I’ve weathered a lot of storms: Sarah Ferguson

Her warm smile and affable personality puts you immediately at ease as she settles down for a chat about different aspects of her life, charity, memories and family. The Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson was in the capital recently to raise funds for various charities that she is actively involved with.

Dressed in all black, Ferguson, who’s no stranger to India, asserts, “I love India. I love spending time over here, exploring the colours, the people, the vibrance, the culture... I love everything about being here. India is the future. I can feel the spirituality and peace here.”

About this visit she says, “This time, I have come to India for the Elephant Family charity that was started by Mark Shand, the Duchess of Cornwall’s (Camilla) brother who died at the age of 62. His daughter Ayesha and my mother were best friends and that’s how I got inclined to this project. The charity works for the endangered Asian elephants to preserve their natural habitat,” she says as she sits down with a cup of black tea. She adds that she has also come here for the Head Injury Foundation founded by Gaj Singh II of Jodhpur and Key to Freedom that works towards stopping human trafficking.

Asked about the most memorable incident related to how her charity has helped people around the world, she says, “There have been numerous moments. It is always about one child, one event, one occurrence, one cause that usually starts me off to work towards it. There was this little girl in Bengal who was being so badly treated as a slave, lifted up during one of the nights and thrown into sex trading followed by leaving her in a semi lifeless state in the street. Aloka Mitra of Women’s Interlink Foundation had taken her in and when Prince Andrew visited her, he rang me up to ask about options to save this girl. So, in the process, the Prince and I helped this girl learn a skill and she now makes scarves for a living. In return, we help her sell it all at Top Shop all over the world for £30 and it goes straight to her own bank account through which she can look after her own family.”

Sarah continues, “The girl now works for her freedom, self-esteem and pride. I feel there is no right on Earth above the right to live with dignity.”

From her controversial royal divorce from Prince Andrew to her complicated friendship with Princess Diana, Sarah has spent decades living under an unforgiving microscope. However, the mother of two has regained her self-confidence and triumphed against the odds over the years. Ask her what she has taught her two beautiful daughters Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie from her own life’s experiences, and Sarah replies, “To be themselves, to be real and not to be frightened ever to get it wrong. I think, a mother is a leader and has to set the right example that you have to weather the storm. I have weathered a lot of it personally, yet nothing has stopped me. I understand that centuries of chains and lashes cannot kill the spirit of man and the sense of truth within him. What is my life if I am but to bow, agree and obey I went through the phase of feeling so totally worthless to feeling the luckiest person/girl in the world because I am free in my heart. That’s what I have taught them.”

Her daughters, the Duchess says, used to accompany her during all her travels but now they have bosses and work to attend to. The proud mother informs, “My 27-year-old daughter (Beatrice) recently started a new role at an equity firm in Manhattan, has had no trouble adapting to her new life in N.Y.C. The younger one too has a job. They are working so hard these days and cannot take time off for me now. Since they can’t come to me, now I go to them.”

Sarah who had got a divorce from Prince Andrew, Duke of York, the second son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, in 1996, has time and again emphasised that family is like a unit. “Family is the most crucial part of everyone’s life and Prince Andrew and I have emphasised on its importance over and over. He’s my best friend and the father of my children. We lived together even after our separation and we demonstrate that no matter what we will communicate and compromise with compassion. Those are the 3C’s that we live by and stand for,” she affirms.

Fergie, as she is popularly known, is also a successful author with several books to her credit and next on her agenda is a novel for grown-ups and it is nearly over. “It has taken me six years and it is a novel set in historic times with romance in it,” she says, adding with a smile, “It is no 50 Shades of Grey.” She is also working on another book that aims to give every child the right to be imaginative. “Otherwise, where is the imagination. I’m writing a book about it and it has fairies, both boy fairies as well as girl fairies,” she laughs.

Bringing in tea rooms is also on her agenda where she’d make sure that “once a week, people can come in and have some tea without having to pay for it. It’s good because it is about giving back. Why is it always about taking Someone is entitled to that moment. I might just call the tea rooms as ‘take a moment’ and it’s just a cup of tea and some biscuits. It is that one moment where this person can be listened to,” she signs off.