Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson holds a copy of her book "Budgie Goes to Sea" at Bloomingdale's on December 2, 1995. Photo / Getty Images
Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson holds a copy of her book "Budgie Goes to Sea" at Bloomingdale's on December 2, 1995. Photo / Getty Images
A senior palace aide saw Sarah, Duchess of York as “the single greatest threat to the monarchy” and tried in vain to stop her publicising her first children’s book more than 30 years ago, according to claims in a new memoir.
John Sargent, a publishing veteran, recalls a “tense” meeting with the Duchess and the aide to discuss Budgie, the Little Helicopter, which she published in 1989.
At the time the head of the children’s book division of Simon & Schuster, Sargent says he found himself having to remind palace officials that her signed publishing contract included a clause about publicising her hero helicopter.
He had hurriedly caught a flight from America for that meeting after hearing that a US publicity tour was being blocked, even though a major TV appearance had already been lined up.
Initially seeing the Duchess on her own, he asked her whether she wanted to come to New York to promote the book: “She replied, ‘Of course I do, but they won’t let me.’”
He told The Telegraph that she remained “pretty quiet” once they were joined by palace officials: “It was obvious that they wanted to push me as far as I could go – and they couldn’t… They relented. But it was tense.”
Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson bends next to a "Budgie the Little Helicopter" ride at Bloomingdale's December 2, 1995 in New York City. Photo / Getty Images
In his memoir, he writes that he told the senior aide “that the Duchess had to come to New York; plans had been made and cancelling would be viewed badly by the press. He explained that the story had to die. Now. The Duchess would be staying in London. The conversation quickly got heated.
“Finally, I said that I had a great respect for their opinions and expertise, but I had a contract that was signed by the Duchess, and it required her to be in New York… Finally, we all agreed that a short trip to New York would be manageable.”
He adds that as he walked out the aide “asked if he could have a word. He apologised for being difficult. He understood it was about business for me. He explained that the Royal family was different from anything I had ever experienced: ‘Think of it this way, John. The Royal family is like a Fortune 500 company, but in this case all of the management are relatives, and many of them are in-laws.’
“And then he told me that the Duchess of York was the single greatest threat to the monarchy in the current era, and his job was to control that threat.
“He feared her lack of grace and popularity would stain them all.”
'Budgie the Little Helicopter' and 'Budgie at Bendick's Point', written by Sarah, Duchess Of York. Photo / Getty Images
Looking back, Sargent remains “surprised” by such comments: “He was trying to explain to me that I could not possibly understand how the Royal family works, coming from the United States.”
She and Prince Andrew divorced in 1996. Faced with debts, she reportedly accepted cash from an undercover reporter posing as a businessman. She was caught on tape promising to arrange a meeting with her former husband.
Front page of The Sun newspaper with Sarah Ferguson allegedly having her toes sucked by John Bryan in 1992.
Sargent is one of the industry’s foremost publishers, having headed DK Publishing, St Martin’s Press and Macmillan over a long career.
His memoir, titled Turning Pages: The Adventures and Misadventures of a Publisher, will be published by Arcade on September 19.
In a chapter on the Duchess, he recalls being told by his then-boss at Simon & Schuster that he “needed to find a way to hide the amount we were paying her from everyone, and forever. He told me the amount, and I tried not to show the shock I felt.”
Aimed at three to six-year-old readers, Budgie went on to be a bestseller, selling hundreds of thousands of copies, inspiring cartoon spin-offs and toys. The stories drew on the Duchess’s own experience as a licensed helicopter pilot.
