Britain’s Duchess of York was filmed allegedly trying to sell access to her ex-husband Prince Andrew for 500,00 pounds to an undercover reporter posing as a businessman, a newspaper reported on Sunday. Buckingham Palace refused to comment on the allegation printed by the News of the World that Sarah Ferguson agreed to have the equivalent of 575,000 euros or 723,000 dollars wired to her British bank account for the favor. The weekly tabloid said Ferguson had promised to introduce the fake business man to the prince – Britain’s special representative for international trade and investment.
The paper filmed her allegedly accepting last Tuesday a down payment of 40,000 dollars in cash and it quotes her as saying: “I can open any door you want.” Despite the Duke of York – Queen Elizabeth’s II’s second son – knowing nothing about the deal, Ferguson is filmed as saying: “Andrew said to me, ‘Tell him 500,000 pounds.’ “He knows that he has had to underwrite me up to now because I have got no money. So if you want to meet him in your business, look after me and he will look after you….you will get it back tenfold.”
The paper claimed the 50-year-old Duchess met the fake businessman on two occasions – firstly at a New York hotel and then at the exclusive Mosimann’s dining club in London. It said she was then chauffeured with the reporter to a flat where she was shown on the video apparently shaking on a deal to introduce him to her former husband. The Duke and Duchess of York divorced in 1996 but have remained close friends. According to the paper, the Duchess spoke of their relationship, saying, “We are the happiest divorced couple in the world.”