Ronald Ferguson Ronald Ferguson Major Ronald Ivor Ferguson (10 October 1931 – 16 March 2003) was the father of Sarah, Duchess of York, former wife to the Duke of York. He was the maternal grandfather of Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie of York. Major Ferguson was polo manager, initially to the Duke of Edinburgh and later, for many years, to the Prince of Wales. Ferguson was the son of Colonel Andrew Henry Ferguson (1899–1966) and his wife Marian Louisa Montagu Douglas Scott (1908–1996), a first cousin of Lady Alice Montagu Douglas Scott, who became (after her wedding to Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester)
Sarah, Duchess of York the Duchess would no longer carry out public engagements on behalf of the Queen. Furthermore, the Queen announced in a statement that she would not take responsibility for Sarah's debts. In August 1992, surreptitiously taken photographs of the Duchess sunbathing topless with John Bryan, an American financial manager, were published in the British tabloid "Daily Mirror". The Duchess endured widespread public ridicule contributing to her further estrangement from the British royal family. In 1995, Prince Andrew's aunt Princess Margaret, who had received a bouquet of flowers sent by Sarah, reportedly wrote in a letter to the Duchess: "You have done