Fergie reveals the late Queen told her to 'be yourself' after she was told to hide her 'big personality' from the public

3 June 2024, 12:19

Sarah Ferguson has revealed how hid her "huge personality" from the public, after her father told her she was a "bore"

The Duchess of York, 64, said she had been backed by the late Queen who told her that "being yourself is enough."

She told Hello magazine that her recent experience with cancer had changed her outlook on life and has made her start being herself more.

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Speaking about her personality, she said she had previously "tried to keep it under the cushion", revealing that her father, Major Ronald Ferguson, called her "a bore", and told her she was "too much", or even to "shut up, no one wants to hear from you".

However, the former wife of Prince Andrew said, after being diagnosed with cancer, the experience gave her "a swift kick in the butt", prompting her to ask herself: "Are you going to start living now, at 64, or are you going to keep on not quite living? You don't have to be what everyone wants you to be: just be yourself".

Not everyone wanted her to change her personality: the late Queen Elizabeth II, before her death, told Sarah that "being yourself is enough".

Her battle with cancer began last Summer, when she was diagnosed with the disease during a routine mammogram.

Sarah underwent a single mastectomy, but six months later, she was found to have malignant melanoma.

Just months after being treated for breast cancer, this January, Sarah was diagnosed with skin cancer.

The Duchess had a mole removed from her body which tests found to be a malignant melanoma - which is the most serious type of skin cancer. 

While she keeps a tight check on her health, taking precautions like mole mapping, and visiting the doctors if she has any concerns, Sarah told the magazine she believes her health is "better than ever." She credited her daughters Princess Beatrice, 35, (as well as Beatrice's stepson Wolfie, eight, and daughter Sienna, two) and Princess Eugenie,34, and her two sons - three-year-old August and Ernest, who turned one last week for helping her through the difficult time.