Ferguson says being a "young grandma" at 61 makes her "smile from my heart every day, because that is how it feels to be a granny."
Sarah Ferguson is now a grandma to two "exceptional" grandchildren, and she couldn't be happier about it. The Duchess of York was spotted at Hello!' magazine's annual Inspiration Awards, just weeks after her daughter Princess Beatrice welcomed a daughter of her own named Sienna Elizabeth. Just seven months before, Princess Eugenie welcomed her first child, a son named August.
"My children are phenomenal mothers," Fergie told Hello! magazine on the event's red carpet. "They were great children, but now they're phenomenal mothers. And now, I have these two exceptional grandchildren all in one year."
She added, "Everyone asks me, 'How are your grandchildren?' Well, firstly, I look at my girls being wonderful mothers, and then I see these incredible beings." Fergie even gave an update on how her grandson August is giving her genuine smiles.
"It's so funny because when August smiles at me now, because he's seven and a half months, you actually know he genuinely likes you," she gushed. "It's not a put-on smile, he genuinely finds me very funny, which is quite lucky."
In a letter to her daughter via Good Housekeeping, Fergie said that being a "young grandma" at 61 makes her "smile from my heart every day, because that is how it feels to be a granny" — and she can't wait to share the children's books she has written with her grandchildren, the "perfect new audience."
Her joy in life comes after spending years alone, given how her marriage to Prince Andrew ended in a divorce.
They got married in 1986, and everything went okay for a while, but since Prince Andrew was devoted to his job in the Navy, Fergie was forced to spend many a day alone. "I married my boy, who happened to be a prince and a sailor because I loved him — my only condition being, 'I have to be with you,'" she told Harper's Bazaar in 2011. "And two weeks after the wedding, the courtiers told Andrew, who thought he'd be stationed in London, 'You have to go to sea.' I spent my entire first pregnancy alone. When Beatrice was born, Andrew got 10 days of shore leave and when he left I cried."
Eventually, she had no option, but to end their marriage because it was heading nowhere. She didn't want it, but that was her final choice, and so, in 1996, they were no longer husband and wife. "I didn't want a divorce but had to because of circumstance," she told Harper's Bazaar and it was "the most painful time of my life."
Here's the thing, Fergie didn't drown in her sorrow. She decided to make use of her newfound freedom. Since then, she's managed to accomplish quite a lot in life, which might not have been possible if she was still married to Prince Andrew.
Despite being divorced, Ferguson and Prince Andrew have remained friends and frequently spend time together, along with their daughters Beatrice and Eugenie, per Bustle. Something that not many ex-partners can boast about.
It's really great to see someone turn their life around despite all the hurdles and challenges, isn't it?
References:
https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/entertainment/a37360388/sarah-ferguson-daughters-love-letter/
Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by Stuart C. Wilson