Princess Diana and Sarah Ferguson Competed for Royal Press

Sarah Ferguson wearing a polka dot suit standing next to Princess Diana in a pink jacket and white and pink hat

(Image credit: Getty Images)

When Prince Harry married Meghan Markle in 2018, there was much attention spent in the press comparing Meghan to her new sister-in-law, Princess Kate. But three decades earlier, the dynamics between two different royal sisters-in-law dominated the headlines. Sarah Ferguson's relationship with the then-Prince Andrew was orchestrated by her friend and fourth cousin, Princess Diana, but their friendship eventually became one marred by competition and drama.

Ferguson married Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor in 1986, and at the time her fun-loving, energetic personality was seen by the public as a breath of fresh air. Diana and Sarah were originally close and shared a similar sense of humor, along with bonding "over their frustration with royal bureaucracy," as biographer Andrew Lownie wrote in Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York.

But for Diana, she felt slightly threatened by Sarah joining the family. "Diana envied Ferguson's more relaxed and closer relationship with the Queen and initially with the rest of the Royal Family thanks to her equine interests and talents and love of country pursuits," he wrote.

Princess Diana standing wearing a blue jacket standing next to Sarah Ferguson in 1987 — Princess Diana and Sarah Ferguson are pictured in 1987.

Entitled: the Rise and Fall of the House of York

On the other hand, Fergie thought Diana was "more popular and more stylish" and "was able to get away with behavior she could not."

Per Lownie, Ferguson's friend Allan Starkie felt that Diana and Sarah were always "in competition." Starkie said: "They were fighting an ongoing battle through use of their charities and using the press as a weapon."

"They would look like actresses on opening night at their reviews of their latest charity trips and compare them and whine if the other one got better views," Starkie continued.

Sarah Ferguson talking to Princess Diana outside church in blue skirt suits — Sarah and Diana attend church on Christmas morning 1988.

Lownie noted that the sisters-in-law "vied with each other for column inches in the media" and would even go to the press and "brief against each other." Their competition also involved which charities they could work with, with Diana becoming especially territorial over one incident.

The Entitled author adds that according to author David Leigh, Diana and Fergie "didn't speak for weeks" after Sarah promoted an AIDS charity, since the disease was "a cause close to Diana's heart."

At the end of the day, the scandals involving Sarah and Andrew's divorce led Princess Diana to distance herself from her old friend. At the end of the day, Diana's former private secretary Patrick Jephson said that it was "a friendship that had outlived its usefulness."

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Kristin Contino is Marie Claire's Senior Royal and Celebrity editor. She's been covering royalty since 2018—including major moments such as the Platinum Jubilee, Queen Elizabeth II’s death and King Charles III's coronation—and places a particular focus on the British Royal Family's style and what it means.

Prior to working at Marie Claire, she wrote about celebrity and royal fashion at Page Six Style and covered royalty from around the world as chief reporter at Royal Central. Kristin has provided expert commentary for outlets including the BBC, Sky News, US Weekly, the Today Show and many others.

Kristin is also the published author of two novels, “The Legacy of Us” and “A House Full of Windsor.” She's passionate about travel, history, horses, and learning everything she can about her favorite city in the world, London.