Sarah Ferguson is seemingly negotiating a deal to help herself through life.

The former Duchess of York, who is currently in Austria after her exile from the Royal Lodge, is buying her silence in exchange of a lifelong pension scheme.

Royal expert Andrew Lownie in his new book ‘Entitled’ tells Mirror: “That may be what Fergie's negotiating at the moment. Can she get a nice pension from them and not have to do an Oprah interview," he said.

"I think it's a very schizophrenic relationship at the moment with the royals and Beatrice and Eugenie," Lownie adds. "One minute they're very publicly being told they're not going to be invited to Ascot, then they are going. You get the sense of distancing and I think there's possibly two schools of thought here.”

He adds: “There's Camilla, William and Kate, who see the reputational damage and want to keep them at arm's length, and then there's Charles who is a bit sentimental and feels obligated to be protective".

This comes as Princess Eugenie, daughter of Sarah Ferguson and Andrewbatten Windsor, had kept mum about her pregnancy.

“I think that Eugenie didn't tell her father about her pregnancy shows just how fractured that relationship is," he says.