The Duchy of York -Its Dukes and Duchesses

Richard Lugner’s box at the opera

Richard Lugner is a billionaire Austrian entrepreneur in the construction industry and a society figure.

He invites an international A-List celebrity to his shopping mall each year and takes them to his box at the prestigious Vienna Opera Ball.

He pays them a generous fee to attend his events.

In 1997 his guest of honour was Sarah Ferguson. She was the nearest he ever came to bagging a British royal! I wonder how much he paid her and how long the money lasted.

Richard Lugner and his wife Christina getting Sarah Ferguson's signature at the Lugner City shopping centre:



Looking elegant with Richard Lugner at the Opera:

Yet another good comment on the Duchess of York’s Twitter:

“...can you please tell the duchess how counterproductive it is to keep plugging away at this lame and inappropriate campaign to sanitise the York family image...”

Very true, but if she did call it a day with the story telling, we wouldn’t get any more of this:

The Singing Mermaid

This recent story inspired these comments:

“Wonder if Ghislaine is singing like a mermaid? You might need to get a job if she is. Heard Aldi are hiring”

“I can't wait for the reading of 'The Singing Socialite'”

Two happier-looking people

Presumably it is the news about Ghislaine Maxwell staying in prison that has eased the pressure a little.

Today’s pictures of the Yorks speak for themselves:

£500,000 for access to Prince Andrew

Maybe the FBI could get an interview with Prince Andrew if they gave £500,000 to Fergie as the ‘’fake sheikh’ was asked to do. Private Eye had this at the time:

Dancing with Horses: one for the comedy thread?

Sarah Ferguson has a new project:

“Sarah Ferguson has been keeping children (and adults) entertained daily throughout lockdown with her YouTube series Storytime With Fergie and Friends.

But the Duchess of York, 60, has an exciting new project in the pipeline - judging celebrities as they dance with horses for a new TV show.

Fergie has filmed the pilot for upcoming Fox production Dancing With Horses, where stars devise complicated dance routines with the animals.

A keen rider herself, Prince Andrew's ex-wife is an expert on the panel - and former ITV commissioner Claudia Rosencrantz has claimed she was 'wonderful' to work with.”

www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-8573775/Sarah-Ferguson-lands-new-job-judge-new-TV-celebrities-dance-HORSES.html

This is something to look forward to, assuming that the new show is ever made. Maybe in addition to being a judge, she will have a go at the dancing herself!

Rumpel Water

According to the DM, Fergie registered yet another a new company this year: Rumpel Water Ltd. was incorporated on June 25th.

Her two sons-in-law were listed as directors, but both resigned three weeks later!

Online records confirm that Fergie is now the sole director after the departure of Jack Christopher Stamp Brooksbank and Edoardo Alessandro Mapelli Mozzi.

A spokesman for Fergie had this to say:

“’Both sons-in-law were going to get involved but then realised they didn’t have enough time to commit to it,’ he tells me, ‘so they resigned as directors.’

Rumpel, he adds, is a ‘water-cleansing company’ whose operations may ultimately be mainly overseas — although not at the moment. ‘It’s now dormant but will start up again at some point in the future,’ explains the spokesman.”

www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-8601719/Duchess-Yorks-sons-law-Edo-Mapelli-Mozzi-Jack-Brooksbank-quit-Fergies-fledgling-firm.html

I wonder what the story behind all this really is! A typical comment:

“Clearly those guys are not as stupid as they look. They ditched her within 3 weeks!! Shes poison.”

Fergie’s failed companies

I wondered which company Sarah Ferguson would use to market her new range through - assuming it ever comes to anything. We have mentioned a few names earlier, but I decided to refresh my memory as some no longer exist. She has been a director of a string of companies, many started by her. As previously mentioned, she called herself Margaret York in some cases.

These ones are all dormant:

Solamoon Limited Loonasol Limited
La Luna Investments Limited Philanthrepreneur Limited

These ones have been dissolved:

Strawbugs Limited Mothers Army Limited
Fergie's Farm Limited (1st incarnation) S.Phoenix Holdings Limited

An events company, a school trust, a new incarnation of the farm food and a film production company are still active, but they don’t look very suitable.

Gate Ventures is in administration.

Ginger & Moss was created to sell teas in 2015. They don’t appear to be doing much at the moment. Fergie handed over significant control in favour of Solamoon and Gate Ventures in March 2019.

If selling Fergie’s new ranges didn’t work last time, why would it work now? Avoid!

The camera never lies

Or does it?

The pictures below were taken for an interview that Fergie gave to Harper's Bazaar in 2007.

Obviously they should not be compared with the picture above that was taken yesterday, but the pictures of her asleep in the taxi date from 2008 and show her real self at the time.

I wonder how many people and how many hours it took to produce these - and I wonder what the originals were like:

Pizza Express Woking

Reviews were suspended on TripAdvisor last November after Prince Andrew mentioned them in his disastrous TV interview. This led to a flood of fake reviews, which were deleted.

A few more joke reviews have been added recently - they will probably be removed too. Not very original, but these are not bad:

“I got my friend Ghislaine to get me an American hot from here and also some dough balls for Virginia. All gobbled up without any sweat.”

“I had the....can’t remember now but it was a fantastic pizza. I definitely didn’t buy a drink because I don’t know where the bar is in....this pizza express. Can’t remember what happened that night but all I know is I had a Ruddy great time here. Heating was broke but no problem because my arm pits were as dry as the Sahara Desert because I can’t sweat. Thanks Ghis and Jeff.”

Fergie’s Flying Culinary Circus!

As mentioned earlier, Norwegian tycoon Geir Frantzen gave Fergie a car worth £150K - which she later sold.

According to this article from 2015, he did more than that for her:

“DISASTER-prone businesswoman Sarah Ferguson is launching a new venture — flogging tea bags for £25 in Norway.

The Duchess of York, 55, has joined up with four top chefs who run a catering company to the stars to launch online brand Fergie’s Flying Culinary Circus.

The business will sell high-end products such as posh tea, coffee, napkins and candles.
Spokesman Karl Petter Ulriksen said while items were not finalised, packs of tea would likely range from £6 to around £25 for a gift-wrapped version. Napkins could cost up to £20.

Findus foods tycoon and ex-boyfriend Geir Frantzen, 48, is said to have helped broker the deal.“

www.thesun.co.uk/archives/news/65385/fergies-flogging-tea-bags-for-25/

The Flying Culinary Circus is a team of four Norwegian chefs who jet round the world cooking for celebrities. I am not sure whether the teas mentioned in the article are the pudding-flavoured ones or a different range.

Fergie and Geir Frantzen around 2008:

The worst picture so far?

This one is horrific. It was taken just two days ago:

What exactly is wrong with Fergie?

Financial worries and stress caused by the Epstein case would explain a lot, but there could be other causes. There may be more than one elephant in the room.

The recent, awful picture of Fergie reminded me of something I posted on the old CC forum. It shows Paula Yates in a terrible state, probably under the influence of something.

For comparison:

More about the deal with Prince Rubber Lips

There could be a film here, or at least a TV programme:

“Former U.S. Army officer Starkie, recalls how, at a previous dinner, the Duchess had brazenly asked the prince to pay off her overdraft. At the time, her debt with Coutts was hovering just under £2 million.

The bizarre story is detailed in Starkie’s book, Fergie, Her Secret Life, in which he wrote the prince was not flustered by the extraordinary request, merely saying: ‘Well I could consider doing that for a friend,’ before adding: ‘I would like you to prove to me that if I do this, you’ll never be in debt again.’

Fergie put together a business recovery plan and a second candlelit dinner was arranged with the prince in flowing robes.

Writes Starkie: ‘Once his lips had closed on hers there was no getting away; but somehow in the end she managed to break free. Sarah expected either another invitation from her spurned would-be benefactor, or never to hear from him again.’

As it turned out, something quite different happened. In early December 1993, she discovered as she was checking through her bank statement that £50,000 had been deposited into her account.

‘She was,’ says Starkie, ‘excited at the thought of her £50,000 kiss.’”

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2162987/RICHARD-KAY-Fergie-sheikhs-50-000-kiss.html

Never in debt again! I wonder whether he follows all the news about her. And how did he expect her to prove it?