Sarah Ferguson says she and Prince Andrew are ‘bigger than friends’ amid romance rumours

THEY may have split in a high-profile divorce in 1996, but Sarah Ferguson has now revealed her and Prince Andrew’s relationship is “bigger than friends”.

For months royal fans have been speculating if the former couple will get back together, and the Duchess of York, 59, has glowed about their close bond.

Speaking to , Sarah said: “We work in unity and [ex-husband Prince] Andrew and I are focused on being good parents together.

“We are bigger than friends. We learn from each other, support each other and understand it's about communication, compromise and compassion."

Fergue and Prince Andrew, 59, married at Westminster Abbey in July 1986, and sealed the romance with a kiss on the balcony of Buckingham Palace in front of 100,000 people.

They became parents to Beatrice in 1988 and Eugenie two years later.

However, they announced their separation in 1992 after the Duchess was pictured topless and having her toes sucked by her American financial adviser John Bryan on holiday in France.

Their divorce was finalised in 1996, with the Palace announcing that Fergie will no longer carry out public engagements on behalf of the Queen.

Despite this, Fergie and Prince Andrew, who is the Queen’s third child, remain close and they still share homes in Windsor, at Royal Lodge, and Switzerland.

And fans have been hopeful about a reunion, after Fergie has been seen at a number of royal events in recent months.

Fergie won plaudits for her very public re-entry into royal occasions after Prince Harry was insistent that she must be included as a guest at his wedding to Meghan.

That provided the opportunity for her to take centre stage at the wedding of her daughter Princess Eugenie to Jack Brooksbank, just six months later.

Alongside her ex-husband and now close friend, she was at the heart of the wedding preparations, including plans for it to be screened on ITV when the BBC turned it down.

She didn’t put a foot wrong in the run-up to the event, impressing many senior royal figures, including the Queen. Some even remarked it felt like the old days of Andrew and Fergie.

A tell-tale sign about the future of the relationship was that Fergie joined Andrew as his partner in Bahrain, where they stayed at the Ritz-Carlton hotel as an official guest of the Bahraini Crown Prince.

The couple themselves have been the first to boast of their closeness.

Last year Fergie told an Australian radio show they “never really left each other” and said they are the “happiest divorced couple in the world”.

And she even hinted at the idea of remarrying Andrew in several interviews, at one point saying: “He’s still my handsome prince, he’ll always be my handsome prince.”

But there remains one major roadblock — a man who will lead the royal family within the years to come.

Prince Charles is said to be adamantly opposed to the idea of Fergie becoming a royal again.

A source close to the heir said: “Charles is not OK with Fergie. He can’t stand her in reality.

“He thinks she’s brought embarrassment to the Royal Family in the past and his relationship with his brother has been strained as a result.

“They don’t get on personally. There’s so much baggage because he feels she sided with Diana over Camilla all those years ago.

We are bigger than friends. We learn from each other, support each other and understand it's about communication, compromise and compassion.

Sarah Ferguson on Prince Andrew

“He looks at a royal like Lady Sarah Chatto (Princess Margaret’s daughter), an intellectual and someone who loves the arts, and thinks Fergie is no comparison.

“The fear with her is that she will never stop promoting herself and looking for ways to make money off her royal position.”

The palace has previously denied rumours of a romantic reunion.

We reported in April that neither Fergie nor Prince Andrew was dating or pursuing anyone else romantically.

Royal expert Katie Nicholls previously said the toe-sucking snaps were the “nail in the coffin” for her marriage when snaps of her and the American hit the front page in 1992.

Fergie also paid tribute to her dear friend Princess Diana in a moving International Women’s Day post.