The extraordinary luxuries and lavish lifestyle that have left the Duchess of York on the brink of bankruptcy can be revealed for the first time as speculation mounts that Prince Andrew may help bail her out.
Sarah Ferguson, 50, would order staff to prepare vast Henry VIII banquets for her and her daughters Beatrice and Eugenie every night, washing them down with vodka and pink champagne, it has been claimed.
Perhaps as a result of this extravagance the ex-wife of the Duke of York is said to owe £65 000 (about R780 000) to a personal fitness instructor, although it is not known over what period this was built up.
The Duchess also ran up bills at businesses in the area around Royal Lodge – the Windsor home she shares with Prince Andrew – including a butcher, dry cleaners and car hire firm, a former employee said.
A newsagent was forced to pester her for as little as £500 in unpaid paper delivery costs. It now refuses to supply her.
Other debts are thought to include at least £200 000 owed to solicitors, a £51 000 bill at Selfridges for luxury gifts and £7 000 owed to society portrait artist Basia Hamilton, though some of her bills are thought to have been paid at the 11th hour.
She even allegedly owes thousands of pounds to members of her own staff who have been using their credit cards to help her.
The no doubt exasperated Duke now plans to pay off £1.5-million in debts run up by his ex-wife, the Daily Mail understands.
After the Duchess was secretly recorded asking a reporter posing as a businessman for £500 000 in return for a meeting with Prince Andrew two months ago, she spoke of being "in the gutter" without "a pot to p*** in".
She grovelled for forgiveness on the Oprah Winfrey Show, but refused to reveal the extent of her debts. Prince Andrew forgave his wife and told her she could continue living under his roof "as long as you like".
But he told her to get rid of her entourage of 12 personal assistants as a cost-cutting measure. Now a sacked staff member has lifted the lid on the alleged greed and wastefulness that contributed to the Duchess's financial downfall.
Evenings would regularly begin with the Duchess drinking vodka mixed with Schweppes Russchian, the source said.
Every night she demands a whole side of beef, a leg of lamb and a chicken, which are laid out on the dining room table like a medieval banquet. It's a feast that would make Henry VIII proud.
But often there is just her and her girls Bea and Eugenie and most of it is wasted. There is no attempt to keep it to have cold the next day. It just sits there all night and the next day it's thrown away.
"The waste, and the cost, is mind-blowing but she just doesn't seem to care. She also drinks expensive Laurent Perrier pink champagne like it's going out of fashion."
Sometimes the meals would go virtually untouched while the Duchess and her daughters munched away at large bags of Kettle crisps, it was added.
Prince Andrew is said to be "highly embarrassed" by the amounts Sarah owes to small businesses – especially given his role as a UK ambassador for trade.
He has decided "the only way to move forward" is to bail her out and pay off each debt she owes in the UK – believed to total about £1.5=million, another source said.
The cash is said to come from the sale of their former marital home Sunninghill Park, known as Southyork, which was sold to a Kazakh businessman for £15-million – £3-million more than its guide price.
A royal source said: "The Duke is not touching her debts in America but his people are going to sit down and itemise every debt here and pay them off one by one. The total comes to around £1.5-million."
Buckingham Palace declined to discuss the Duke's private business, but a senior royal aide said: "The Duke is very supportive of Sarah Ferguson. He does everything he can to help her."
The Duchess's spokesman refused to comment. But a source close to Sarah said the vast majority of her debts related to business dealings.
He said: "There is a misleading picture out there that the debts are caused by quaffing pink champagne and tucking into lamb, beef and chicken. The real reason for the situation is a failed business in the US.
"There are two types of debt – personal expenditure and business debts.
"While some business bills are completely valid, the validity of others is being questioned." - Daily Mail
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