Former duchess Sarah Ferguson is facing a fresh round of embarrassment regarding her living situation as her path back to the UK appears fraught with increasing difficulty.
Ms Ferguson has been holed up in Zurich, Switzerland at a luxury wellness retreat, hiding from the fallout of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s arrest and the revelation of her own close relationship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Amid reports that the ex-duchess is once again low on finances, it seems she is likely to turn to her family for both help and a room.
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At the top of her potential housing list is likely the homes of her two daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie. But she is facing a major barrier.
Jack Brooksbank, Princess Eugenie’s husband, is reportedly insisting on a hard boundary between Ms Ferguson and their household.
A source close to the family told the Daily Mail that Mr Brooksbank’s code of honour means he won’t “completely desert Andrew and Sarah” but he also cannot “step into the line of fire himself”.
“His first loyalty has to be to his wife and their two young children. The whole sordid affair has already brought them a great deal of unwarranted attention, and he won’t do anything to increase that,” the source said.
“Jack has worked very hard building his business, and it’s going well, so the last thing he needs is for the Epstein scandal to taint that. He will do everything he can to keep his head below the parapet because of that.”
A second source said that the royal couple are hoping Ms Ferguson will not force them to reject her, claiming the former duchess is “difficult to live with”.
“Eugenie and Jack are resisting any suggestion from her mother that she should come and live with them,” they said.
“Because, to be frank, Sarah is difficult to live with and they don’t want the responsibility of looking after her at the moment. That’s not to say they are not concerned about her welfare – they just don’t actually want her to be living with them, even temporarily.”
Both Beatrice and Eugenie are facing scrutiny for their own mention in the Epstein files, which revealed they had likely travelled with Ms Ferguson to meet the disgraced financier after he was released from prison in 2009. At the time, Beatrice was 21-years-old and Eugenie was 19-years-old.
Ms Ferguson has not been seen since December 2025 when she attended the christening of Beatrice’s second daughter in London.
It was rumoured that she split to the UAE after she and her ex-husband Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor were kicked out of the Royal Lodge in early February, before settling in for a prolonged low-profile stint in Zurich.
She remained in hiding when the disgraced former prince was arrested on February 19 on suspicion of misconduct in public office in relation to his time as trade envoy. The Epstein files revealed that the ex-duke may have passed on sensitive information to Epstein during this time.
Mr Mountbatten-Windsor has always denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein’s sex-trafficking. He was questioned for 11 hours before he was released back to Wood Farm on Sandringham, where King Charles cast him out to months after stripping him of his princely title. He is soon expected to move to Marsh Farm.
Beatrice and Eugenie have remained silent on the matter, with neither one having made any public appearances in 2026.
In emails attributed to Ms Ferguson, it appears the former duchess called Epstein a “friend”, “brother” and “pillar”.
Her charity Sarah’s Trust has closed down, as have six businesses associated with her.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source thenightly.com.au ’
