Queen Camilla has reportedly been instrumental in welcoming back Sarah, Duchess of York, back within the family fold.
The Mail on Sunday reports that Sarah, who was married to Prince Andrew from 1986 to 1996, has found a strong ally in Queen Camilla.
A source told the Mail’s Kate Mansey: “Camilla likes Sarah. They’re both gentry.
“They share a love of horses and Fergie will be smart enough to play the game with Camilla and realise she is the power behind the King. That she must be nice to them and support them.”
The allyship seems to have strengthened in recent months, with The King and Queen inviting Sarah to Sandringham over Christmas where she enjoyed time with The Royal Family.
The Duchess even accompanied Their Majesties on the family’s Boxing Day hunt, something that was unthinkable just a few years ago.
In the final years of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, there were signs that Sarah was being welcomed back to the family fold.
She and Prince Andrew were both invited to spend summer at Balmoral with the late Queen on a number of occasions.
However, her relationship with Prince Philip never truly recovered following her divorce to Prince Andrew in the mid-nineties and the tabloid scandals that followed.
It was no coincidence that whenever Sarah visited a royal residence, the Duke of Edinburgh was nowhere to be seen.
Royal Diaries are planned months in advance, and each year, Sarah would only arrive at Balmoral when Prince Philip was elsewhere.
Her presence at major family gathering such as Christmas shows that much of the family has moved on from the ‘toe sucking’ scandals of 26 years ago.
After her marriage to Prince Andrew in 1986, the Duchess spent six years as a civil list working royal, before being placed on what one would call a “leave of absence” from royal duties after her separation in 1992.
The Duke and Duchess finalised their divorced in 1996. Like Diana, Princess of Wales, Sarah was entitled to keep “Duchess of York” as a courtesy title.
Although divorced, the couple remain extremely close close.
Sarah said previously that she and Andrew are ‘the happiest divorced couple in the world,’ adding that they are ‘divorced to each other, not from each other.’
