Sarah Ferguson Made a Big Change to Her Social Media Following the Loss of Her Royal Title

Last week, amid the continuing fallout related to their ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson voluntarily relinquished their royal titles, including as Duke and Duchess of York.

Although Ferguson and Andrew divorced in 1996, she had retained her title as the Duchess of York following the split and referenced the title in various ways across her official social media profiles, perhaps most notably in her handle on X (and formerly on Twitter), where was known as @SarahTheDuchess until changing her username to @sarahMFergie15 following news of the change last week.

While Ferguson had to scrub references to her former title from her bios across various platforms, not all of her handles were affected by the change, like on Instagram, where she was already using the handle @SarahFerguson15, and will continue to do so.

Ferguson had already been going simply by "Sarah Ferguson" professionally for some time now, and People reported that it's understood that "she will now do so in all areas."

A statement on Oct. 17 announcing Andrew's decision to stop using his royal titles (aside from "Prince," which is more difficult to strip him of—the New York Times reports that doing so would likely require an act of parliament) reads: "In discussion with The King, and my immediate and wider family, we have concluded the continued accusations about me distract from the work of His Majesty and the Royal Family. I have decided, as I always have, to put my duty to my family and country first. I stand by my decision five years ago to stand back from public life.

"With His Majesty’s agreement, we feel I must now go a step further. I will therefore no longer use my title or the honours which have been conferred upon me. As I have said previously, I vigorously deny the accusations against me."

The move has garnered a lot of attention among the press and royal fans alike, but experts say Andrew's loss of titles was a long time coming.

"This was becoming inevitable as the crisis has been piling up for some time," royal author Phil Dampier told The Sun. "The revelation Andrew had lied has clearly tipped the situation over the edge that made it difficult for the King to endure it any longer."