Sarah Ferguson Reveals Personal Mission Before Princess Beatrice's Baby Is Born

The Duchess of York is changing diapers in more than one way

Sarah Ferguson is championing a new environmental cause before Princess Beatrice's baby is born and she becomes a grandmother again.

On Nov. 11, the Duchess of York, who is popularly known as Fergie, announced a new mission to eliminate plastic diapers through a new initiative called The Greater Good. The Duchess of York, 65, highlighted her commitment to the cause from her perspective as a grandmother — with her family about to grow once again. Fergie's eldest daughter, Princess Beatrice, is expecting her second child with husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, and Buckingham Palace has announced the baby is due in early spring 2025.

"In a few months I’m going to become a grandmother for the fifth time. August, Ernest, Sienna and Wolfie will be joined by another beautiful boy or girl, as our family grows once more," the Duchess of York wrote in an op-ed for the Daily Mail, naming her grandchildren.

Fergie is a grandmother to Princess Beatrice and Edo's daughter Sienna, 3, and Edo's 8-year-old son Christopher Woolf, who is affectionately nicknamed Wolfie, from a previous relationship. The Duchess of York is also a grandmother to her younger daughter Princess Eugenie and her husband Jack Brooksbank's two sons, August, 3, and Ernest, 1.

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"As all grandmothers know, from story-time, to tea-time, to nap-time, family life is a hands-on affair – not least when it comes to changing nappies," she continued, using British parlance for diapers.

"Over the course of my life I’ve been no stranger to it! When my first grandchild was born, I rolled up my sleeves as though a 30-year hiatus had never happened. Seeing nappy after nappy thrown into the bin, I began to wonder: what are these nappies made of and where are they going? Researching it, I was stunned: they are full of plastic waste, each one damaging our environment," Fergie wrote.

The Duchess of York, who shares her daughters with her ex-husband, Prince Andrew, cited statistics about diapers' role in the global plastic waste crisis, acknowledging how times have changed and greater awareness has been raised since Beatrice, 36, and Eugenie, 34, were born. The Duchess said that she tried to find plastic-free diapers that were 100% compostable when she became a grandmother, "but it just wasn't possible."

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Fergie said that this gap inspired her to launch a global campaign to eliminate plastic "nappies" with The Greater Good, and that she traveled to Samoa (where King Charles and Queen Camilla toured in October for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, their second stop after Australia) to unveil the project.

The Duchess of York described the island state of Samoa as "particularly impacted by plastic pollution," and a place where diapers comprise nearly 30% of household waste. Sparking change, The Greater Good campaign is offering a new solution through quality diapers that can be composted into soil within six to eight weeks. To date, 18 women have been employed in the process of delivering, collecting and composting the diapers, and the Duchess said that the government-backed project has shown that for every 100 babies, it's possible to eradicate about 1,543 pounds of plastic waste each week.

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"With a new grandchild about to enter the world, and my career as a nappy-changer about to re-start, I am incredibly optimistic about the future of our planet, and this is entirely thanks to projects like this which are helping to protect the oceans for our babies to grow up and enjoy plastic-free," she wrote in close.

The Duchess of York isn't the only environmental advocate in the royal family — so is Princess Eugenie, who memorably had a plastic-free wedding and introducer her mother to the U.N. Special Envoy for the Oceans, Peter Thomson, as Fergie began researching the plastic diaper crisis.

King Charles has also campaigned for conservation for decades, and seems to have passed down the passion to his sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, who are driving change as founders of the Earthshot Prize and Travalyst, respectively.