Have we really seen the last of Sarah Ferguson?

The ex-wife of the former Prince Andrew finally finds herself unemployable and persona non grata with the often forgiving British public. But might she survive her eviction from the royal family, wonders Joy Lo Dico

Few violins will be played for the tragedy of Sarah Ferguson – what was she thinking, allegedly dragging her young daughters to meet the convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein the minute he was released from jail in 2011?

But hers is a story that has always elicited more sympathy from the British public than perhaps it deserved to – and so it will be a strange thing indeed for her to find she has lost that now.

She is a curio of British public life. The daughter of Charles’s polo manager, Major Ronald Ferguson, she has become the unlikeliest fixture in the family since she and Prince Andrew first struck up a relationship; an outsider trying to fit in, which in turn made her an intriguing lens through which to see royal affairs.

She was the extension to The Firm at a time when the royals were still appallingly bad at engaging with the modern public. Her fashion sense in those days left something to be desired, but so too did the press. The tabloids were at their most riotous in the Nineties and Noughties, and they meted out mockery to Ferguson – about her weight, specifically – in a way that, today, would not be seen as acceptable.

She has been in a no-man’s land ever since. Simultaneously, she has had to act like a royal – she has performed her charitable duties seriously and with genuine feeling – while having to make some sort of way in the civilian world. She writes books and does TV (neither job is entirely welcome, either as a current member of the royal family or a former one), and her every business deal is construed as corrupt or self-serving.

The press will be calling for her eviction from British society. But perhaps against all the odds, Sarah Ferguson will get another act (AP)

Many who don’t know Ferguson will wonder how or why she is still such a prominent figure. It is partly because the royal legacy never leaves you. But it is also because she has a strength of character that makes people warm to her. She’s at times foolish, at times very funny. She knows herself and the ridiculousness of her own position. And she knows she has terrible judgement at times.

In 2011, she gave an interview to the Evening Standard after Epstein was jailed, to say she’d never speak to him again. That was the right thing to do. By all accounts, he was seething – and according to sources, he made it clear to her that he would pursue her with his resources and his lawyers. History has shown how billionaires can bury their enemies beneath years of lawsuits. Andrew knew he’d be backed, as he always was. Who would back Sarah Ferguson?

It’s reminiscent of the way in which F Scott Fitzgerald describes the truly wealthy, and how much they care (or don’t) about people they no longer have a use for: “They smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness.” But as I said, there will be few violins played for Ferguson.

In any case, she wrote a grovelling letter to Epstein, saying: “I know you feel hellaciously let down by me.” That letter was sent in response to his threat to sue her for defamation, knowing that she was both financially weak and fully compromised as a royal. It is another of those moments in royal history where someone is left behind. Not with the strident self-justification of Meghan, or the tragic projections of Diana. But left behind, nevertheless.

For now, Ferguson finds herself unemployable and persona non grata, with nowhere to go. The press will be calling for her eviction from British society. But perhaps against all the odds, Sarah Ferguson will get another act. Who knows – falling out of the royal family may just be the making of her.