**Sarah Ferguson Makes Major Social Media Change After Prince Andrew Gives Up Royal Title**
Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson will no longer be known as the Duke and Duchess of York, but they still have each other.
Days after King Charles III’s scandal-shrouded younger brother announced he would relinquish his royal titles in the wake of a new wave of allegations regarding his past association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, his ex-wife dropped her corresponding title from her social media accounts.
While Sarah has gone by her maiden name in public life since finalizing their divorce in 1996, she is still technically the Duchess of York — and it would take an act of parliament to formally strip her and Andrew of their titles. But as her former husband’s foremost champion, she appeared to dutifully do what needed doing.
“I am deeply supportive and proud of this giant of a principled man, that dares to put his shoulder to the wind and stands firm with his sense of honour and truth,” Sarah wrote.
Following a disastrous sit-down deemed a public relations fiasco, Andrew stepped back from his royal duties days later.
In 2008, Sarah accepted a roughly $17,000 loan from Epstein, a decision she called “a gigantic error of judgment” in 2011. “I am just so contrite I cannot say. Whenever I can I will repay the money and will have nothing ever to do with Jeffrey Epstein ever again. I abhor pedophilia and any sexual abuse of children and know that this was a gigantic error of judgment on my behalf,” she said.
A spokesperson for Sarah told NBC News in a statement last month that she only wrote such encomiums to Epstein after he threatened her with a lawsuit.
“The duchess spoke of her regret about her association with Epstein many years ago, and as they have always been, her first thoughts are with his victims,” the statement said. “Like many people, she was taken in by his lies. As soon as she was aware of the extent of the allegations against him, she not only cut off contact but condemned him publicly, to the extent that he then threatened to sue her for defamation for associating him with pedophilia.”
Andrew and Sarah continue to share the Epstein fallout along with a home at Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park, where they have resided together for more than 15 years.
Sarah’s return to the fold in 2018 eventually prompted speculation that the exes were romantically involved again. Her press office clarified to Vanity Fair in April 2019: “The Duke and Duchess remain good friends as they have been for many years, and nothing has changed.”
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### Their Royal History
Once upon a time, Andrew and Sarah fell madly in love after her fourth cousin and his then-sister-in-law, Princess Diana, arranged for them to be seated next to each other at a Royal Ascot week luncheon in 1985.
According to Tina Brown’s 2007 book *The Diana Chronicles*, Andrew only spent 42 nights at home in 1990 with his wife and daughters — Beatrice, born in August 1988, and Eugenie, born in March 1990.
As a result, the Duchess of York started socializing more, sometimes with members of the opposite sex, and the British tabloids took notice. Sarah and Diana—friends but often pictured as rivals for attention—reconnected over their crumbling marriages, both of which publicly imploded in 1992, a year the queen described as her “annus horribilis.”
Andrew and Sarah had told the queen over Christmas in 1991 that they planned to separate, but the *Daily Mail* got wind of it in March 1992, forcing their hand regarding a public announcement (which the queen had urged them to delay for six months).
Biographer Andrew Morton reportedly alleged that Diana leaked the news to deflect from her own troubles, which later in the year included the publication of his book *Diana: Her True Story*. The palace, however, suspected Sarah of tipping off the *Mail* herself.
“I had been tagged ‘unsuitable’ for royal life and the charge stuck,” Sarah wrote in *My Story*. “I was frozen out and not just in the Palace; the wind from all the doors slamming in my face might have knocked me over.”
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### The Toe-Sucking Scandal
As the mother of two of the queen’s granddaughters, Sarah was still invited to the family holiday at Balmoral in August 1992. It was during this time that the *Mirror* published photos of her taken at a villa in the South of France with American financial manager John Bryan.
The snaps showed the duchess sunbathing topless and her companion nuzzling her foot — which forever after became known as the great toe-sucking scandal of the 1990s.
“I think it’s an extraordinary tale,” the duchess said in a 2001 CNN interview, “one which every day I work at, and every day I try and see how and why I did those things.”
Despite the scandal, Americans embraced Sarah’s resilience, particularly her successful weight-loss story that led to her becoming a Weight Watchers spokeswoman for the next ten years.
She also penned the *Budgie* children’s book series about a little helicopter, which was turned into an animated series, and she wrote a history of Queen Victoria. In 2021, she released her first novel, *Her Heart for a Compass*.
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### Continued Royal Connections
Throughout the years, Andrew remained close to his ex-wife. Despite reportedly disapproving, Prince Philip allowed her to be re-invited to the family summer holiday at Balmoral in 2005, her first time there since 1992.
In 2008, Sarah moved into Royal Lodge, Andrew’s official country residence since 2004.
Sarah joked to the *Daily Mail* in November 2018 that she and Andrew were “the happiest divorced couple in the world. We’re divorced to each other, not from each other.”
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To be continued.
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**Read on for more news that has moved the royal world in 2025.**
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