Long before they officially joined the royal family, Sarah Ferguson and Princess Diana shared a close and lively friendship. They were both young women navigating similar social circles, and their bond only deepened once they married into the same family. For years, they appeared inseparable, often photographed laughing together at royal events and private gatherings.
Yet by the time Diana died in 1997, the two women had not spoken for nearly a year. The silence was something that later weighed heavily on Ferguson, who reflected on it in her autobiography Finding Sarah: A Duchess’s Journey to Find Herself.
In the book, Ferguson admitted she never fully understood why their friendship had suddenly cooled. She wrote that when Diana became upset about something, it could remain with her for a long time. Still, Ferguson tried to repair the relationship, sending letters and hoping the disagreement would eventually fade.
She later recalled that Diana had even mentioned wanting to speak with her shortly before her death. According to Ferguson, the princess had asked a mutual friend where she was and said she wanted to talk to her again.
The Comment That May Have Caused the Rift
Although Ferguson said she never knew the exact reason for the distance between them, royal commentator Tina Brown offered a widely discussed explanation in her book The Diana Chronicles.
The issue reportedly stemmed from a line Ferguson wrote in an earlier memoir, My Story: Sarah, the Duchess of York, published in 1996.
In the book, Ferguson joked that when she lived in Clapham, Diana had generously lent her many pairs of shoes because they wore the same size. She then added a remark suggesting she had also caught a verruca, or plantar wart, from borrowing them.
According to Brown, that brief comment was deeply upsetting to Diana. The biographer described it as a “fatal line,” arguing that the princess felt embarrassed by the public mention of something so personal. Despite Ferguson’s attempts to apologise, Brown wrote that the two women never reconciled before Diana’s death.
Remembering Diana Years Later
In the years since, Ferguson has spoken warmly about the friendship they once shared. She often describes Diana as someone who understood the pressures of royal life in a way few others could.
In a 2021 interview with HELLO! Magazine, Ferguson said she still thinks about Diana frequently. She reflected on the unique bond they had during the 1980s, remembering the humour they shared and the strange fashions of the time.
For Ferguson, those memories remain vivid. Even decades later, she has said that a part of her heart will always stay with her former friend, the late Diana, Princess of Wales.
