April 9, 2026

Queen Elizabeth’s Breaking Point, Her Final Summer, and Sarah Ferguson’s Secret Andrew Visits

Show Notes
Transcript

A new royal biography claims Queen Elizabeth the Second came close to “nervous exhaustion” during one of the most dangerous moments of her reign, while a separate extract offers a moving portrait of her final summer at Balmoral. Plus, reports that Sarah Ferguson has been secretly visiting Prince Andrew at Wood Farm as pressure around the York family continues to build.

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Calorogus Shark media that lo and welcome to you, Palace intrigue.

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I am your host, Mark Francis. A new royal biography

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is claiming that Queen Elizabeth I came close to what

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one Palace source described as nervous exhaustion during one of

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the most tense periods of her reign. According to Robert Hardman,

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the late Queen was left deeply shaken in the summer

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of nineteen sixty nine, around the time of Prince Charles's

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investorship as Prince of Wales at Kennefern Castle. Hardman says

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the ceremony, which was intended to be a major televised

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moment for the monarchy, took place against a backdrop of

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serious security fears and political violence. In the lead up

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to the event, Welsh separatists had planted explosive devices in

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and around Kennefron, and there were deaths linked to the

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campaign both before and on the day of the investorship.

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Speaking about his new book, Elizabeth in Private in Public

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The Inside Story, Hardman said the Queen became increasingly anxious

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as the event approached, particularly because the threat was directed

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not only at the institution but at her son and

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the wider family. He said, the Queen had always taken

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the view that if something happened to her, she'd live

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with it, die with it if it went with the territory.

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But there was this threat of terrorism against her son,

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his event and the family. According to Hardman, once the

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investiture was over and Charles had left for a tour

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of Wales, the Queen returned to London and canceled a

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full week of engagements. He said. The palace, she said,

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was suffering from the flu, an odd thing to be

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suffering from in early July. He added that someone close

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to the Queen's team later told him it was not

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flu at all, but nervous exhaustion. Hardman said, I don't

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think you could call it a full nervous breakdown, because

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she was back on duty just over a week later,

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but it was the nearest thing to a nervous breakdown.

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A different extract from Robert Hartman's forthcoming biography oviously detailed

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and moving account of the Queen's final summer, describing a

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monarch who appears to have known her time was growing short,

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but remained determined to carry out her duties for as

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long as she could. According to the account, the Queen

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was already showing visible signs of decline during the Platinum

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Jubilee in June of twenty twenty two. While she made

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carefully managed appearances on the Buckingham Palace balcony, she missed

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much of the wider program, including the service of Saint

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Paul's Royal ascot, the Derby and the Jubilee concert, watching

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many of the celebrations from Windsor instead. Hartman writes that

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those around her increasingly sensed they may be witnessing a

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kind of farewell. One official quoted in the piece said

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she was so brave, and added you could tell she

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was having a lot of treatment from the bruising on

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her hands, where the canula had gone in her hands

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seemed permanently bruised. The extract also says the queen wanted

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all of her great grandchildren to spend time with her

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at Balmoral that summer, including Archie and Lillibet if possible.

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A family friend said she wanted to make sure that

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they all had a really happy memory of her. Hardman

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writes the queen wanted all the great grandchildren to come

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up to bow Moral at some point over that summer,

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even if the Sussexes might not be able to make it.

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According to Hartman, the Queen had become aware of the

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seriousness of her condition. Although her exact diagnosis has never

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been made public, those close to her are quoted as

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saying only that she had a number of things in

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the late summer of twenty twenty two, but that she

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was clearly trying to tie up what the book describes

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as various loose ends. Hardman says the Queen visited her

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beloved fell pony Emma and her horses for what would

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prove to be the last time, and also held a

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final round of audiences and official meetings before traveling north.

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One person quoted in the book said, we had a

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private chat at the end of it. I felt a

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bit emotional when I left, because well, it just felt

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to me like a goodbye. She had some very clear

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messages about how she thought things would go in the future,

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very clear. Indeed, one of her final acts of duty

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came on September sixth, when the Queen normally accepted Boris

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Johnson's resignation and appointed Liz Truss as Prime Minister at

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Boomoral rather than traveling back to London. Trust later recalled,

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she stood up to greet me, adding she was clearly

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physically not very well, but we talked for about twenty minutes.

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She was alert. The book also provides new detail about

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the final hours of the queen's life. According to the extract,

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there was initially no immediate sense of crisis when she

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remained in bed the following day, but by an afternoon

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the situation had changed. A handwritten note by her private secretary,

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agreed with her doctor, reportedly recorded the moment in simple terms,

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very peaceful in her sleep, slipped away old age. It added,

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she wouldn't have been aware of anything, no pain. Harmon

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also included a smaller personal detail from the final phase

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of her life, including the Queen's insistence that one of

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her trusted footmen be included in the Paddington Bear Jubilee sketch,

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and the revelation that the marmalade sandwiches used in the

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filming were real more palacing just any moment. A reporting

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closer suggests Sarah Ferguson has been visiting Andrew discreetly at

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wood Farm on the Sandringham estate. According to the report,

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Ferguson has allegedly been brought to the property on more

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than one occasion, while Andrew remains based there during the

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upheaval around his living arrangements. One unnamed source of claims

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Sarah has been to wood Farm on different occasions and

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there's been a rock to Andrew. The same source goes

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on to allege that on one visit, Ferguson was brought

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in the back of Andrew's car, hidden in the footwell

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and under a blanket, and on another occasion came in

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via a removals van. A report in heat Weld suggests

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Sarah feels betrayed by Queen Camilla. One unnamed insider claims,

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Sarah feels incredibly betrayed. Fergie's very bitter, She's angry and

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feels wrong by everyone in the family. What people don't

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see is just how low she's sunk. Every time she

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opens a paper or goes online, it's another reminder that

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she's completely on the outside and there's no real way back,

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and she's really struggling to come to terms with that.

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After everything she's been through with them, she feels she's

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owed a heck of a lot more than being cut

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off without any proper explanation. She says they owe her

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at least a conversation and a shred of sympathy, especially

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someone like Camilla, who she once considered a close ally.

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The article also revisits the mounting pressure around Ferguson's links

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to Epstein, including the recent request from a US lawmaker

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asking her to cooperate with a congressional inquiry. As a

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British citizen, she is not required to appear before Congress,

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and the report says she has no intention of returning

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to the United States. An unnamed source quoted elsewhere in

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the coverage says, Sarah has made it clear to those

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around her she will never set foot in America again.

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She is deeply worried about the reaction she would face,

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whether from Epstein's victims or scrutiny from Congress. In The

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Daily Mail, Liz Jones writes, Sarah Ferguson isn't evil, She's

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reckless and stupid. That's why I feel sorry for her.

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And when you hear the awful thing Andrew said about her,

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perhaps you will too. According to a former Vanity Fair editor,

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Tina Brown, Andrew once referred to her as a fat cow.

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Even Sarah's flight instructors. She was the first female royal

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to hold a pilot's license. Nicknamed her chatterbox one, there

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is barely one small corner of her life in which

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she has been treated with respect. It's telling Sarah had

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crushes on famous men Michael Hutchins, Tiger Words, JFK. Junior.

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She preferred to kiss a poster on a bedroom wall

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than deal with flesh and blood. She's a hopeless romantic,

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after all, Sarah is a human being, certainly not the

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villain of the piece. Even Andrew Lowney, one of the

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fiercest critics, writes, we must remember Sarah has been a

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huge force for good with her charitable endeavors. When Sarah

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married Andrew, she was granted a new coat of arms

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with the motto out of adversity, happiness grows. I hope

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that's true and they have it. If you like to

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email us addresses the palaestintrie get gmail dot com. This

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fallows on Spotify, Apple or the app of your choice.

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I'm Mark Francis my thanks to John McDermott. This is

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Palace intrigue and good terms

Queen Elizabeth’s Breaking Point, Her Final Summer, and Sarah Ferguson’s Secret Andrew Visits

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