The royal family is a business, sure, but they’re also just a family—something we rarely think about as we get distracted by tiaras, palaces, and transcontinental rifts. Like many families, the royal family enjoys a game night or two, and the game they choose to play is one that might have popped up at one of your family’s game nights, too.
Sarah Ferguson revealed in her new podcast “Tea Talks” (if you’re not listening, you should be—it’s a delight, and almost every episode the Duchess of York reveals a tidbit about life behind palace walls) that the “very united” family enjoys bonding over a game of Scrabble.
Ferguson hosts “Tea Talks” with her close friend Sarah Thomson, and a listener asked whether the royal family enjoyed playing any board games together at Christmas time. The listener also asked if the rumor that the late Queen disliked Monopoly because of its tendency to cause arguments between players was true, per The Daily Mail. The duchess “shared details about The Firm that made them sound surprisingly normal,” the outlet reports. She said they “do love games, board games, card games, Scrabble, jigsaws,” adding they are “a very unified family.”
They “love to do what other families do, and that’s lovely,” Ferguson said, but glossed over the Monopoly question, which has been a longstanding rumor about the royal family behind closed doors. “Neither did she confirm or deny that The Firm plays the game ‘Ibble Dibble,’ which is seen being played by members of the family in the Netflix royal drama The Crown,” The Daily Mail writes.
She also opened up about life as a “Gee-Gee,” telling listeners that she is currently watching granddaughter Sienna Mapelli Mozzi as the almost two-year-old’s parents, Princess Beatrice and Edoardo, are on holiday. “Beatrice and Edo are away, so Gee-Gee is in charge,” Ferguson said. “It’s really quite amusing. I wished for the time that Sienna would come in and say ‘Gee-Gee, let’s come and play,’ and now every minute of the day she wants to come and play.”
She also called Sienna the “mini me” of Beatrice, who just turned 35 this past week. “It’s taken me right the way back to following Beatrice around,” the duchess said. She continued “We’ve had an extraordinary time, and I’m very glad that Beatrice and Edo got some time alone, too.”
Though she has been divorced from ex-husband Prince Andrew since 1996, Ferguson is still very much in the thick of the royal fold, even living with Andrew at Royal Lodge. A key focus in her life, she said on the podcast, is to “literally focus on joy,” and finds that joy in the happiness of her daughters, Beatrice and younger sister Princess Eugenie. “I’m delighted that my children, who work so hard, are able to have their pods of family, and now they are living the dream,” Ferguson said. “I believe that my children have got beautiful, lovely happiness in them, and I love that.”
