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    Sarah Ferguson Once Said She Wanted Daughters Eugenie and Beatrice to Experience "The Same Mistakes" She'd Made For Themselves

    "I've been on this huge road of learning with mistakes..."

    Amy Mackelden's avatar
    By Amy Mackelden
    Published 10 October 2026 In News

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    Princess Beatrice, Sarah Ferguson, and Princess Eugenie pose together in 2004.
    (Image credit: CARL DE SOUZA/AFP via Getty Images)
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    Sarah Ferguson's relationship with the Royal Family has changed a lot over the years. At the end of 2025, the former Duchess of York was stripped of her official royal titles following new allegations regarding her ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Since then, Ferguson has stayed out of the spotlight, but a new report revisits one of the former royal's parenting decisions.

    In 1996, Ferguson spoke to CTV about parenting her daughters, Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice, and the things she was hoping to teach them.

    "I've been on this huge road of learning with mistakes and how to do things," Ferguson explained (via Hello! magazine). The ex-duchess shared that she particularly wanted to teach Beatrice and Eugenie to "show emotion" and "be themselves."

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    Sarah Ferguson sledding with Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie in 1993

    The ex-duchess said she wanted to teach Beatrice and Eugenie to "show emotion" and "be themselves."

    (Image credit: Getty Images)

    During the interview, Ferguson recalled buying Princess Eugenie a new pair of shoes and later discovering that her daughter "didn't like them." Eugenie also reportedly told her mom that the shoes were "too small."

    "I immediately stopped what I was doing, sat her down and said, 'I just want you to understand, I don't want you to go through the same mistakes mommy's made at 37,'" Ferguson shared on CTV. "'I want you to learn now at 6 [years old].'"

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    Sarah Ferguson and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor standing next to each other wearing black

    "I don't want you to go through the same mistakes mommy's made at 37. I want you to learn now at 6."

    (Image credit: Getty Images)

    Basically, the ex-Duchess of York seemingly wanted her kids to experience the mistakes she'd made much earlier than she did, and to learn from where she'd gone wrong.

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    Weekend Editor

    Amy Mackelden is the weekend editor at Marie Claire, where she covers celebrity and royal family news. She was the weekend editor at Harper’s BAZAAR for three years, where she covered breaking celebrity and entertainment news, royal stories, fashion, beauty, and politics. Prior to that, she spent a year as the joint weekend editor for Marie Claire, ELLE, and Harper's BAZAAR, and two years as an entertainment writer at Bustle. Her additional bylines include Cosmopolitan, People, The Independent, HelloGiggles, Biography, Shondaland, Best Products, New Statesman, Heat, and The Guardian. Her work has been syndicated by publications including Town & Country, Good Housekeeping, Esquire, Delish, Oprah Daily, Country Living, and Women's Health. Her celebrity interviews include Jennifer Aniston, Jessica Chastain, the cast of Selling Sunset, Emma Thompson, Jessica Alba, and Penn Badgley. In 2015, she delivered an academic paper at Kimposium, the world's first Kardashian conference.

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