Sarah Ferguson has recalled the last words the late Queen Elizabeth II said to her.
The Duchess of York, who also answers to her nickname Fergie, just finished the last episode of season one of her podcast, Tea Talks with the Duchess and Sarah on Wednesday (30 August). The episode featured the last conversation the Duchess of York had with her former mother-in-law.
“It’s the last thing that the Queen said to me: ‘Just be yourself, Sarah,’” the duchess said.
“And she saw it. She just got so annoyed when I wasn’t being myself. And that’s probably when I got into all the pickles. But now I am myself, and I’m just so lucky to be able to be myself,” she added.
In an interview with Good Morning America, the Duchess of York had previously explained that, to some extent, the Queen’s death meant she could now be herself. “I don’t know whether it’s the Queen passing that makes me think I can now openly say what I want to say without worrying I’m going to offend somebody,” she said. “I’m really, truly authentic Sarah now.”
She has also expressed her respect and admiration for the late monarch, as the duchess called her a “total idol” back in March. “She put you at ease straight away ... because it’s terrifying, you know?” she told People about the late Queen. “I used to sit there for hours thinking: ‘Oh my gosh, this is somebody’s lifetime to have an audience with the Queen, and I’m sitting having a cup of tea.’”
The duchess continued: “She was so brilliant at putting you at ease. She had the most incredible faith of any single person I’ve ever met. She just knew what to do. She knew how to make people feel good. She never took it onboard as about her. It’s about the monarchy, about making someone feel good. She was my total idol.”
The adoration for her former mother-in-law continued as she adopted Queen Elizabeth’s two surviving corgis, Sandy and Muick. She went on to explain that the two were “total joys” most of the time.
"They are national icons, so every time they run chasing a squirrel, I panic," she said. "But they’re total joys, and I always think that when they bark at nothing, and there’s no squirrels in sight, I believe it’s because the Queen is passing by.”
The podcast episode also featured the Duchess of York talking about her mastectomy and how it helped free her from self-hatred after years of being compared to Princess Diana.
In June, Sarah Ferguson underwent surgery after being diagnosed with breast cancer in a routine mammogram.
She told co-host Sarah Thomson: “Not because of seeing death, but waking up to stop worrying, stop self-hatred, stop self-doubt, stop all these things. Stop not liking yourself, really, please, honestly.
“Does it take that?... Yes, it did in my case. Honestly, it was so lucky. When I look back, [I think] okay. I’ve got good legs and look good.
“[I] didn’t like myself and that was because I think I was always compared to Diana and I think at the end I sort of believed my own press which is not too good.”
