Sarah Ferguson has broken her silence on her ex-husband Prince Andrew after he was allegedly blocked from appearing in public at the Garter Day service in Windsor.
They may have split in a high-profile divorce in 1996, but now Sarah has described him as a "good and kind man" in a new interview.
Speaking on Times Radio, Sarah said she believed in cleaning "your side of the street" and denied living full time with her ex-husband at Royal Lodge in Windsor.
It comes after the Prince earlier this year reached an out-of-court settlement with his accuser, Virginia Giuffre, in a civil sex claim filed in the US.
Fergie is still very close to Andrew and despite being divorced, she still stays with him at his home on the Windsor estate.
Sarah once told the Daily Mail: "We're the happiest divorced couple in the world. We're divorced from each other, not from each other."
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The duke was expected to join the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall during the annual Garter Day service on June 13.
But after a last-minute intervention by Prince Charles and the Duke of Cambridge, it has been reported that the Duke of York was told not to be present for the public part of the ceremony.
A senior royal source told the Times it was "a family decision", while a source close to Andrew insisted: "This was a personal decision by the duke."
Quizzed by Mariella Frostup on whether she would still marry Prince Andrew, she replied: "Oh, yes. He's a very good and kind man. He's a good man.
"And it was an exceptional day, the 23rd of July 1986. And it was just extraordinary. I think my life is an amazing life. I think I've been very lucky. And I am now just beginning my life again. And I think it's pretty cool to be able to say that"
She also described her relationship with her daughters as "the tripod" who "stay firm to speaking their truth" - but denied living full time with her ex-husband at Royal Lodge in Windsor.
"I spend so much time out of the country, doing my philanthropic work, that when I do come back in, I'm very lucky to be able to stay here. It would be very wrong.
"If I said it was my home. It's a place where we are a united front with the girls. It's their home. And now my grandchildren come here and I have always believed in communication, compromise and compassion.
"I have always believed it. I have great faith."
Asked about how she continues to stay the best of friends with Prince Andrew, she replied: "I believe if you clean your side of the street, if you look at your mirror, and you are clear and concise and you know, in your to integrity, that you have done the best job and the best heart with the greatest of intentions, then you hold that line, what anyone else does, that's their situation, and they have to clean their own side of the street.
"And, you know, I will stand very firmly by Andrew who is a very good and kind man. And that's what I believe. We are divorced.
"And I do spend as I think it's very important Mariella that people realise that I don't spend long here in England, because I don't wish to.
"I'd much prefer being out. I've built 156 schools in Africa and Poland. And, you know, and I just want to keep going doing my philanthropy work."
The Duchess was also asked about how she helped her daughters navigate the recent scandal.
She replied: "Every time I look at my girls, I realise what the secret to good mothering is. Show up. That's it. Show up and listen. You turn the telephone off, shut the door, turn the television off, and you say, are you okay? Is it me? Have I annoyed you? What's gone on?
"You know, and you really take away the fear factor because you're so present with them. And I believe that's the secret. That's how I've managed.
"The girls, I mean, how they've coped? Honestly, I take my hat off to them, but I think it's because the three of us, Beatrice, Eugene and I. we're called the tripod and we stay firm to speaking your truth.
"So we speak our truths to each other and by doing it you clean, exactly what I just said through this programme, is you look in the mirror and you clean your side of the street.
|Once you've done that, then anyone else has a problem is there a problem?
"But it's hard, but I believe I've done a very good job they've got great husbands who are my delicious son-in-law's who are so good looking. I mean, come on.
"And then I and Sienna and August and are incredible. Eugene now living in Portugal helps because I can spend so much time over there. And being a grandmother and writing my books from their guestroom."
And said she hoped voices of refugees would be "listened to" over the government's Rwanda deportation policy - following Prince Charles's remarks last week.
In the interview, she added: "I tend, as you know, to remain deeply apolitical, because otherwise it gets me into big trouble. However, I have been to Rwanda and in fact my godson built the cricket stadium there, and I had the best time there.
"I think Rwandan people are so welcoming, and full of hospitality. And I just feel strongly that if I was in a position where I was displaced, 85.7 million people last year were displaced, I honestly don't know if I can even begin to answer you because I would not have not really any understanding of what the incredible adjustment disorder they must be going through.
"And how it's not just the Ukrainian refugees, it's any refugee. And are they being listened to as my is my point? Who is actually listening with understanding? Unless you've been a refugee yourself? How can you possibly know?
"So I feel really strongly my answer has to be: Are you sure everybody that you have listened to the needs of the person that is displaced?"
