Prince Andrew's teddy bear collection may mean a lot the controversial royal, but it looks like Sarah Ferguson had little love for the cuddly toys.
- Prince Andrew's teddy bear collection reportedly holds a special place in the disgraced royal's heart, but not everyone shares his sentimentalism for the fluffy toys.
- Sarah Ferguson, who was married to the Duke of York from 1986 to 1992, reportedly started 'laughing' over the bizarre collection.
- In other royal news, Lady Louise's life-altering decision as Sophie Wessex says it's up to her.
Sarah Ferguson wasn't exactly a fan of Prince Andrew's teddy bear collection, according to a royal expert.
It's no secret that the Duke of York has long had a penchant for the soft toys, with multiple insiders revealing that the royal heir kept dozens of them in his private residence at Buckingham Palace. The former military officer reportedly owns up to 72 teddy bears—with a hippo and panther thrown in for good measure—and has gone to extreme lengths to protect them.
Unfortunately, his strange passion was shared by his ex-wife, Sarah 'Fergie' Ferguson, who was forced to contend with Andrew's fixation on stuffed animals throughout their six-year marriage.
The Duchess of York, 62, reportedly 'fell about laughing' when a royal biographer questioned her on the collection whilst visiting their apartment in 1990 for research on her new book.
Ingrid Seward, the author of Fergie at the Palace, has recalled how the mother of Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice reacted when she asked if the teddy bears belonged to her.
"She showed me to their bedroom and there were around a dozen teddy bears on the marital bed," the royal writer told the Sun.
“I said to her, ‘Oh Fergie, you haven’t still got your old teddies have you?"
"And she said, ‘No they are all Andrew’s’. We found it very funny and fell about laughing.”
It's understood that the 61-year-old stored up to 72 teddies in his bedroom at the Queen's London headquarters, having accumulated the massive quantity throughout his travels over the past few decades.
"Everywhere I went in the Navy I used to buy a little teddy bear, so I’ve got a collection from all over the world of one sort or another," Andrew revealed in 2010.
One detail he failed to disclose, however, was the nature of his relationship with the furry, inanimate objects. The second youngest of the Queen's children was reportedly fiercely protective of his teddy bear collection, so much so that he even ordered his royal servants to arrange them in a very specific pattern.
It's also been said that Prince Andrew 'verbally abused' his maids if they failed to follow his strict instructions, which were apparently later delivered to staff via a laminated diagram.
Charlotte Briggs, who claims to have worked as Prince Andrew's maid at Buckingham Palace in the 1990s, has now shared her "peculiar" memories of the royal's cuddly collection.
"As soon as I got the job, I was told about the teddies and it was drilled into me how he wanted them,” she told the Sun. “I even had a day’s training. Everything had to be just right. It was so peculiar.”
Charlotte recalled how she was expected to organize the collection on Prince Andrew's four-poster bed by size, with the larger bears at the back and the smaller ones in the front. In the evenings, she would have to move the teddies in preparation for the Duke of York's arrival.
The then-21-year-old explained that she would place the little bears in an 'unused fireplace' and position Andrew's two favorite toys on each side of his bed.
“It was so odd," she admitted. "After all, he was a grown man who had served in the Falklands."
Prince Andrew's teddy bears might come in handy as a comforter as he prepares to face a high-profile trial in the US later this year. The Duke of York has been accused by Virginia Giuffre, one of the most prominent survivors of Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking ring, of committing 'sexual assault and battery' against her as a minor. The Queen has since stripped Andrew's royal privileges and confirmed that he will be defending his case as a private citizen.
