Sarah Ferguson has faced her fair share of scandals over the years, although none compare to the situation she’s currently in after her ex-husband, Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, was stripped of his titles and evicted from Royal Lodge. But before the days of her infamous toe-sucking photos and money troubles, the former Duchess of York found herself facing accusations of plagiarism when she released her first children’s book in the 1980s—an experience that caused Queen Elizabeth’s press secretary to make a very serious declaration about the then-duchess.
Ferguson, who has authored dozens of fiction and nonfiction titles since then, released her first children’s book in 1989. Inspired by her own flight lessons, Budgie: The Little Helicopter and the rest of the illustrated books in the series tell the story of a helicopter named Budgie and his friends. In Andrew Lownie’s biography Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York, he writes that Ferguson received an £85,000 publishing deal at the time and sold “over a hundred thousand copies off the back of widespread publicity.”
However, “it was not an easy experience,” the author writes. A publishing insider told Lownie that Sarah “had to be handled with kid gloves all the time,” but that wasn’t the biggest problem. Plagiarism rumors began to swirl around Ferguson when comparisons were made to a book called Hector the Helicopter featuring a very similar storyline.
Entitled: the Rise and Fall of the House of York
Lownie continues that Fergie’s publisher, John Sargent—who ran Simon & Schuster’s children’s book division at the time—was forced to issue a statement, claiming that any similarities to the book were “a 100 percent coincidence.” Meanwhile, Random House, which published Hector the Helicopter, “considered taking legal action.”
Because of the scandal, Queen Elizabeth’s press secretary, Robin Janvrin, “forbade the duchess from promoting the book in the United States.” He then told Sargent during an uncomfortable meeting at the palace that “the Duchess of York was the greatest single threat to the monarchy in the current era.”
It’s a story Sargent recalled in his memoir and in a 2023 interview with the Telegraph. Discussing the meeting, he said that Janvrin “apologized for being difficult,” adding that the aide “understood it was about business for me.” Ferguson had signed a contract requiring her to publicize the book, and in the end, they came to an agreement that she could make a short trip to New York.
However, the palace aide explained to Sargent “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.”
Sargent added, “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.”
When the hotly-debated NYC trip did happen, Ferguson “was late for a Today Show interview because ‘she was having trouble deciding which shoes to wear,'” per Lownie. And Sargent received a room service bill from the Hotel Plaza Athénée that “was four times the lodging” after Fergie decided to entertain friends in her room. Even worse, Ferguson originally said proceeds from the book were all going to charity, but in actuality, only 10 percent did.
The whole incident resulted in Prince Andrew’s private secretary asking “to be transferred to work for Prince Edward,” per Lownie, who wrote that the aide was “appalled that a member of the Royal Family should be cashing in on their position for personal gain.”
