Sarah Ferguson, the wife of the disgraced former prince, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, has given the world’s media the slip. But while The Royalist may not know where she is, we can guess. And we do know where she was.
In classic Sarah style, she spent a month at the most expensive rehab in the world, checking in to Paracelsus Recovery after Christmas and staying there until the end of January.
If the name seems familiar, it is because Sarah holed up there before, dodging the $17,000 a day bill by doing a little influencer work for them.
This time, the 66-year-old former Duchess of York left Britain just after Christmas as she and her ex-husband became further embroiled in the Epstein scandal.
A Swiss source told The Daily Mail, “Sarah left for Zurich just after Christmas, and stayed until the end of January. She always feels at home at Paracelsus, and knows she’ll get love and attention there, as well as expert health treatment when she’s feeling at her most vulnerable.”
Another friend in Switzerland said she was “absolutely crushed” when email exchanges with Epstein were made public, adding: “Sarah has built up a strong relationship with Paracelsus, so it was the obvious place for her to get away from everything.”
Ferguson has not been seen in public since a brief appearance at the christening of her granddaughter Athena at St James’s Palace in London on Dec. 12. Before that, she was photographed leaving Royal Lodge in Windsor on Sept. 25 and attending the funeral of Katharine, Duchess of Kent, at Westminster Cathedral on Sept. 16. Her retreat to Switzerland emerged after Andrew was arrested in Norfolk on his 66th birthday.
The Paracelsus clinic markets itself as treating just one client at a time. Its founder, Jan Gerber, has described it as a “sanctuary where individuals can receive the highest standard of care, free of judgement”.
The center specializes in “addiction, burnout, depression, anxiety and trauma,” and employs a team of at least 15 specialists, including doctors, therapists, and nutritionists.
The clinic runs bespoke residential programs that can cost about $148,500 for a three-day “comprehensive check-up” and around $472,500 for a month-long stay.
Clients are housed in a penthouse with views over Lake Zurich and offered a chauffeur, limousine, and concierge services, a private chef, butler, and on-site therapist.
Its website states: “Celebrities, oligarchs, and royalty who stay here are given top-tier treatment and access to the best addiction treatment providers anywhere,” and says its staff “create a space where you can feel safe, understood and fully supported”.
Penniless Ferguson likely got her stay for free in return for her past promotional activity for Paracelsus, including a video in which she spoke about traumatic experiences in childhood, life under scrutiny, and her cancer diagnosis as reasons for seeking intensive mental-health support.
She has also said that during treatment there, she was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Following one visit, she wrote on Facebook: “I recently spent time at Paracelsus Recovery in Zurich, a clinic known for its discreet, bespoke care for those facing complex mental health and addiction challenges, to learn more. What I found was not only a centre of clinical excellence, but a place of deep humanity.”
In an interview with The Telegraph, she later said: “I am not embarrassed to reveal the clinic offered me a sanctuary, renowned as it is for its bespoke, cutting-edge treatment for those grappling with mental health and addiction issues — particularly those whose struggles are often hidden behind the facade of a public role.”
In a separate endorsement on the clinic’s website, published recently, she said her stay showed her that her “mental health knows no boundaries”.
The Epstein files have laid out her financial difficulties in excruciating detail. Embarrassing correspondence showed her begging Epstein to help clear mounting debts and even asking him to employ her as his house assistant as she “desperately” needed money while he was still under house arrest in Florida for child prostitution.
In another email, she offered a lengthy apology for publicly distancing herself from him, insisting this had been done only to protect her work as a children’s author and calling him a “steadfast, generous and supreme friend.”
Among the most damaging revelations was that she took her daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, to lunch with Epstein five days after his release from jail. The newly disclosed emails also confirmed that she continued to turn to him for financial help and maintained contact with him even after his conviction.
After leaving Zurich, Ferguson’s whereabouts become a mystery, although many believe she is somewhere in the United Arab Emirates.
The author Andrew Lownie recently said that he expects her to relocate to the UAE or another Gulf country, saying, “There are people there — royalty, politicians and business types — whom Sarah can quite happily sponge off and who will be happy to bankroll both of them. These types of people in the Middle East simply couldn’t care less what Sarah has done. And even if she doesn’t have her title of the Duchess of York anymore, she will still be seen as royalty and treated as such — and she knows it.”
