the fallout.
“[Ferguson] was late into breakfast and everybody had got a copy of the Daily Mirror.
“As she walked into the room, they all stuffed it under their Times and Telegraphs and that sort of thing.
“She knew the game was up the second she walked into the room.”
The Queen asked Ferguson to leave the estate. The family relationship reportedly never recovered afterwards, with the monarch and her husband making efforts to make sure they are not placed in the same room as their former daughter-in-law.
Ferguson married Prince Andrew, the third child of the Queen and Prince Philip, in 1986. The couple separated in 1992 – months before the tabloid pictures were released – and divorced in 1996.
In recent years, Ferguson has denied speculations that she and Prince Andrew had rekindled their romance, with her spokesperson saying: “The Duke and Duchess of York continue to be good friends, and nothing has changed in their relationship.”