Message from Queen Elizabeth to Sarah Ferguson

Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, has shared the poignant final message she received from the late Queen Elizabeth.
The monarch died at her Balmoral estate in Scotland in September 2022 aged 96 and Sarah has now revealed the Queen’s final words to her were a “gift” as she urged her former daughter-in-law to “be yourself”.
Sarah told Platinum magazine: “The last thing the late Queen said to me was ‘be yourself’. It was the greatest gift, apart from corgis, she ever gave me.”
“She also said to me, ‘I cared about you, Sarah, I love you and I know you’re good enough. Be like that.’”
Sarah explained that the Queen’s kind words meant a lot to her as she always felt she was being negatively compared to her former sister-in-law Diana, Princess of Wales.
She added: “When you’re constantly being compared to Diana or you’re always seeing yourself in the papers doing something wrong, being called ‘Bad Fergie’, ‘Furious Fergie’, ‘Fat and frumpy Fergie’, ‘Froliking Fergie’, you end up believing it. I’m much better now, but there are still things to deal with.”
“At 64, I finally feel free to be myself. Rather than trying to please everyone all the time, I can accept that it’s not possible and move on with my life.”
Following the Queen’s death, Sarah adopted the late monarch’s two remaining corgis – Sandy and Muick – and on the first anniversary of her death, the Duchess shared a sweet message calling her a “second mother”.
In an Instagram post, she wrote: “You were a wonderful friend, mentor, second mother to me and grandmother to my daughters who share so much of your courage and heart.
“You will always be loved and missed by our family and our nation.”