Sarah Ferguson's unconvenional wedding dress request to indulge Prince Andrew's obsession
Prince Andrew's passion for teddy bears was highlighted once again in the recent Netflix film Scoop, but it dates back to before he married his ex-wife Sarah, Duchess of York.
The couple would have been celebrating their 38th anniversary on 23 July, had they not divorced in 1996. The late Queen Elizabeth II's son married Fergie in 1986, and his bride attempted to indulge his passion on their big day.
Designer Lindka Cierach reportedly discouraged Sarah from having decorative teddy bears and helicopters embroidered into her dress in a sentimental nod to her husband.
Instead, the puff-sleeve dress with a 17-foot train featured hearts to represent love and romance, anchors and waves to pay tribute to Prince Andrew's career in the Royal Navy, and bumblebees and thistles representing motifs from the Ferguson family coat of arms.
Sarah's bridal gown
The couple’s initials 'A' and 'S' were also sewn into the gown, for which Sarah admitted she lost weight.
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Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice's mother – who currently resides in Royal Lodge with her ex-husband – said she liked the way the corset silhouette fit her "reduced figure" after she shed 26 pounds.
Sarah described her gown as "an exquisite creation I'd lost twenty-six pounds to fit into" in her 1997 autobiography, My Story.
"Lindka was a genius; I knew she could make the most flattering gown ever, and she had," she wrote. "It was amazingly boned, like a corset. We’d chosen Duchess satin because it is the creamiest material in the world.
"It never creases. It is smooth as glass and hangs beautifully, without a single bulge; it made my reduced figure look even better."
After saying 'I do' at Westminster Abbey on 23 July 1986, the Duchess of York and her ex-husband Prince Andrew enjoyed a wedding party at Claridges Hotel before jetting off to the Azores for their honeymoon.
The royal bride had swapped her wedding dress for a blue floral suit including a peplum jacket and a pleated ankle-length skirt as she made her way to Heathrow Airport, leaving London in a horse-drawn carriage.
Fans may have spotted that the newlyweds were accompanied by a giant teddy bear in the carriage.
Andrew's teddy bears
The Duke's fascination with his teddies continued behind closed doors. according to The Sun, Andrew said in 2010: "I've always collected teddy bears. Everywhere I went in the navy, I used to buy a little teddy bear, so I've got a collection from all over the world of one sort or another."
In 2022, Charlotte Briggs, a former Buckingham Palace maid, also told the publication that she was responsible for arranging the Duke's stuffed animals in order of size every morning in the nineties.
"As soon as I got the job, I was told about the teddies and it was drilled into me how he wanted them," she said.
Speaking of Andrew, who was in his mid-thirties, she added: "I even had a day's training. It was so peculiar. After all, he was a grown man who had served in the Falklands.
"Each had to be carefully positioned. They were old-fashioned teddy bears – the Steiff ones – and nearly all of them had sailor suits on and hats. It took me half an hour to arrange them.
"Then at bedtime, I had to take all the teddies off and arrange them around the room. They each had a set place. We had to stack the smaller ones in an unused fireplace, again in size order, to make them look pretty. His two favourite bears sat on two thrones either side of the bed. The others would sit at the foot of the bed on the floor."
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