Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor scandal: Former prince’s insult to ex-wife Sarah Ferguson exposed

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is facing renewed outrage after a royal author claimed he insulted his ex-wife’s appearance.

The disgraced former prince married Sarah Ferguson in 1986 before the pair got divorced in 1996. Despite the separation, the once married couple went on to live side-by-side, spending years at the Royal Lodge before they were booted from it in early February.

Though Ms Ferguson stuck by Mr Mountbatten-Windsor all those years, a royal author is claiming their seemingly happy relationship had its dark moments.

Tina Brown, author of The Palace Papers and former editor of Vanity Fair, said that the ex-duke once insulted Ms Ferguson’s appearance in front of a media executive.

She writes that in 2015, when the former couple met with the unnamed person, Mr Mountbatten-Windsor called Ms Ferguson a “fat cow”.

Ms Brown said the incident occurred within the Royal Lodge itself. Ms Ferguson was seated with the US executive when her ex-husband walked into the room and said: “What are you doing with this fat cow?”

According to Ms Brown, the executive who witnessed the insult said they were “stunned” at the then-prince’s “level of sadism”, The Mirror reported.

“I thought, ‘What an a–hole.’ She has to sing for her supper. She’s afraid of him,” the source said.

Though she is now embroiled in the Epstein scandal herself, Ms Ferguson was bullied by the media for decades over her appearance and weight. As a result of “tabloid bullying”, the ex-duchess is understood to have struggled with her mental health.

In 2002, she revealed that she had struggled with overeating since she was just 12-years-old. At the time, she was a spokeswoman for Weight Watchers.

Popular headlines and phrases that followed the ex-duchess for years included “fat Fergie”, “duchess of pork” and “fat frumpy Fergie”.

It was previously thought that her connection to convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein was a result of her continuing relationship with Mr Mountbatten-Windsor, but this view shifted when the US Department of Justice began to release the files in late 2025.

Emails attributed to Ms Ferguson see the former duchess refer to Epstein as a “brother”.

Ms Ferguson was last seen in “public” at the christening of Beatrice’s second daughter in late December 2025. This was less than two months after Mr Mountbatten-Windsor was stripped of his princely title in October that year.

She spent months moving boxes in and out of the Royal Lodge before fleeing the luxury estate for good under the cover of darkness in early 2026.

Ms Ferguson remained out of sight when the disgraced former prince was arrested on his 66th birthday on suspicion of misconduct in public office.

Her public image worsened when emails revealed she had likely taken her daughters Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie on a trip to visit Epstein in New York just days after he was released from prison in 2009. Beatrice was 21-years-old at the time, while Eugenie was 19-years-old.