News that Sarah Ferguson has been spending time in the UAE should surprise no one – as she is beginning to see the Middle East as the only place left globally where she won’t be socially and financially shunned, we can reveal.
The former Duchess of York who was evicted from her longtime Windsor home this month, has, along with her former husband Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, become a pariah across the west as the extent of their association with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein has made headlines.
Friends now believe that she may conclude that the only place where her former royal status may still open doors is in the oil-rich states.
So they are now asking: ‘Might Fergie actually relocate to the Gulf?’
Royal author Andrew Lownie, who wrote a damning book on the scandal-hit couple called Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York, believes that multi-millionaires in Dubai and the surrounding countries of Bahrain and Qatar will probably be bankrolling Fergie already.
He said: ‘In Britain neither Sarah or Andrew will be socially accepted again whatever they try to do or wherever they go. But in the Middle East no one will care about what they have got up to.
‘There are people there – royalty, politicians and business types – whom Sarah can quite happily sponge off and who will be happy to bankroll both of them.
‘These types of people in the Middle East simply couldn’t care less what Sarah has done. And even if she doesn’t have her title of the Duchess of York anymore, she will still be seen as royalty and treated as such – and she knows it.’
Fergie with her daughters, Princesses Beatrice (left) and Eugenie (right), pictured together in 2017
The family in a selfie posted on Instagram, including Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor
Sarah Ferguson is thought to be plotting a move to the UAE. Pictured: The Etihad Towers in Dubai
Mr Lownie added: ‘There are plenty of dodgy people in the Middle East who would quite happily help out Sarah. People in Dubai have been linked to Epstein through the email release but they are safe because they know they are untouchable.
‘They have palaces and properties that they will quite happily loan out to Sarah and I wouldn’t be surprised if they even pay her airfares and cover all her bills to help her out.
‘Let’s not forget Sarah has no money and has quite an extravagant lifestyle, she will want to carry that on.
‘I’m sure Sarah could make a life for herself out there, staying out of the public eye and sponging off Middle East connections.’
The fabulously rich kingdoms and emirates – where even tarnished royals can disappear behind the closed doors of opulent palaces and luxurious villas – provide the perfect bolthole for the disgraced ex-duchess.
Fergie has been spending time in the UAE, and, according to royal watchers, linking up with her daughter Princess Eugenie, 35, who was in Qatar for the Art Basel fair.
Eugenie is pictured with friend Caroline Daur, 30, working at an art fair in Qatar this week
Eugenie pictured in Qatar this week
And she has been telling her friends: ‘I need to get back to work. I need money.’
She has both have extensive and potentially lucrative contacts across the Middle East.
Among them is Dubai business tycoon Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem who was himself identified in the recent Epstein file drop – though this had far less critical coverage in his homeland than Andrew and Fergie have faced here.
And one of the former Duchess’s closest confidants, PR guru James Henderson, her official spokesman for two decades, relocated to Dubai last year.
Abu Dhabi is the capital of The United Arab Emirates and it’s uncertain whether Fergie’s red flag status will actually affect her standing in the money-orientated bling Gulf State, where her ex-husband Andrew built up extensive contacts while he was ‘working’ as a UK business envoy.
Likewise, as the Daily Mail revealed last year, Andrew has been offered the use of a private royal villa within Abu Dhabi’s ultra-exclusive Sea Palace complex, surrounded by high levels of security, should he tire of his new digs at Marsh Farm on the wet and windy Sandringham estate.
Andrew, 65, was offered use of the waterfront home in Abu Dhabi by president Sheik Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, whom he met when they were pupils at Gordonstoun School. The invitation may well extend to the former duchess.
Sheik Mohamed ordered a refurbishment of a private villa within the complex following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, 65, has been offered use of a waterfront home by UAE president Sheik Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (both pictured)
The six-bedroom property, with a home cinema, indoor plunge pool and gym, offers the disgraced former prince the chance to live away from the media spotlight
It is believed the villa has been extensively used in the past by both Andrew and his daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie
Designers said the refurbished villa aimed to blend classical grandeur with a ‘youthful and playful’ interior – using bold colours and those marble finishes to modernise the ‘palace-style’ home.
The six-bedroom property, with a home cinema, indoor plunge pool and gym, offered the disgraced former prince the chance to live away from the media spotlight.
A particularly large kitchen is staffed by Cordon Bleu cooks, with fittings such as light switches, lamps and taps decorated in gold.
When the Sea Palace, built in the 18th century as a watchtower to protect from seaborne raiders, was put at Andrew’s disposal in 2010, Buckingham Palace was keen to stress it was not an outright gift.
The Yorks’ associations with the Gulf go back several decades and in October 2025, Princess Beatrice was seen hosting a ‘tea party’ in the same Riyadh hotel, the infamous Ritz Carlton, where hundreds of the Saudi ‘old guard’ were beaten and tortured in 2017.
The Riyadh gathering, part of the prestigious Future Investment Initiative, was just the latest occasion when Beatrice rubbed shoulders with some of the richest men on the planet.
Some even wondered if she might be quietly slipping into the former role filled by her disgraced father, the former Prince Andrew, of UK trade envoy.
Even as far back as 2008, speculation began that the then 19-year-old Beatrice was being groomed for the role when Andrew took her on a 14-day tour of Abu Dhabi and Egypt – at taxpayers’ expense.
The bill for the Met Police bodyguard she was allowed in those days alone was estimated at £40,000 since, because of shift patterns, one set of police officers had to be flown out to replace another. She performed no public engagements.
In 2011, it was reported that Beatrice was given expensive pieces of jewellery on another trip to Abu Dhabi with Andrew by their royal hosts.
Many years later, Beatrice was fronting an event for women business leaders in Riyadh.
The invitations announced: ‘We cordially invite you to Afternoon Tea hosted by Princess Beatrice of York,’ along with Canadian wellness entrepreneur Ruma Bose, and a US-based organisation called the ‘Lioness Collective’.
Princess Beatrice pictured in Riyadh, hosting ‘afternoon tea’
The afternoon tea invitations billed the event as ‘insights and bold ideas for investing in women, wellness, and the next generation of leaders’
Our enquiries with Beatrice’s co-hosts at the ‘Lioness Collective’ and Ms Bose drew no response at the time.
Many attendees were surprised that Beatrice even showed up for the Riyadh event, given the tumultuous events which had occurred back home.
Her parents had just effectively been thrown out on their ears by King Charles after they were exposed as having lied about breaking off contact with billionaire paedophile Epstein in the years following his 2008 conviction and plea deal for soliciting child prostitution.
Since then, with each new tranche of emails and photos from the Epstein files, the King’s unflinching treatment of the Yorks has only been vindicated.
Beatrice and Eugenie were said to have been ‘left aghast’ and ‘absolutely devastated’ by the latest scandal surrounding their father – accused by the late Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre of having sex with her when she was trafficked and underage, which he has denied.
Last year during Beatrice’s appearance in Abu Dhabi, she also rubbed shoulders with some of the region’s key power players both in public and behind the scenes.
She spoke about artificial intelligence at the Adipec energy conference in the Emirate, where her father is reported to have the exclusive use of a royal palace at his disposal.
Beatrice also attended a private conference hosted by the UAE minister of industry, Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, the day before her public appearance.
She was pictured at the event next to Abu Dhabi crown prince Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Reporters were banned from the meeting, which included the CEOs of Shell and EDF, the vice president of Microsoft, and former Bank of England governor Mark Carney, now the UN special envoy for climate action.
In a public interview on stage, Beatrice made sure she hit her key points, rattling away pleasantly and fluently about ‘collaboration’, ‘moving the needle’, ‘expanding the conversation’ and ‘asking questions’.
US journalist Hadley Gamble, who conducted the interview, told the Mail on Sunday: ‘There was a general feeling that Beatrice was an unofficial ambassador for the UK.’
She added: ‘Beatrice was quite literally in the inner circle at a gathering of global energy CEOs, top finance guys and policy makers.’
When Beatrice accompanied her father on Andrew’s official UK trade envoy trips, the lines were always blurred, and many people couldn’t help but notice that many often coincided with the weekends of F1 Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi or Bahrain.
A few months before he was forced to stand down as Trade Envoy in 2011, the public were given a rare insight into what the diplomats called on to help arrange Andrew’s trips really thought of him.
A bombshell letter from former UK Ambassador to Qatar and Tunisia, Stephen Day, an ex-head of the Foreign Office’s Middle East section, was leaked.
He told government ministers that Andrew should be sacked ‘as soon as possible’ because he was doing ‘serious damage’ to the Royal Family and Britain.
Mr Day said the Prince was the ‘worst person’ to deploy in countries such as Qatar, where his presence was seen as ‘crass’.
He also alleged that Andrew had held a ‘worrying’ private meeting with Col Gaddafi three years earlier at the home of Sakher el–Materi, the son–in-law of the recently ousted Tunisian president, and described by Mr Day as ‘the worst of all the crooks in the presidential family’.
Andrew’s reign as trade envoy came to an ignominious end three months later, but he then morphed into the host of ‘Pitch@Palace’, helping young entrepreneurs link up with potential investors.
