Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough John chose Sarah over Catherine Sedley, but both John's and Sarah's families disapproved of the match, therefore they married secretly in the winter of 1677–78. John and Sarah were both Protestants in a predominantly Catholic court, a circumstance that would influence their political allegiances. Although no date was recorded, the marriage was announced only to the Duchess of York, and a small circle of friends, so that Sarah could keep her court position as Maid of Honour. When Sarah became pregnant, her marriage was announced publicly (on 1 October 1678), and she retired from the court to give birth to
Sarah Ferguson (journalist) Award in 2011 for her work on the Four Corners investigation "A Bloody Business" into cruelty to animals in Indonesian abattoirs. In 2015, she presented the critically acclaimed Hitting Home, reporting from the frontline of Australia's domestic violence crisis. The series won Best Documentary at the 2016 AACTA Awards and the Walkley Documentary Award. In May 2017, Ferguson presented "The Siege", a two-part special investigating the siege at the Lindt cafe, Martin Place, Sydney. Ferguson was born in Lagos, Nigeria, where her British-born parents lived. The family moved to Britain as the Biafran war broke out, and Ferguson studied English