Sarah Ferguson stepped into the role of an “agony aunt” for This Morning, sharing her best relationship advice with callers on Monday’s episode.
As a guest presenter alongside co-hosts Dermot O’Leary and Alison Hammond, Ferguson, 64, also served as an honorary “agony aunt” during one segment of the popular ITV morning show.
Opening the love and relationships segment, Fergie suggested she could advise viewers on “first dates, proposals, anything you’d like to know about” before talking to two women about reconnecting with their respective partners and “bringing the magic back”.
Speaking to the first caller, who explained she and her husband were struggling to balance their careers with their roles as parents, Ferguson wondered: “Is your husband feeling left out a bit?”
When the caller, who identified herself as Suzanne, admitted that might be true, Ferguson recommended finding a babysitter “while you take your husband for a great surprise”.
She continued: “You pop down and get a lovely saucy underwear department in your chest of drawers and you really make the hair, you know, blow dry the hair and take him out on a treat.
“It needs to be more treats that he’s lost for words,” Ferguson continued. “So you say to him, ‘Don’t worry tonight darling, we are gonna pop off somewhere’ and you’ve arranged the whole thing and it’s all organised.”
Ferguson added that the “element of surprise” would “bring the magic back into your relationship”, while revealing she had done the same thing by leaving “love notes” in her partner’s squash shoes.
“Now get that sexy underwear out,” the former member of the royal family told the caller, praising her for “being so brave to ring us”.
Ferguson was married to Prince Andrew from 1986 until 1996, and the couple share two daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, together,
The duchess’s debut as This Morning co-host was met with mixed reactions, with some viewers praising her sense of humour while others remained unimpressed with her stint.
One person criticised her relationship advice as “inappropriate and cringeworthy” in a post on X/Twitter, writing: “Not a good choice of guests today. How many times do we need to hear advice to ‘wear saucy underwear’ from Ms Ferguson. I’m sure she’s pleasant and is trying hard but really!”
Another comment read: “How many more times must I hear Sarah Ferguson say ‘saucy underwear’?”
Elsewhere on Monday’s episode, Ferguson revealed that one of the late Queen’s corgis she adopted after the monarch’s death grieved for its owner.
Speaking to Graeme Hall, presenter of the Channel 5 show Dogs Behaving (Very) Badly, she said: “There are two corgis that came, big Muick and Sandy, and there were five Norfolk Terriers that were there too – seven in all.
“And big Muick is very, very, very demonstrative, he had his tail down to begin with and then now, a year later … he’s just beginning now to really enjoy (himself).”
Additional reporting on wires.
