'"In terms of the family, (Fergie) has always been the central link keeping them all strong and all together.' Photo / Getty Images
The Duchess of York's 60th birthday party at Royal Lodge, Windsor, in October 2019 left guests in no doubt about the strength of the bond between "Fergie" and her former husband.
Appearing close to tears during a rare moment of introspection, Prince Andrew recalled the day he was reacquainted with his childhood friend, Sarah Ferguson, at a Windsor Castle lunch in 1985 and declared: "I fell in love with her at that lunch, and I have never stopped loving her".
By then, the couple had been divorced for nearly 25 years, but were still living as husband and wife in all but name. Just a month later, their relationship would be tested like never before, when the Duke was forced to step back from royal duties after his disastrous Newsnight interview.
It is perhaps worth remembering, as the Duchess prepares to shore up what is left of "Team York" after his multimillion-pound settlement with Virginia Giuffre, that she was never in favour of him doing the hour-long interview with Emily Maitlis. Always his staunchest defender, she rode quickly to his rescue, describing him as "a great man" and "a gentleman".
For his part, in the aftermath of the "car-crash" interview, Andrew, 61, assembled a "working group" with the three clear objectives. Stage one would seek a legal resolution, stage two would provide a better explanation for the Duke's actions and stage three would be to work out what the royal could do with the rest of his life.
That carefully planned process now lies in tatters. So who is left on Team York – and do they seriously now believe they can save a man whose reputation has been shot to pieces?
Clearly, key to any hope that Andrew may have of rehabilitation is the Duchess, 62. Yet as one insider pointed out, she is unlikely to do anything that might jeopardise her own solo career as a writer, having already published the first of a two-book deal with Mills and Boon, which has helped to prop up the couple's precarious finances.
"In terms of the family, [Fergie] has always been the central link keeping them all strong and all together," said one source, "and never more so than now. But you do have to keep the personal and professional separate here. She has always carved an individual professional life, which encompasses everything from her books, her Storytime with Fergie YouTube videos, her US TV work and other products. That remains distinct."
For more than a decade, the Duchess has been advised by PR expert James Henderson, 57, and it is understood the former chief executive of Bell Pottinger will continue to work with her – but not the Duke, as has always been the case.
Henderson will also continue to play a background public relations role to Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, who have understandably been "devastated" by the accusations against their father. According to one family friend: "It's been very difficult for them. I don't think anyone has ever properly appreciated how hard it is for any child to have that level of scrutiny and exposure. But they have their own children now, so the family unit is more dispersed than it was."
Neither has said anything publicly in support of their father lately, but both remain very much on the side of their darling "Papa".
In a sign of Fergie's continual attempts to keep the family "unit" as tight-knit as possible, she spent Christmas with her daughters, their husbands and children. Andrew did not join them at their £17 million ($35m) chalet in Verbier in the Swiss Alps, which has since been sold to part-fund the £12m agreement with Giuffre, the bill for which the Queen is understood to have contributed to.
Beatrice, 33, has a 4-month daughter, Sienna, with her husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, while Eugenie, 31, has a year-old son with her husband Jack Brooksbank. Insiders say the grandchildren have been proving "a welcome distraction".
Whether the Duke retains his own PR people remains to be seen. The Newsnight debacle prompted his then press secretary, Jason Stein, to step down after being kept in the dark about the interview. When the Duke's private secretary Amanda Thirsk, who set it up, also resigned after it was so badly received, Andrew was advised by Mark Gallagher, a former chief of staff at ITV who runs a corporate relations firm.
Dubbed "the backroom fixer", Gallagher's private clients have included those falsely accused of child abuse by Carl Beech, aka "Nick", including Harvey Proctor, the ex-MP.
Yet the formidable spin doctor was forced to step down from his official role advising the Duke in February last year after receiving "deeply offensive and threatening" abuse. Although he left the working group, to be replaced by fellow PR expert Lucy Goodwin of Reputation Communications, it is thought he has continued to advise Andrew in a private capacity.
There is a sense that both PRs have felt hamstrung during the past few torturous years by the Duke's allegedly "over-cautious" legal team.
As one source explained: "When the working group was set up, the legal resolution phase was supposed to take four months. There was supposed to be a resolution by Easter 2020."
Almost two years on, the legal tactics required to achieve some kind of resolution have taken an extraordinary toll on Andrew's reputation. "The PRs haven't been able to get to stage two or three, because the entire time frame has been eaten up by stage one."
So will he continue to receive "Palace PR" advice now that he is deemed a "private citizen"? One insider appeared sceptical: "He just has to be quiet now, doesn't he? In time, he needs to find an area he can develop philanthropically, but I don't think anyone has got beyond this situation of ensuring that the Platinum Jubilee is a success for his mother."
Another source added: "The fact is, there is not that much to do with the Giuffre case that public relations have resolved. As it is, the PRs haven't been able to get onto the front foot at all. I doubt he will do another interview, so the entire strategy is going to need a rethink. Much will then depend on what he, Sarah and the princesses want to do about the House of York and how that fits in with the future plans of the royal family."
With an FBI investigation still hanging over Andrew, it is likely he will also retain the services of his UK solicitor, Gary Bloxsome, and his US lawyer Andrew Brettler. It fell to Bloxsome, 48, co-head of the dispute resolution team at Blackfords LLP, to accompany Andrew to see the Queen at Windsor Castle last month; he was made to wait in the car park as the 95-year old monarch informed her son he was being stripped of his remaining royal and military affiliations.
Meanwhile, "attack-dog" Brettler, 45 – who reportedly costs £2000 an hour and is defending Hollywood actors Chris Noth and Armie Hammer, who have had sexual assault allegations made against them, which they deny – will continue to keep "a watching brief" on any outstanding legal issues in the US, where the Department of Justice still wants to speak to Andrew as a witness to Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell's crimes. Both briefs have been criticised for what has been described as repeatedly swerving Team Giuffre's attempts to serve the Duke with papers which, coupled with claims that he has "refused to co-operate" with the US authorities, has made the ninth in line to the throne look like he has something to hide, despite insisting he is innocent.
With any savings he might have had seemingly eaten up by the settlement, it is not known how Andrew plans to fund his future. The source of his wealth has long remained a mystery, given his modest Navy pension and annual £250,000 stipend from the Queen. In December 2017, a £1.5m bank loan was paid off by his friend, property developer David Rowland, but there is no evidence of the Tory donor providing any further financial support.
What all sources agree is that it is far too early to decide what the Duke is going to do with the rest of his life. Asked whether Andrew accepted that he had no future as a working royal, one particularly well-placed insider replied: "That is a very difficult question to answer because then you get into the psychology of it all".
Even with the legal case resolved, what's left of Team York still appears to have its work cut out.
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