Disgraced Sarah Ferguson is urgently seeking refuge with friends after her secret Alpine hideaway was exposed — as she dreads a US subpoena over the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.
The former royal, 66, has been working the phones since the weekend, sources close to her say, searching for a new bolthole and a return to the low profile she has kept for the last several months.
A luxury £2,000-a-night apartment at the Mayrlife wellness spa in Altaussee, near Salzburg, Austria, that had served as her sanctuary from the London storm is now compromised after photos of her nearby were published last week.
It is believed she has now moved on from the lakeside retreat and will depend on wealthy contacts to look after her.
According to sources, Ferguson barely left her first-floor two-bedroom chalet overlooking the stunningly beautiful lake since checking in nearly a month ago, and was never seen on the large balcony.
She ordered all her meals via room service — bresaola ham with mozzarella was a favourite, as was chicken breast.
She was never seen on the resort’s walking trails, or down by the lake, or at its clay tennis courts. Her contact with the outside world was kept at a bare minimum, though she had her hair done on March 24 by a visiting stylist.
Sources close to Fergie say that she remains in constant touch with her daughters Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie on the phone, while both of them have been increasingly concerned over her mental health.
Sarah Ferguson pictured at the eye-wateringly expensive wellness clinic in Austria where she has been holed up. The former Duchess of York had not been seen in public for seven months
Pictured, the £2,000-a-night clinic where Fergie has been hiding amid the controversy surrounding her links to Epstein
The disgraced former royal was spotted in Austria for the first time in four months. She was last seen attending the christening of her youngest granddaughter
How on earth she has managed to fund her stay at Mayrlife is a source of mystery. The co-owners of the spa, formerly known as Vivamayr, Natascha Sommerer and Dr Dieter Resch, have known Ferguson since she stayed there in 2023, recovering from breast cancer and melanoma.
It is believed that Ms Sommerer, herself the daughter of the late industrialist and former Austrian vice-chancellor Hannes Androsch, bonded with Fergie during that stay and was grateful for the publicity she brought to the clinic in interviews and on social media.
Sarah recorded a fulsome promotional video for the resort, praising it as 'a safe place, a sanctuary' and 'probably one of the only places in the world where I can just be Sarah'.
Whether that would have been enough for Mayrlife to ‘comp’ her a lengthy stay seems highly unlikely.
Though when she was photographed on a rare outing away from the spa, she was still flying the Mayrlife flag by sporting a branded white baseball cap.
Sadly for Mayrlife, its distinctive blue emblem was photoshopped out by the newspaper to keep her location a secret a little while longer.
Some say that Fergie still has no shortage of rich benefactors rallying around her in her time of need, but yesterday rumours of another possible source of income was suggested by royal expert Tom Sykes in The Daily Beast – a sensational deal for a warts-and-all book about her association with Epstein.
‘The idea that she is financing an Austrian spa break out of her own pocket strains credulity,’ Sykes wrote. 'The big rumor… is that Ferguson has secured a substantial book deal, a tell-all or at least tell-some, memoir that would represent a monster payday.'
Other sources insisted that her friends would stand by her. ‘Sarah has good friends,’ a source told the Mail. ‘People who know her well are happy to help her. She won’t be left with nowhere to go.’
Asked if the ex-duchess regretted her friendship with the late billionaire paedophile Epstein the source added: ‘What do you think? Of course she does.’
The whereabouts of the former Duchess of York has been unknown for almost four months. She was last seen at her granddaughter's Christening on December 12 – but last pictured seven months ago leaving Royal Lodge in a Mercedes on September 25
Fergie was evicted from her home the 30-bedroom Royal Lodge along with her former husband Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor in the fallout from their friendship with Epstein
More pressingly, the former Duchess of York is braced for the possibility of being served with legal papers in connection with the long-running fallout from the Epstein scandal.
She has not been accused of any wrongdoing and no proceedings against her have been made public.
But those close to her concede she is watching the post, and the doorbell, with care.
Her reputation, like that of her former husband, was badly damaged by the disclosures in the Epstein Files, exposing her toe-curling pleas to the financier and convicted sex offender.
In emails from 2010, two years after he was jailed for procuring minors for prostitution, Ferguson cooed that he was ‘a legend’ and told him she was 'at your service'.
She even – partly in jest, and partly no doubt with one eye on her bank account – blurted out ‘Just marry me’ at one point.
American lawyers have long reach. Virginia Giuffre’s posthumous memoir, published last year, has kept the questions burning. Her former husband Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was stripped of his remaining titles in October 2025 and now lives in quiet disgrace while a police investigation rolls on following his arrest in February on suspicion of misconduct in public office.
The ex-duchess has remained, throughout, a figure in the background of that story, but lawyers and legislators are circling.
Last month, the Military and Foreign Affairs Oversight Subcommittee, of the US Congress, wrote to Fergie, requesting she submit to their questioning over the Epstein affair.
Democratic Congressman Suhas Subramanyam told her in the letter: ‘It is clear that you possessed social and business ties to Mr. Epstein and have knowledge of information that can assist our investigation.
‘Documentation of your relationship with Mr. Epstein includes referring to Mr. Epstein as "a legend" – after Mr. Epstein’s 2008 conviction – and writing: "I really don’t have the words to describe my love, gratitude for your generosity and kindness… I am at your service. Just marry me."
‘Moreover, according to Department of Justice documents, Mr. Epstein was involved in discussions to become your company’s majority owner.’
He also pointed to Fergie begging Epstein for a loan and suggested that she may have information on Andrew’s relationship with Epstein. The former Duke of York received his own demand to speak to Congress last year.
Meanwhile, no fewer than nine UK police forces and the National Crime Agency are examining the Epstein files.
Despite the mounting pressure on her, friends describe a woman who is tired but not broken. ’She just wants a door that doesn’t open for strangers,’ the source said. ‘That’s all it is. She wants to breathe.’
Where she goes next, those close to her will not say. Options are said to include the homes of long-standing friends in the English counties and further afield on the Continent. What is certain is that Austria, for now, is closed to her.
The princesses are said to have been left drained by the fallout of their parents Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Sarah Ferguson's friendship with the paedophile Epstein
The King’s household has made plain for some time that the Duchess is no part of official royal life. She is not invited to Sandringham or Balmoral and will never appear on the Palace balcony again.
Her status, in constitutional terms, is that of a private citizen with a famous name.
She has been here before and faced bankruptcy and scandal, beginning with her ‘toe-sucking’ summer in 1992. Then there was the cash-for-access sting of 2010.
Each time, a friend opened a door. Each time, she walked through it.
A spokesman for the Duchess of York was approached for comment.