Sarah Ferguson’s mother, Susan Barrantes, revealed the brutal truth behind her daughter’s divorce from Prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor: he fundamentally lacked the character needed to sustain their marriage.
In a candid interview with Italian magazine Gente, reprinted in Andrew Lownie’s 2025 biography Entitled, Barrantes stated that if Andrew had possessed more “character,”
the 1986 fairytale union—watched by 500 million—might have endured beyond their 1992 separation and 1996 divorce. She pinpointed his naval absences (seeing Sarah just 40 days yearly early on) and personal weaknesses as fatal, overriding Fergie’s vibrancy that initially refreshed the royals.
Affairs on both sides—Sarah’s infamous “toe-sucking” photos, Andrew’s Epstein ties—prompted senior royal intervention, but Barrantes protected Fergie fiercely, insisting on custody of Beatrice and Eugenie despite her own 1974 abandonment for an Argentine lover. Princess Margaret’s scathing letter called Sarah the family’s greatest shame, yet Barrantes blamed Andrew’s spinelessness.
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